A Damsel in Distress ***½ (1937, Fred Astaire, Joan Fontaine, George Burns, Gracie Allen) – Classic Movie Review 5113

After so many films together, Ginger Rogers wanted a rest from acting, singing and dancing with Fred Astaire, so the RKO studio matched him together with a decorative and appealing Joan Fontaine. Alas that turns out not to be the same thing at all, as, good though they are separately, they do not share the same special chemistry magic of the Astaire-Rogers partnership. And, unfortunately, Fontaine is revealed as a drab dancer.

The rest, however, is Fred Astaire show business as usual, with many highlights and much to commend in director George Stevens’s 1937 romantic comedy musical movie. Astaire is at his most debonair, and there are lovely classic George and Ira Gershwin tunes (‘A Foggy Day in London Town’, ‘Nice Work if You Can Get it’, ‘Things Are Looking Up’, ‘Put Me to the Test’), there is a tailor-made P G Wodehouse story about an American dancer called Jerry Halliday (Astaire) falling for an English rose named Lady Alyce Marshmorton (Fontaine), and there is also expert comedy support from George Burns and Gracie Allen no less.

Dance director Hermes Pan won the 1938 Best Dance Direction Oscar for the clever and witty ‘Fun House’ number, in which Astaire, Burns and Allen romp through the distorting mirrors and revolving drums of a fun house. Carroll Clark was Oscar nominated for Best Art Direction. It is written by P G Wodehouse, S K Lauren and Ernest Pagano, shot in black and white by Joseph H August and produced by Pandro S Berman.

Also in the cast are Reginald Gardiner, Constance Collier, Ray Noble, Montagu Love, Harry Watson, Jan Duggan, Mary Dean, Mary Gordon and Fred Kelsey.

Fontaine later joked that the film set back her career four years, saying that at the premiere a woman sitting behind her exclaimed ‘Isn’t she awful!’ while she was dancing.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5113

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