You know a film is in trouble when middle-aged Burgess Meredith and Fred Astaire play college students!!! Mostly it's an excuse for music, however--and the plot seems secondary.Meredith and Astaire claim to be friends but throughout the film they stab each other in the back again and again. Sometimes they do this to get the girl (Paulette Goddard) and sometimes they do it do get jobs. Either way, they are both obnoxious and selfish jerks. In many ways, this plays like a Hope-Crosby film but without the laughs and the repartee between the characters seems quite forced. The bottom line is that unlike Hope and Crosby, the pair in this film are not likable. And so, it's hard to care about the film unless you are just watching to see and hear Artie Shaw and his orchestra. The bottom line is that even with Charles Butterworth (who is always a joy to watch), the film suffers from bad writing, too much music and unlikable characters--not a recipe for a good film. Avoid it unless you have absolutely nothing better to do...like washing your hair or counting the tiles in your kitchen floor.

Second Chorus as a movie is a little disappointing to say the least.Paulette Goddard, despite the great acting ability and the great beauty she possessed, is alarmingly miscast when it came to anything slightly musical.The Characters portrayed by Fred Astaire and Burgess Merideth are both shockingly underused - Astaire is given but two or three dance routines at the most and the odd song, whilst Merideth who was obviously the comic relief was given very poor material and very little to do, especially when both were capable of so much more. Their characters are also dis likable double crossing schmucks who never miss a chance to screw each other over, sometimes in the nastiest ways possible.Artie Shaw however does shine. Okay he wasn't the best actor ever but then he never pretended to be or I'm sure even wanted to be. He was by all accounts portraying a man named Artie Shaw, a clarinet playing band leader and no acting was really required. He was in the film purely to showcase his music and his orchestra and it must be said, he fulfilled his contract perfectly.Only two or three scenes save this already obscure picture from the deeper obscurity it would so otherwise deserve.1) The scene where Astaire having had his Trumpet solo completely rewritten by Merideth for his long awaited, life changing and career defining audition with Artie Shaws band, starts blasting out bum notes and discordant musical passages that foul up the entire song. Hilarious almost pant wetting comedy, expertly acted by the confused Astaire, made even more funny by the fact that he obviously attach's the blame of the bum arrangement to the great Artie Shaw himself before realisation dawns.2)Artie Shaws great if somewhat shortened Concerto for Clarinet which not only proves that he the best clarinet player the world had known before or since, but that his band was truly the premier big band orchestra of the day. It is a shame his music and talent could not be showcased a little more than it was. In this film it seems he talks more than he actually plays.3) Astaire again conducting Shaws band to "Poor Mr.Chisolm" while tapping his merry little head off. Again like Shaw, Astaire was the very best at his chosen craft and this film apart from this moment does little to showcase it.With input from top quality entertainers like Astaire and Shaw this film could have pulled such wonderful feats out of the hat, yet apart from the three scenes mentioned, it failed at almost every single level and every opportunity was missed.The plot was weak, and the dialogue far from clever and as a motion picture alone it fails to stand up, but for lovers of Astaire and fans of Artie Shaws music may find them like I did the saving Grace of a spent force. Definitely one black cloud with two silver linings.

The only things that save Second Chorus from being a complete disaster are Astaire's dancing and Artie Shaw and his band's music.The writing is horrendous, managing to make even Astaire's character dislikable, as he does truly nasty things to his "friend," the equally dislikably nasty Burgess Meredith.Charles Butterworth, who is supposed to be the comic foil in this picture, is as lame an actor as I've seen.Finally, the look of the film is awful, with harsh lighting and shadows. (I realize this may be because the surviving print of this film has deteriorated over the years.) Unfortunately, the music and dance numbers are few and far between. However, if you're a die hard Astaire and/or big band fan, it's worth fast-forwarding through the dialog to get to any scene where Fred's dancing or Artie and his band are playing.

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.