Broadway tune 1940

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Movie
German title Broadway tune 1940
Original title Broadway Melody of 1940
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1940
length 102 minutes
Rod
Director Norman Taurog
script Leon Gordon ,
George Oppenheimer
production Jack Cummings
music Cole Porter ,
Roger Edens ,
Walter Ruick
camera Oliver T. Marsh ,
Joseph Ruttenberg
cut Blanche Sewell
occupation

Broadway Melody 1940 is an MGM revue film from 1940. This film was the last in a series of four "Broadway Melody" films by MGM.

action

Johnny Brett and King Shaw are a dancing team who have been abandoned by luck and perform in a small dance hall. Clare Bennett, however, made it to the big star on Broadway . Thanks to a mix-up, Shaw is offered to appear as Clare's dance partner on a new Broadway show, even though it was actually Johnny that Bob Casey, the show's producer, had seen and wanted to hire. The partners split up, but Johnny stays close to Shaw to eventually step in. The unexpected success goes visibly to Shaw's head. Meanwhile, Clare notices that Johnny is actually the better and falls in love with him. When Shaw got drunk on the night of the premiere, Johnny dances in his place and enchants the audience with his skills.

Singing and dance numbers

  • "Please Don't Monkey with Broadway" - Text and music by Cole Porter , sung and danced by Fred Astaire and George Murphy. Astaire and Murphy appear both in tails and top hats with a stick. You enter a circular area, where you are surrounded by numerous spectators. After a vocal introduction, the tap dance begins. At first they dance parallel symmetrically, at the beginning still leaning on the stick, later freely in the room until Astaire slips and Murphey kicks in the buttocks. Both are mad at each other and Astaire throws the gauntlet to Murphey. A kind of quilted dialogue begins, which leads to a fencing scene in which the sticks are used like swords. The choreographed fencing match ends with a piercing from Astaire (outcry in the audience). He collapses and is "taken away" by Murphy. They leave the stage to applause.
  • "All Ashore" - Text and music by Roger Edens, sung and danced by Eleanor Powell and a sailor choir. This is one of the few numbers in which Powell sang himself and her voice was not doubled. The number begins with a group of singing sailors who sway back and forth like on a swaying ship. Powell joins them later. This is followed by a longer quilted interlude, which is sometimes accompanied by the whistling of the sailors. Powell shows her ballet training in addition to the perfect tap technique. Towards the end of the number the dance ends in a kind of pas de trois in which two sailors perform different figures with Powell.
  • "Between You Me" - Text and music by Cole Porter , sung by George Murphy, danced by Murphy and Eleanor Powell.
  • "I've Got My Eyes on You" (1939) - Text and music by Cole Porter , sung and danced by Fred Astaire . This number (duration: 4'47 ″) is a longer solo in which there are many elements that are typical of Astaire as a versatile artist, dancer, singer, pianist and choreographer. At the beginning he appears without music and improvises a step step. Then he goes to the piano and looks at a spherical object on which the name "Clare" is engraved. Then he sits down at the piano with his thoughts on Clare (Powell), whom he admires, plays and sings "I've Got My Eyes On You". Striking are the upright piano placed tap shoes and the hat he declines to play the piano. Then he first plays this song from the notes on the piano, introducing the three accessories used in the dance (ball, hat, notes) into the picture. Making music from sheet music is in stark contrast to the much more cheerful ragtime “improvised” by Astaire . Clare (Powell) stands in the background and watches enthusiastically. The film music sets in with the ragtime, Astaire continues to play the piano, but tapping a few sequences to the piano in between, bumping the piano with his feet as a sound instrument. Then he gets up, puts on his hat a little crooked in his typical way and starts to dance. He juggles the spherical object (obviously without a single cut), then takes the notes with Clare's picture from the piano and, as it were, dances with Clare, passionately looking at her picture on the notes (cf. the "Ceiling Dance" from Royal Wedding ) In a ballet-like pantomime he shows his passion for Clare again. Finally he steps through the backdrop of the stage, uses the superstructures as a quilting mat, steps on a park bench, over sofas, and alternately on the floor and on a low stage heel (cf. Gene Kelly on the sidewalk in "Singin 'in the Rain") ). At the end there is a juggling with the ball, Clare's picture on the sheet of music and the hat, until he finally dances out of the picture.
  • “Jukebox Dance” - Text and music by Walter Ruick, danced by Eleanor Powell and Fred Astaire . This was the two artists' first film duo. Powell later said that of all the numbers in her films with Fred Astaire, this was her favorite. At the beginning of this excellent dance number (2'46 ″) Powell and Astaire first exchange ideas about step steps. They quickly agree on a common step. The cellar turns on the jukebox and they “improvise” a dance. They dance in parallel at first, briefly handclapping in the middle of the dance, then unite and continue dancing as a couple. The music gets faster. After a few turns together, they dance again in parallel formation, use handclapping and again end up in a pair formation. The choreography impresses with its virtuosity, the idea of ​​improvisation, as it were, and the very light and rhythmically melodic tap sounds.
  • " I Concentrate on You " - Text and music by Cole Porter , sung by Douglas McPhail, danced by Eleanor Powell and Fred Astaire. This number starts as a ballet performance with Powell as a soloist in the middle of a corps de ballet . Astaire joins in the middle of the number, Powell is of course surprised because she was expecting her actual partner (Murphey). Apart from a short and insignificant quilting at Astaire's appearance (he is standing on a balcony), a ballet-like pas de deux follows in a kind of Harlequin and Columbine costume.
  • “ Begin the Beguine ” - Text and music by Cole Porter , sung by Carmen D'Antonio (doubled by Lois Hardnett) and The Music Maids, danced by Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell. There is a longer passage in which there is no music other than the sound of the tap shoes. This moment is one of the highlights of the documentary That's Entertainment! (1974).
  • "I've Got My Eyes on You" - danced by Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell and George Murphy. This number takes place again in the same place (black floor, black curtain in the background, white clothes of the dancers), like the fantastic duet to “Begin the Beguine” and now forms a worthy conclusion for the three of them, although the genius of the choreography for the couple is not reached again.

