Roberta (1935)

Directed by William A. Seiter. Starring Fred Astaire, Irene Dunne, Randolph Scott, Ginger Rogers, Claire Dodd, Helen Westley, Luis Alberni, Victor Varconi.

Singing-and-dancing-and-giggling four-piece musical comedy (from the popular Broadway show by Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach) finds musician Astaire and friend Scott in Paris at the “Roberta” dress shop where twinkle-toes puts the moves on old acquaintance Rogers and the lunkhead pines for head designer Dunne. Frothy but forgettable, this old-fashioned entertainment has its moments, highlighted by a pair of tap numbers from Astaire—including a zippy “talk with your feet” duet with Ginger—but the musical moments elsewhere are where the doldrums set in. Scott’s snob of an ex-girlfriend and Varconi’s scheming Russian offer little more than formulaic complications to be quickly discarded. Dunne’s singing is liable to put you to sleep, and Rogers’ accented screeching should have you reaching for the acetaminophen (you decide what’s harder to take at length: her phony phonetics or the astounding number of times that Scott says “swell”). If for nothing else, the original production gave the world “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” (later perfected by the Platters in 1958)…but “nothing else” would infer that Astaire fumbles, and that he does not. Look for a blonde Lucille Ball in a feathery number during the climactic fashion show.

61/100