Easter Parade (1948)

A nightclub performer hires a naive chorus girl to become his new dance partner to make his former partner jealous and to prove he can make any partner a star.

Director:

Charles Walters

Writers:

Sidney Sheldon (screenplay), Frances Goodrich (screenplay)

Stars:

Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Peter Lawford

Won 1 Oscar. Another 1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Judy Garland	...	Hannah Brown
Fred Astaire	...	Don Hewes
Peter Lawford	...	Jonathan Harrow III
Ann Miller	...	Nadine Hale
Jules Munshin	...	Headwaiter François
Clinton Sundberg	...	Mike the Bartender
Richard Beavers	...	Singer ("The Girl on the Magazine Cover")

Storyline

Don Hewes and Nadine Hale are a dancing team, but she decides to start a career on her own. So he takes the next dancer he meets, Hannah Brown, as a new partner. After a while this new team is so successful, that Florenz Ziegfeld is interested in them, but due to the fact that Nadine Hale dances also in the Ziegfeld Follies Don says no. In spite of the fact that he is in love with Hannah, he keeps the relation to her strictly business. So Hannah is of the opinion that he is still in love with Nadine, and her suspicion grows when he dances with Nadine in a Night Club Floor Show.

---

Plot Keywords:

dance | dancing | easter | performer | dancer | 

---

Taglines:

Full of melody! Full of young love!

---

Genres:

Musical | Romance

---

Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French Italian

Release Date:

8 July 1948 (USA)

Also Known As:

Irving Berlin's Easter Parade

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$2,503,654 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$9,033,920

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$12,650,540

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jules Munshin's film debut. He plays the comic waiter who gives very entertaining descriptions of the menu items. The next year, he would play one of the three sailors on leave in New York City in On the Town (1949) with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra.

---

Goofs

A Police officer writes Jonathan (Peter Lawford) a ticket for parking beside a fire hydrant. As he hands the ticket over he bumps the hydrant which visibly wobbles showing that it is not real.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Don Hewes: [as he enters the apartment] Hat please.
Essie, Nadine's Maid: Oh, Mr. Hewes.
Don Hewes: [to Nadine] Hello darling! Where are you?
Nadine Hale: Oh Don, I've been trying to call you.
Don Hewes: Uh, Essie, will you help me with these things please?
[laughs while struggling with several stacked boxes]
Don Hewes: Thank you. Well, I got all tied up with an Easter rabbit. Hello sweetheart.
[kisses Nadine]
Don Hewes: Here.
[...]

---

Alternate Versions

Judy Garland sings "Mr. Monotony" in a sequence cut from the film. An excerpt from the number was included in That's Entertainment Part III (1994). The 2004 DVD box set release of all three That's Entertainment films includes a bonus DVD that includes the complete performance of this number.

---

Connections

Referenced in The Case Against the 20% Federal Admissions Tax on Motion Picture Theatres (1953)

---

Soundtracks

Happy Easter
(uncredited)
Written by Irving Berlin
Performed by Fred Astaire
Performed also by Fred Astaire and Judy Garland

User Reviews

A classic example of those old 40's musicals

Don't you just love those old 40's musicals? Easter Parade is certainly one of the best, with Fred Astaire doing his amazing flashy but precise dancing, Judy Garland using her legendary voice to sing right from her heart into yours, and Ann Miller doing her own unique style of dancing and tapping while belting out great songs. And of course, everybody in the film uses any excuse to sing yet another song, usually dancing to it as well.

One of the special sequences has Fred Astaire dancing in slow motion while the rest of the cast dance at normal speed behind him! Sure, we can do that these days with computers, but remember this film was made in 1948!!

Of course there's the usual plot - Boy meets girl, they fall in love, have a misunderstanding, but get together again just in time for the big finishing number. That used to really get the audiences in, in those days, and they repeated that theme in every musical that ever was.

Any weak spots? Several of the film's routines seem a little amateurish by today's standards. For example, the waiter tossing his invisible salad just to do a bit of clowning seems a little contrived. Also, the film is supposedly set in 1912, so all the 1948 fashions and hairstyles are completely anachronistic - but what does that matter, after all, it's just an enjoyable romp.

I've given this film eight out of ten, but if I could just vote on Judy Garland's singing and Fred Astaire's dancing, I'd certainly give them ten out of ten. This is definitely a "must-see" film, just for those two incredible talents!