roberta

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August 17 movie: Roberta. Aside from The Barkeleys of Broadway this is the Fred and Ginger movie I've seen the least. It's their second movie, and they weren't the stars: they played second lead to Irene Dunne and Randolph Scott. The music by Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach includes some wonderful songs, like "I Won't Dance" and "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes." Unfortunately the latter is marred by Dunne's performance, which I'm sure was all the rage at the time, but isn't to my taste at all.

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I watched a Ginger Rogers movie the other night, staying up to see the whole thing: Tight Spot. It was a change of pace for her; no show dancing (she danced with Brian Keith), and she was tough. There was a goodly amount of humor spicing the suspense and action -- repeated shots of a hillbilly telethon she was watching, to the despair of her guardians. My favorite line was after an action scene, when some rubes are goggling at bloodstains on Brian's shirt. He tells them he was shot in the chest three times as he's leaving. Another cop behind him adds, "Four times. We haven't told him yet." Edward G. Robinson has a major part, though we go for long stretches without seeing him, as a DA, and Ben Cartwright -- I mean, Lorne Green -- is the crime boss.

Then there's the movie I didn't watch. I'd been waiting since the beginning of the month to DVR "The Devil's Brother" with Stanlio and Ollio. Before that, I'd been waiting about 43 years to see it again, and I forgot it until five hours too late. Gah-PRUNES!

I haven't seen that one, but I love Ginger's non-musicals. I'll be sure to record it next time it shows up on TCM.

What a disappointment about The Devil's Brother! I hate when that happens. They show Laurel and Hardy movies pretty often. Hopefully it will turn up again before too long.

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This page contains a single entry by Sarah published on August 23, 2008 9:44 PM.

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