Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1949
The Barkleys of Broadway
Buy The Barkleys of Broadway now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'The Barkleys of Broadway' is a 1949 Technicolor musical film from the Arthur Freed unit at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that reunited Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers after ten years apart. Directed by Charles Walters, the screenplay is by Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Sidney Sheldon, the songs are by Harry Warren (music) and Ira Gershwin (lyrics) with the addition of "They Can't Take That Away from Me" by George and Ira Gershwin, and the choreography was created by Robert Alton and Hermes Pan. Also featured in the cast were Oscar Levant, Billie Burke, Jacques Franois and Gale Robbins. It is the last film that Astaire and Rogers made together, and their only film together in color. Rogers came in as a last minute replacement for Judy Garland, whose frequent absences due to a dependence on prescription medication cost her the role.
Plot
Josh and Dinah Barkley (Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers) are a husband-and-wife musical comedy team at the peak of their careers. After finishing a new show, Dinah meets serious French playwright Jacques Pierre Barredout (Jacques Franois), who suggests that Dinah should take up dramatic acting. Dinah tries to keep the suggestion a secret from Josh, but when he finally discovers Dinah hiding a script for Jacques' new show from him, the couple splits up.
Their good friend, acerbic composer Ezra Millar (Oscar Levant) tries to trick them back together again, but fails. When Josh secretly watches Dinah's rehearsals for Barredout's new play and sees how she is struggling, he calls her up and pretends to be the Frenchman, giving her notes that help her to understand her part, the young Sarah Bernhardt. As the result, Dinah gives a brilliant performance. After the show, she accidentally learns that her late-night mentor was Josh and not Barredout, so she rushes to Josh's apartment and the two reconcile.
Cast
and Ginger Rogers were reunited as a dance team, their only non-RKO film.
* Fred Astaire as Josh Barkley
* Ginger Rogers as Dinah Barkley
* Oscar Levant as Ezra Millar
* Billie Burke as Mrs Livingston Belney
* Gale Robbins as Shirlene May
* Jacques Franois as Jacques Pierre Barredout
* Clinton Sundberg as Bert Felsher
* Inez Cooper as Pamela Driscoll
* George Zucco as The Judge
* Hans Conried as Ladislaus Ladi
;Cast notes
*MGM borrowed Jacques Franois from Universal Pictures. 'Barkleys' was his first film in English, and was to be his last American film, although he appeared in two U.K.-based productions. His French film career was extensive: he worked up until his death in 2003.
Production
'The Barkleys of Broadway' began with the working title of 'You Made Me Love You', and with Judy Garland in the lead role opposite Fred Astaire, a repeat of their pairing in 'Easter Parade' (1948). In fact, producer Arthur Freed had Comden and Green working on the script for the new film even before 'Easter Parade' was finished. The film went into rehearsals with Garland, but it was soon clear that she would not be physically and emotionally able to do it. Freed contacted Ginger Rogers to see if she was interested in reuniting with Astaire: there had been rumors, denied by both, that the Astaire-Rogers working relationship had not been particularly warm, and they had not worked together since 'The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle' in 1939. Rogers was interested, and 'The Barkleys of Broadway' became their tenth and final film together, as well as their only film in color.
The production period was from 8 August through 30 October 1948, with some additional work on 28 December. While the film was in production, Fred Astaire won an honorary Academy Award for "his unique artistry and his contributions to the technique of musical pictures," presented to him at the awards ceremony by Ginger Rogers.
'The Barkleys of Broadway' premiered in New York on 4 May 1949 and went into general American release shortly after.IMDB [http://imdb.com/title/tt0041158/releaseinfo Release dates]
Songs
* '"Swing Trot"' music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. Dance critic Arlene Croce called this the best number in the film. Seen through the opening credits, it was released without visual impediment on 'That's Entertainment III' (1994).Margarita Landazuri [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=1315&category=Articles "The Barkleys of Broadway" (TCM article)]
* '"Sabre Dance"' by Aram Khachaturian, arranged for piano and orchestra, with Oscar Levant at the piano
* '"You'd Be Hard to Replace"' by Harry Warren and Ira Gershwin
* '"Bouncin' the Blues"' by Harry Warren
* '"My One and Only Highland Fling"' by Harry Warren and Ira Gershwin
* '"Weekend in the Country"' by Harry Warren and Ira Gershwin. Performed by Astaire, Rogers and Oscar Levant.
* '"Shoes with Wings On"' by Harry Warren and Ira Gershwin. Fred Astaire performs this number alone, as part of the show that Josh Barkley does by himself. It utilized compositing to have Astaire, a cobbler, dance with many pairs of shoes.
* 'Piano Concerto No. 1 (Tchaikovsky)' (abridged) Performed by Oscar Levant with full symphony orchestra.
* '"They Can't Take That Away From Me"' by George Gershwin (music) and Ira Gershwin (lyrics). This song was also used in RKO's 1937 Astaire-Rogers film 'Shall We Dance', where Astaire had sung it to Rogers (as here). Their dance duet here (ballroom no tap), one of their most effective, was the first time they danced it together.
* '"Manhattan Downbeat"' by Harry Warren and Ira Gershwin
Three other Harry Warren-Ira Gershwin songs were intended for the film but never used: "The Courtin' of Elmer and Ella," "Natchez on the Mississippi," and "Poetry in Motion."TCM [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=1315&category=Notes Notes] Another song by Warren and Gershwin, "There is No Music", was dropped from the film when Judy Garland was released from the picture.
Response
Critical
Critical response to 'The Barkleys of Broadway' was mixed but positive.Box Office
According to MGM records the film earned $2,987,000 in the US and Canada and $1,434,000 overseas resulting in a profit of $324,000.Awards and honors
Although the film did not win any awards, it did receive several nominations. Cinematographer Harry Stradling Sr. was nominated for a 1950 Academy Award for Best Color Cinematography, and writers Comden and Green were nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Written American Musical.IMDB [http://imdb.com/title/tt0041158/awards Awards]
Adaptations
A radio version of the film was broadcast on January 1, 1951 as an episode of the 'Lux Radio Theater', with Ginger Rogers reprising the role of Dinah Barkley, and George Murphy playing her husband and partner Josh.
References
Buy The Barkleys of Broadway now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1949