That Artie Shaw must have been hard to live with! married eight times... and to some big names too! Lana Turner, Ava Gardner, Evelyn Keyes. None of those marriages lasted very long, until the last one. Shaw, Fred Astaire, and Charles Butterworth carry this one. The awesome Paulette Goddard is pretty much wasted in this, as "The secretary". The story is so-so, but it's pretty much an excuse to hear Artie Shaw. Turns out Fred Astaire was one of the producers...one of the few films he produced. So of course, he dances to Artie Shaw's music. and sings. Pretty silly. Entertaining... a chance to see all the big stars and hear some great jazz, and watch Fred A do his thing but its all too silly for words. Showing on Turner Classics. Directed by H.C. Potter. Written by Frank Cavett, who would go on to win TWO Oscars! Nominated for two Oscars for Shaw's music, but didn't win.

This is an OK Fred Astaire movie. A couple of good dance sequences - one with Paulette Goddard, who is not impressive on the floor, and one where he's tap-dancing while conducting Artie Shaw's orchestra. The plot is dismal, Burgess Meredith as comic relief is faintly amusing at best, though in his defense the script gave him very little to work with.Fans of swing will want to see "Second Chorus", though, for the musical sequences. In particular, a five-minute fantasia that Shaw and the band (plus a string section) play. This piece has been scored and has been recorded several times under the title of Artie Shaw's Clarinet Concerto; but no other clarinetist, popular or classical, has brought the same excitement to the piece that Shaw did. It's worth renting for that sequence alone.It's a real shame that the director couldn't work out a sequence in which Astaire dances to Shaw's clarinet - playing, say, "Begin the Beguine", or "Frenesi", or "Traffic Jam", or any other his many other hits. A real shame indeed.

Let's begin by saying that Fred Astaire is watchable in ANYTHING such is his charisma, vocal and dancing ability but having said that this vehicle needs all the help it can get. Maybe in 1940 Paulette Goddard was considered leading lady material but even Joan Fontaine (who co-starred with Astaire in A Damsel In Distress) was better than this. It's possible also that back in 1940 moviegoers wouldn't have questioned two middle-aged guys who keep deliberately flunking courses in order to stay in College and play in a band - BUT, did no one wonder about the OTHER band members? Theoretically the band would change personnel every year given that the average College degree takes four years to obtain and presumably when the band was founded it contained members from Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior Classes. On the plus side there is, of course, Artie Shaw, who ran one of the Greatest bands of the Swing era and far outclassed Benny Goodman as a clarinettist. It's one of the few pictures where Astaire has no real excuse to dance - by which I mean the storyline makes no mention of him as a hoofer as is often the case in his movies - so that the few dances have to be contrived and even then they pale by comparison to his hoofing in other films. If you're an Astaire completist you'll want to see this but there's not an awful lot to make you want to own it.

I originally bought this movie in 1980 at a bookstore that sold tapes along with books. In the process of packing for a move and I am converting all of the tapes to DVD and WAS this one ever a shock! It is NOT a b movie but really stands out as a wonderful film. Astaire sings and dances with this wonderful flair. Arte Shaw's music is great, and the Jazz numbers while perhaps unknown by today's standards should not be overlooked, Paulette Goddard from her loss 2 years before as Scarlett shows she is a fine performer, and Burgess Meredith 24 years before Batman and 35 years before Rocky, also demonstrated he is a really good actor.