Carefree

1938's CAREFREE was one of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers' late screen outings, and is probably not one of their finest hours.  Not due to a lack of ambition.  The screenplay penned by Allan Scott and Ernest Pagano is plot heavy and eventful.  Typical screwball.  It is just fine, and with a few tweaks might've been some sort of template for this sort of thing.   The cast, however, all seem a bit off their game.  For the comedic stuff at least.  The song and dance is (almost) always the thing in these vehicles, and is as entertaining as always.  My particular favorite has Astaire "tap golfing".  Bet that took more than a few takes.

Astaire plays Dr. Tony Flagg, a psychiatrist whose friend Stephen (Ralph Bellamy) is distraught over his fiancee Amanda's (Rogers) repeated cold feet regarding marriage.  Stephen suggests Tony take her on as a patient, to perhaps probe her subconscious to get to the root of the problem.   We know she doesn't really love the poor lug, and what eventually happens in this story doesn't take much frontal lobe activity to figure.  Of course, Amanda initially resists the charming Tony.  Wacky complications - including Amanda's loopy behavior while under anaethesia and hypnosis - ensue.  There are four musical numbers, one of which "I Used to be Color Blind",  ironically titled as it was originally intended to be in color but I guess the budget wasn't quite there.

Rogers gets to show her comic chops and for the most part pulls it off.  She's quite sexy in moments, too.  But at the same time she seems a bit bored with it all, as does Astaire, who can't help but be dashing and charming.  Bellamy, who's played this part a few times (HIS GIRL FRIDAY), is just about phoning it in.  Even worse is Luella Gear as Amanda's Aunt Cora, who comes off as perplexed.  Director Mark Sandrich, who also helmed TOP HAT, does a creditable job but can't keep the pace sufficiently brisk.  The film's eighty-three minutes feel much longer. 

But you're here for the duo's chemistry and dance moves, right? You'll be satisfied.  Maybe hit those chapter stops if you watch this on physical media.