ON YOUR TOES was originally written for the screen but Hollywood passed on it. Then Broadway took it and turned it into a hit. When it was finally made into a film, they almost ruined it by trimming the best parts. But, with all its history and flaws, I REALLY ENJOYED IT! In this musical, a composer abandons vaudeville in favor of the legitimate stage. He soon finds himself entangled with a Russian ballet company in which his childhood sweetheart is a dancer. When the troupe mistakes him for a traitor, trouble ensues. Perhaps the film is most notable for Balanchine's choreography of "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue." Songs include: "There's a Small Hotel," "Quiet Night," "On Your Toes" and "Princess Zenobia Ballet." ON YOUR TOES suffered the fate of far too many Broadway-to-screen musicals in the 1930s: the score, which was what really made the original stage show a success, was severely trimmed by the film studio. True, such Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart gems as "There's a Small Hotel" and "Quiet Night" can still be heard -- but only as background music. Fortunately, the film does keep the play's two major dance sequences, the "Princess Zenobia Ballet" and the landmark "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue," both of which are excellent and are by far the high points of the film, despite a "slave" disguise in the former that may make modern audiences uncomfortable. There's little real plot or character development, but there's lots of clever lines of snappy dialogue. Vera Zorina is an energetic dancer with a sexy style and Eddie Albert is very young and nervous but it fits his excitable character. A young Donald O'Connor steals a couple of moments, and stalwarts Erik Rhodes, Alan Hale, Frank McHugh, and James Gleason offer their customarily enjoyable support.
Review of On Your Toes
On Your Toes
(1939)
Wunderfully Funny and enjoyable! Don't knock it for what's not there; just enjoy it for what it is.
16 April 2006
Warning: Spoilers