Film Review: The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)

When great duos of cinemas get reunited after a long time, the results often leave much to be desired. One exception to this rule was provided by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, iconic dance supercouple of 1930s Hollywood, in The Barkleys of Broadway, 1949 musical comedy directed by Charles Walters, their last film together.

Astaire and Rogers play Josh and Dinah Barkley, husband-and-wife musical comedy duo that is enjoying immense popularity on Broadway. Although their career is successful, its demands have put high strain on their marriage and things begin to deteriorate when Dinah becomes emotionally insecure over Bert Felsher (played by Clinton Sundberg), producer of their show, insisting that less talented but younger actress Shirlene May (played by Gale Robbins) serves as her understudy. Situation gets further complicated when Dinah meets Jacques Pierre Barredout (played by Jacques François), French playwright and director who claims that she is perfect for the main role in his upcoming biographic play about famous actress Sarah Bernhardt. Dinah becomes determined to prove herself as serious dramatic actress and starts to prepare for the role in secret. When Josh finds out about, he takes great offence, which leads to couple separating and continuing to work on rival productions. Josh gradually realises that he can’t live without Dinah and decides to sabotage her performance in Barredout’s play, but his efforts have comically opposite effect.

Astaire and Rogers also played married couple ten years earlier in The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, biopic that failed at the box office, thus marking a clear signal that they should part ways. Their reunion in The Barkleys of Broadway, their first and last film made in colour, wasn’t originally intended. The film was produced by MGM and envisioned for Astaire and Judy Garland, that studio’s greatest star. Garland, however, developed serious drug addiction problem and became unavailable, forcing MGM to bring Rogers as replacement. She, contrary to many urban legends about her and Astaire not standing each other at set, was delighted with opportunity to again play with an old friend. Despite years that passed by, the chemistry between the two is palpable, and their performance on screen is flawless. Rogers was further attracted to the film because character of Dinah in some ways resembled herself in real life. In 1930s she was also seen almost exclusively as dancer, singer and comedienne and later tried to prove herself as serious dramatic actress, an effort that ultimately brought her Oscar with the role in Kitty Foyle. Rogers is quite enthusiastic and effective in her performance. Astaire, although giving a solid performance, is easily overshadowed by her.

While The Barkleys of Broadway had success at the box office, critics were mixed and it is, to a degree, reflected on film’s reputation today. The main argument for criticism can be found in not particularly inspired script by Betty Comden and Adolph Green that, while serviceable, doesn’t go beyond the most obvious comical observations about realities of show business. Others often point to quality of song numbers written by Harry Warren and Ira Gershwin, which looks poorly to the material used in 1930s musicals starring Astaire and Rogers. Perhaps aware of that, director Walters add classical piano pieces of Aram Khachaturyan (“Sabre Dance”) and Tchaikovsky, which are performed by Oscar Levant who is quite good in the role of composer and Barkley’s cynical friend Ezra Millar. Astaire and Rogers perform well, even when material might look a little bit cringy, like “My One and Only Highland Fling”, in which they perform dressed in kilts and singing with heavy Scottish brogue. But the pair more than acquits themselves with brilliant dance rendition of “They Can't Take That Away from Me”, song first used in 1937 film Shall We Dance. Good colour cinematography, excellent performances and high production values of MGM, studio at the top of its game, are reasons why this film can be recommended even to the audiences that don’t care much about musicals or legendary screen couples.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

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