THE BARKLEYS OF Broadway has a script written by Comden and Green for Astaire and Judy Garland as a followup to EASTER PARADE. The script doesn't seem to have been much changed when Ginger Rogers came on board to replace Judy. Ginger, having signed a contract with a new studio (Enterprise Studios, which to the surprise of the industry wound up making very few movies before going bankrupt) hadn't done much of anything for about 2 years other than reading possible scripts, and was available. Most of the musical numbers would receive a radical makeover, though 'A Weekend in the Country' still seems very much like a stroll down the Yellow Brick Road.
At the ages of 38 and 50, Rogers and Astaire serve as the oldest couple that I know of to headline a musical comedy, and it was probably a good idea to make them an established married pair rather than to repeat the courting rituals of the usual (and the usual Astaire/Rogers) musical. Unfortunately, the musical numbers are not especially well-integrated into the plot. Oscar Levant's Tchaikovsky interlude, spectacular as the playing is in itself, does nothing but kill time as we wait for the emotional climax of 'They Can't Take That Away From Me'. Similarly, Astaire's solo with the dancing shoes is impressive, but it stops the plot cold immediately after a dramatic turning point, Dinah's walking out on Josh. These interludes, plus a generally pokey second half, stretch the proceedings out to an uncomfortable length. And there's no ultimate reward for it, as the great 'Let's Face The Music And Dance' had been for the overlong FOLLOW THE FLEET. And most of all, one must wonder at the idea of burying the first dance number beneath the opening credits! Decisions don't get any dumber than that.
Whatever the movie may have been like with Judy Garland, it is laden with the mystic chords of memory with Ginger Rogers as one of its stars. For some reason, somebody seems to have had ROBERTA on their minds. The best number in BARKLEYS, 'Bouncing the Blues', sees Fred and Ginger dressed in very similar costumes to those they wore in the great tap dance number 'Hard to Handle' from ROBERTA. Where the earlier number is graced by spontaneous ejaculations from Ginger and Fred, 'Bouncing the Blues' is burdened by forced (recorded) interjections from Fred, and it's no accident that such echoes are on the final sound track. Also, the romantic ballad 'Smoke Gets In Your Eyes' dance ends with Fred taking Ginger's hand as they exit stage right to be met with her loving gaze as prelude to a comedic proposal and acceptance (she proposes, he accepts); in BARKLEYS, 'They Can't Take That Away From Me' ends exit stage left with Fred similarly taking Ginger's hand, but this time she turns her face down and away from him as prelude to rejecting his proposal to get back together. It's quite effective if you notice it, but I'm not sure that many will (John Mueller, author of ASTAIRE DANCING, thinks that the 'Highland Fling' number is a parody of the 'Night and Day' dance from THE GAY Divorcée. I've never been able to see that myself).
For good or ill, the movie centers around the character of Dinah Barkley. That's mostly good, though Ginger's turn as Sarah Bernhardt must be the low point of her entire career (especially odd for an actress who regularly underplayed her most emotional scenes). However, she received the best contemporary notices for the film, and would have been considered the most important actor in it by contemporary audiences. The script isn't especially sharp, and the musical score is the least of all the Astaire/Rogers films, though this says more about the extraordinary quality of the music from their RKO efforts than it does about THE BARKLEYS OF Broadway in particular (for example, the song 'You'd Be Hard To Replace' seems to me a lovely tune that is pretty much thrown away in the film). Still, it's always great to see the wondrous Astaire/Rogers pairing, and it's nice to have a chance to see them in color. It says everything about the quality of this series that I give BARKLEYS an 8 out of 10 rating though I consider it only the 8th best of the 10 films they made together. There's simply never been anything like them.
At the ages of 38 and 50, Rogers and Astaire serve as the oldest couple that I know of to headline a musical comedy, and it was probably a good idea to make them an established married pair rather than to repeat the courting rituals of the usual (and the usual Astaire/Rogers) musical. Unfortunately, the musical numbers are not especially well-integrated into the plot. Oscar Levant's Tchaikovsky interlude, spectacular as the playing is in itself, does nothing but kill time as we wait for the emotional climax of 'They Can't Take That Away From Me'. Similarly, Astaire's solo with the dancing shoes is impressive, but it stops the plot cold immediately after a dramatic turning point, Dinah's walking out on Josh. These interludes, plus a generally pokey second half, stretch the proceedings out to an uncomfortable length. And there's no ultimate reward for it, as the great 'Let's Face The Music And Dance' had been for the overlong FOLLOW THE FLEET. And most of all, one must wonder at the idea of burying the first dance number beneath the opening credits! Decisions don't get any dumber than that.
Whatever the movie may have been like with Judy Garland, it is laden with the mystic chords of memory with Ginger Rogers as one of its stars. For some reason, somebody seems to have had ROBERTA on their minds. The best number in BARKLEYS, 'Bouncing the Blues', sees Fred and Ginger dressed in very similar costumes to those they wore in the great tap dance number 'Hard to Handle' from ROBERTA. Where the earlier number is graced by spontaneous ejaculations from Ginger and Fred, 'Bouncing the Blues' is burdened by forced (recorded) interjections from Fred, and it's no accident that such echoes are on the final sound track. Also, the romantic ballad 'Smoke Gets In Your Eyes' dance ends with Fred taking Ginger's hand as they exit stage right to be met with her loving gaze as prelude to a comedic proposal and acceptance (she proposes, he accepts); in BARKLEYS, 'They Can't Take That Away From Me' ends exit stage left with Fred similarly taking Ginger's hand, but this time she turns her face down and away from him as prelude to rejecting his proposal to get back together. It's quite effective if you notice it, but I'm not sure that many will (John Mueller, author of ASTAIRE DANCING, thinks that the 'Highland Fling' number is a parody of the 'Night and Day' dance from THE GAY Divorcée. I've never been able to see that myself).
For good or ill, the movie centers around the character of Dinah Barkley. That's mostly good, though Ginger's turn as Sarah Bernhardt must be the low point of her entire career (especially odd for an actress who regularly underplayed her most emotional scenes). However, she received the best contemporary notices for the film, and would have been considered the most important actor in it by contemporary audiences. The script isn't especially sharp, and the musical score is the least of all the Astaire/Rogers films, though this says more about the extraordinary quality of the music from their RKO efforts than it does about THE BARKLEYS OF Broadway in particular (for example, the song 'You'd Be Hard To Replace' seems to me a lovely tune that is pretty much thrown away in the film). Still, it's always great to see the wondrous Astaire/Rogers pairing, and it's nice to have a chance to see them in color. It says everything about the quality of this series that I give BARKLEYS an 8 out of 10 rating though I consider it only the 8th best of the 10 films they made together. There's simply never been anything like them.