M-G-M. Director Richard Thorpe; Producer Jack Cummings; Screenplay George Wells; Camera Harry Jackson; Editor Ben Lewis; Music Andre Previn (dir.)
Fred Astaire
Red Skelton
Vera-Ellen
Arlene Dahl
Keenan Wynn
Debbie Reynolds
A biopic of the songwriting team of Harry Ruby and Bert Kalmar, the picture is a charmful, entertaining cavalcade of show business which spans their years together. Yarn, while doing the usual glossy job on its subjects, sticks closely to the Kalmar-Ruby careers.
Toplined by Fred Astaire as Kalmar and Red Skelton as Ruby, the entire cast does fine work under the skillful direction of Richard Thorpe.
Vera-Ellen matches Astaire tap for tap in their terping duets, which is no mean achievement, and looks to be possibly the best partner he's ever had. Her singing, too, gets by and, as Jessie Brown, Kalmar's vaude partner, she emotes competently.
Arlene Dahl plays Eileen Percy and also turns in a standout performance.
1950: Nomination: Best Scoring of a Musical Picture
(Color) Available on VHS, DVD. Extract of a review from 1950. Running time: 100 MIN.
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