BBBB.5

(out of 5)

Vincente Minnelli outdid his own An American In Paris with this brilliantly photographed and staged musical, probably the best from Fred Astaire‘s later career period. Astaire plays a has-been movie star who is given the chance to make a comeback when his good friends (Nanette Fabray, Oscar Levant) write a Broadway musical and ask him to star in it. The show should go well, but first he has to put up with a snotty prima donna (Cyd Charisse), her Svengali-style choreographer boyfriend (James Mitchell) and a melodramatic producer/director (Jack Buchanan) who has totally different ideas for the show than originally planned (a modern musical version of Faust to be exact). No one knew colour like Vincente Minnelli, and this is one of the best examples–the song and dance numbers are beautiful and Charisse’s dancing couldn’t be better.

USA, 1953

Directed by Vincente Minnell

Story and Screenplay by Betty Comden, Adolph Green

Cinematography by Harry Jackson

Produced by Arthur Freed

Music by Alexander Courage, Adolph Deutsch, Conrad Salinger

Production Design by E. Preston Ames, Cedric Gibbons

Costume Design by Mary Ann Nyberg

Film Editing by Albert Akst, George White

Cast Tags:  Ava Gardner, Cyd Charisse, Fred Astaire, Jack Buchanan, James Mitchell, Nanette Fabray, Oscar Levant, Robert Gist

Academy Award Nominations
Best Costume Design (Colour) (Mary Ann Nyberg)
Best Music (Music Score of a Musical Picture) (Adolph Deutsch)
Best Writing (Story and Screenplay) (Betty Comden, Adolph Green)

Writers Guild Award Nomination
Best Written American Musical