Leaving aside the fact that the leads can hardly act they sure can dance. When the awful designs allow. Eleanor Powell wears some of the worst and most garish clothes I remember from a movie of this period. Even poor Fred Astaire is dressed in spangles for the start of the dreadful Begin the Beguine. That is the supposed highlight of the movie but is so overproduced and designed that the viewer gets worn out before the leads appear in simpler clothes and actually manage to dance with each other. Much more interesting is the opening Don't Monkey with Broadway, wittily danced by Astaire and George Murphy, the juke box number for Astaire and Powell, Astaire's charming solo, and the brief but amusing trio for the three leads right at the end. Oh, and lets not forget the dreadful Harlequin number which makes Powell look extraordinarily clumsy and which seems to exist to show off some fancy lighting cues.
The plot is not worth bothering about beyond noting that it's even more preposterous than usual for this kind of movie. The whole endeavor has a witless, leaden feel. I'm not surprised that Astaire didn't make another movie with Powell. She can't act a lick and has no sex-appeal. When they do get a chance to dance together they are both magic, but she challenges him as an equal, athletic and dynamic, an equal, not a decorative partner there to set off his easy elegance.
The plot is not worth bothering about beyond noting that it's even more preposterous than usual for this kind of movie. The whole endeavor has a witless, leaden feel. I'm not surprised that Astaire didn't make another movie with Powell. She can't act a lick and has no sex-appeal. When they do get a chance to dance together they are both magic, but she challenges him as an equal, athletic and dynamic, an equal, not a decorative partner there to set off his easy elegance.