Film Week

A review of the films I've seen this past week.

EASTER PARADE (1948)
I woke up late in the morning on Easter Sunday and found that my TiVo was recording this off of TCM. I'll admit, too, that I decided to go back to the beginning and watch it because Ann Miller makes me unbelievably horny. She's a wonderful dancer and a joy to watch, but being honest, she also makes me incredibly horny. Anyway, as to the film itself... I haven't seen much in the way of Fred Astaire films, and every time I see him in a musical, I'm not sure why that is. He's a tremendous dancer. I'm more of a Gene Kelly fan, but you can't really compare the two in style: Kelly made bold, powerful movements, while Astaire is more graceful and even, I think, a bit more playful. The first musical number, with Astaire dancing in a toy store among those drums, is pure magic. The plot involves a famous dancing team (Astaire and Miller) who break up when she decides to go it on her own in order to headline her own show. Astaire then claims he can turn anybody into a perfect dance partner, and simply picks out a chorus girl from a bar (but she is Judy Garland, so who wouldn't pick her out of a crowd?) and... well, you've seen movies before, you know where this is going. Going into this movie, with all of the elements that make up classic 1940s musicals--Astaire, Miller, Garland, a script by Frances Goodrich & Albert Hackett, produced by Arthur Freed, music by Irving Berlin--you expect that it's going to be great. And it is. But I'm always surprised by just how much I get wrapped up in these films. A superlative musical; fluffy, but great. **** stars.