A Damsel in Distress (1937)

Directed by George Stevens. Starring Fred Astaire, Joan Fontaine, Gracie Allen, George Burns, Reginald Gardiner, Ray Noble, Montagu Love, Constance Collier, Harry Watson.

Diverting fluff featuring Fred Astaire as an entertainer who falls for Joan Fontaine’s “damsel” because of a misunderstanding (the sort that could have easily been cleared up, but no matter, it’s a movie). Outside of his dance sequences, the show belongs to the bright comic relief provided by the wiseacre and dingbat duo of Burns and Allen—not only are they fitfully funny, but they get to bust a move, too! It’s agreeably airy overall, with multiple memorable dance numbers (the creative choreography in the funhouse sequence netted Hermes Pan an Academy Award in the short-lived category of Best Dance Direction), but there’s a significant problem, and it’s right in the middle: Astaire and Fontaine are a completely unsatisfying pairing. Twinkle-Toes never offers up more than a chaste facsimile of libido in his musicals, and she’s so stuffy in her aristocratic role, her emotions are bloodless. Nobody ever imagined what happened with Fred & Ginger when the bedroom door closed, but they had snappy rhythm in conversation and were magic on the dancefloor; the magic pushing these two together is more like a witch’s curse. Based on a P. G. Wodehouse book (and a subsequent stage play version from Wodehouse and Ian Hay), with music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin…sadly, George wouldn’t get to see the final film as he passed away during production.

64/100