production

Broadway Melody of 1940 is based on a story by Jack McGowan and Dore Schary . Schary was production manager from 1948 and director of MGM from 1951 to 1956. Originally it was planned that the film would be shot in Technicolor , but because of the turmoil in World War II, the decision was made to produce it in black and white.

This film was the fourth and final in a series of several "Broadway Melody" films by MGM. The first came out in 1929 under the title The Broadway Melody . Then came Broadway Melody of 1936 and Broadway Melody of 1938 . Apart from the number "Broadway Melody", the films have nothing in common with each other. In the last film from 1940 this number can only be heard at the beginning. Powell starred in three films (1936, 1938, 1940), but always in a different role. A fifth film, Broadway Melody , which would feature Eleanor Powell with Gene Kelly , was slated for the early 1940s. However, production was canceled during the rehearsal phase. Another production was to come out under the title Broadway Melody of 1944 , but was then renamed Broadway Rhythm . The 1940 film is considered Powell's last big hit on the big screen. After a few more modest successes, she retired from the film business a few years after this film. Apart from documentaries, this is the first Powell film to be released on DVD.

Fred Astaire left RKO shortly before filming began . Broadway Melody of 1940 was his first MGM film, apart from a small role in Dancing Lady (1933). According to the reports, Astaire was a little nervous about his collaboration with Powell as she was one of the few female dancers who could seriously compete with him here. In the introduction to her book The MGM Story , Powell says that they had little to say to each other at the beginning. Powell then said to Astaire, “Look, we can't go on like this. I'm Ellie; you're Fred. We're just two hoofers ". After that they got along very well and rehearsed to perfection.

Broadway Melody of 1940 was produced from early September to late November 1939. The construction for the set of "Begin the Beguine" alone cost $ 120,000. A 60 foot set of mirrors were used, all mounted on a revolving stage to change the background.

This film is alluded to in the satirical song "George Murphy" by Tom Lehrer , where a dancer becomes a Senator of the United States: "Think of all the musicals we have in store, / Imagine: Broadway Melody of Nineteen Eighty-Four . "

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