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Easter Parade, 1948
Don Hewes (Fred Astaire) has just been dumped by his long-time dance partner, Nadine (Ann Miller). Drunkenly swearing that he could be a hit with any female partner, he scouts small-time dancer Hannah Brown (Judy Garland). At first trying to mold her as a replacement for Nadine, he soon realizes he needs to embrace her style of song and dance. This is all complicated by a crush that Don's friend, Johnny (Peter Lawford), has on Nadine.
This film stands in an interesting contrast to For Me and My Gal. For starters, Gene Kelly was originally to play the role of Don Hewes. After an injury, Astaire came in to take over the role. The result is that three of the four leads are all 26 years old, while Astaire is 49 years old. Despite a fair amount of the film relating to Hewes respecting Hannah, the romance aspect doesn't read quite right. This might also be something that bothers me because for a while it seemed as if the romance would be between Johnny and Hannah, and the rest of the film explore the professional relationship between Hannah and Don. Alas, no. And unlike For Me and My Gal, the plot between the song and dance numbers is relatively thin. There just isn't enough background or depth to the characters to make them really interesting, or to explain why Hannah falls for Don.
The musical numbers themselves are pretty charming, especially the "flop" number when Don and Hannah disastrously perform for an audience with Hannah exactly one half step behind on everything. It takes a lot of skill to get something so wrong, so right. And the added touch of Garland's dress shedding feathers left and right is perfect. Despite being the general "villain" of the film, Miller's Nadine gives a very funny performance and some really solid dance numbers of her own.
Again, though, I was just a bit distracted by all the parallels with For Me and My Gal. Seasoned performer scouts Judy Garland character. Conflict around half of a partnership jumping ship for a big opportunity. Heck, even the line "Why didn't you tell me I loved you?" is reused. A seemingly very fitting alternative romantic interest. (I was going to say "both called Johnny", but in the other film his name is Jimmy, LOL). Now, there's nothing wrong with Easter Parade taking a much lighter approach, it's just that it must contend with the echoes of a film I found a lot more compelling.
Solid musical numbers, great lead performances, story a bit thin.
Easter Parade, 1948
Don Hewes (Fred Astaire) has just been dumped by his long-time dance partner, Nadine (Ann Miller). Drunkenly swearing that he could be a hit with any female partner, he scouts small-time dancer Hannah Brown (Judy Garland). At first trying to mold her as a replacement for Nadine, he soon realizes he needs to embrace her style of song and dance. This is all complicated by a crush that Don's friend, Johnny (Peter Lawford), has on Nadine.
This film stands in an interesting contrast to For Me and My Gal. For starters, Gene Kelly was originally to play the role of Don Hewes. After an injury, Astaire came in to take over the role. The result is that three of the four leads are all 26 years old, while Astaire is 49 years old. Despite a fair amount of the film relating to Hewes respecting Hannah, the romance aspect doesn't read quite right. This might also be something that bothers me because for a while it seemed as if the romance would be between Johnny and Hannah, and the rest of the film explore the professional relationship between Hannah and Don. Alas, no. And unlike For Me and My Gal, the plot between the song and dance numbers is relatively thin. There just isn't enough background or depth to the characters to make them really interesting, or to explain why Hannah falls for Don.
The musical numbers themselves are pretty charming, especially the "flop" number when Don and Hannah disastrously perform for an audience with Hannah exactly one half step behind on everything. It takes a lot of skill to get something so wrong, so right. And the added touch of Garland's dress shedding feathers left and right is perfect. Despite being the general "villain" of the film, Miller's Nadine gives a very funny performance and some really solid dance numbers of her own.
Again, though, I was just a bit distracted by all the parallels with For Me and My Gal. Seasoned performer scouts Judy Garland character. Conflict around half of a partnership jumping ship for a big opportunity. Heck, even the line "Why didn't you tell me I loved you?" is reused. A seemingly very fitting alternative romantic interest. (I was going to say "both called Johnny", but in the other film his name is Jimmy, LOL). Now, there's nothing wrong with Easter Parade taking a much lighter approach, it's just that it must contend with the echoes of a film I found a lot more compelling.
Solid musical numbers, great lead performances, story a bit thin.