The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)

A successful but constantly-feuding husband and wife musical comedy team threatens to break up when the wife entertains an offer to become a serious actress.

Director:

Charles Walters

Writers:

Betty Comden (original screenplay), Adolph Green (original screenplay)

Stars:

Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Oscar Levant

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 3 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Fred Astaire	...	Josh Barkley
Ginger Rogers	...	Dinah Barkley
Oscar Levant	...	Ezra Millar
Billie Burke	...	Mrs. Livingston Belney
Gale Robbins	...	Shirlene May
Jacques François	...	Jacques Pierre Barredout (as Jacques Francois)
George Zucco	...	The Judge
Clinton Sundberg	...	Bert Felsher
Inez Cooper	...	Pamela Driscoll
Carol Brewster	...	Gloria Amboy
Wilson Wood	...	Larry

Storyline

Josh and Dinah Barkley are a successful (though argumentative) musical-comedy team, yet Dinah chafes as Galatea to her husband's Pygmalion. When serious playwright Jacques Barredout envisions her as a great dramatic actress, Dinah is not hard to persuade.

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Plot Keywords:

astaire and rogers | reference to trilby | reference to svengali | telephone call | charity benefit | 

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Taglines:

Joyously Together Again!

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Genres:

Comedy | Musical

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

1 September 1949 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

You Made Me Love You

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$2,325,420 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Oscar Levant performs one of the fastest renditions of "Saber Dance" ever recorded.

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Goofs

The "Shoes With Wings On" number could not have been presented on a stage. The dancers controlling the shoes would have been visible. The "invisible" dancers could only be done with optical effects. Notice that you cannot see the inside of the shoes.

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Quotes

Josh Barkley: Go on, Shirley.
Shirlene May: It's Shirlene.

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Connections

Featured in Precious Images (1986)

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Soundtracks

Sabre Dance
(1942) (uncredited)
Music by Aram Khachaturyan
Performed by Oscar Levant on piano

User Reviews

A mesh of MGM and the old format of variety television.

It's weird the things that get stuck in your memory. I never thought of this as an inferior film just because the formula is MGM rather than RKO. It's also made in 1949, why not up the ante a little bit? Our favorite dancers perform in color and are established as a married couple for the first and only time (although they *eventually* get married in two of the RKO films). So what's the thought here: do the critics want Astaire and Rogers to be young forever? People grow up, even on screen. In fact, when I watch the dance of 'They Can't Take That Away from Me,' it feels like I'm watching an exhibition from live television rather than a movie musical (television was a new medium at the time, but curiously, a medium that Astaire and Rogers never performed in together). The dance is lovely, but almost- I don't know- cold. But maybe this is how a former screen team performs 10 years after the fact; they are 38 and 50 respectively, and harbor enough magic to saunter off stage (with Rogers' head tilted downward), and excite an audience into applause- as if they've been watching THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW. It's extraordinary that ten years after Rogers remade herself doing straight award-winning drama and Astaire remade himself as a solo performer and a man who could dance with just about anyone, they could settle back into one more film and not have one strain of foot or hair out of place. MGM formula and Oscar Levant aside, it's a very nice way to end a professional marriage.