The Band Wagon (1953)

Director:

Vincente Minnelli

Writers:

Betty Comden (story) and
Adolph Green (story) ...

Release Date:

7 August 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

Get Aboard!

Plot:

A pretentiously artistic director is hired for a new Broadway musical and changes it beyond recognition.

Plot Keywords:

Choreographer | Movie Star | Director | Top Hat | Ballet

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Fred Astaire	...	Tony Hunter
Cyd Charisse	...	Gabrielle Gerard
Oscar Levant	...	Lester Marton
Nanette Fabray	...	Lily Marton
Jack Buchanan	...	Jeffrey Cordova
James Mitchell	...	Paul Byrd
Robert Gist	...	Hal

Also Known As:

I Love Louisa (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono )Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | West Germany:12 | Canada:G (video rating) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Australia:G | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:U | USA:Approved (PCA #16342)

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

After Les and Lilly have their fight in the alley, Les heads for the bar across the street. In the background you can see a poster for the play "Every Night At Seven". This was the title of the play that Fred Astaire and Jane Powell starred in in the movie Royal Wedding (1951).

Goofs:

Continuity: At the New York opening night, the theater name on the marquee is Alcott Theatre, but the program cover has Stratton Theatre.

Quotes:

Tony Hunter: No, don't say it - "Tony Hunter! 1953!" I hereby declare my independence. Tony Hunter, 1776.

Movie Connections:

Featured in That's Dancing! (1985)

Soundtrack:

I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan

The best of the lot (MGM lot, that is...)

Basically, the only competition for The Band Wagon (TBW) for the title of MGM's Uncontested Musical Champion is Singin' In The Rain (SITR). SITR is certainly the better-known of the two and features one of film's iconic dance sequences. That said, in an itemized comparison, TBW is the winner and by more than a nose.

Star: Astaire over Kelly. As usual. (Stop that. You know it's true. There's no point in contesting it.)

Co-star: Cyd Charisse slam-dunks the ever-annoying Debbie Reynolds (herself a major overall factor in SITR's loss to TBW), but herself gets trounced by Jean Hagen (best squeaky virago ever). A draw.

Supporting: Jack Buchanan, Oscar Levant, and Nanette Fabray triple-team Donald O'Connor (in his defining and best screen performance) and edge out a victory.

Choreography: Kelly and O'Connor (under Kelly's direction) hoof up a storm, just outdoing Astaire and Charisse. Kelly's title track number over Astaire/Charisse's Dancing In The Dark, although the latter is the best duet Astaire's done since Night and Day with Ginger Rogers, and is itself a textbook to economy, style, and subtlety in choreography.

Music: Dietz and Schwartz over Freed and Brown. Despite Louisiana Hayride being a kitsch feature almost unparalleled in MGM musical history.

Book: Comden and Green's TBW ties Comden and Green's SITR.

Finale: Girl Hunt Ballet over Broadway Rhythm Ballet. By a mile. The former is tongue-in-cheek, visually-engaging despite its smaller scale, and imaginatively-choreographed. The latter a bit obvious and, in typical Kelly style, a little heavy-handed in its inclusion of "serious", "dramatic" elements. Cyd Charisse too, too hot in both, of course.

Overall: SITR lights up in the Hagen-Kelly sparring and O'Connor's zinging bits, as well as in the "early days of talkies" bits and the proto-postmodernism of the Beautiful Girls sequence, but Debbie Reynolds and the love interest numbers cause the film to drag and buckle. TBW, by contrast, hums throughout, going from strength to strength: Buchanan's God of the The-ah-tuh role, Levant as Levant, Astaire's wistful By Myself, Triplets (why no Hoops?), the disaster that is the Damnation Scene, Astaire and Buchanan, signifiers for "class", soft-shoeing on I Guess I'll Have To Change My Plan. An uninterruptedly-enjoyable movie, from start to finish.

So, there you have it. See The Band Wagon. Become a TBW fanatic. It's that simple.