The Fred Astaire Filmography Challenge: 1935's Roberta

I've had a bit of a hiatus with my Fred Astaire Filmography Challenge (watching all Fred Astaire musical films ever made), but last night I settled down on the couch with a cup of tea and a copy of Roberta from my Fred and Ginger box set.


I'll admit right off the bat that I didn't enjoy this movie nearly as much as other Astaire-Rogers offerings like Swing Time, the Gay Divorcee or even Flying Down to Rio. It follows standard Fred-and-Ginger-RKO-fare: the big white sets, the silly farcical sitcom circumstances, plus outlandish 1930s fashions – but for me something in this movie doesn't quite gel. The dialogue isn't quite as snappy as it should be, and Fred and Ginger's characters are both a bit lost in a sea of sub-plots. Plus, Ginger Roger's fake Polish accent drove me up the wall.


Roberta movie trailer

Here's a quick plot synopsis:

John Kent (Randolph Scott, who also appeared with Fred in "Follow the Fleet") is a former college football player and small-town hick who goes to Paris with his friend Huck Haines (Fred's character) and Fred's dance band, the Wabash Indianians. A Parisian cafe owner has booked the band for an engagement, but upon their arrival the contract is off because the cafe owner wanted native Indians, not a band from Indiana. At this point Fred and the boys try to woo the cafe owner by playing him a number by way of an on-the-spot audition - but I have to say the 'fake pipe organ' gag they do is so awful that I would have fired them too.

Broke and jobless, John and the band look up John's Aunt Minnie in hope of help. She owns a renowned high fashion dress shop which she runs with her assistant Stephanie (Irene Dunne). John of course falls in love with Stephanie and entaglements ensue later when his estranged snobbish girlfriend from America comes to Paris.

Meanwhile, Huck discovers his old flame Lizzie is in Paris masquerading as the "Countess Scharwenka", which is why we have to put up with Ginger's horribly annoying Polish-or-something accent throughout the film. She gets Huck's band an engagement at the nightclub where she sings (which turns out to be the same club that had fired the band previously for not being Indians).

Aunt Minnie dies unexpectedly and John inherits the shop, but he agrees to run it in partnership with Stephanie. When John's old girlfriend shows up (interested in a new start now that he's inherited a potential fortune in the dress shop), Stephanie and Sophie out-cat each other for John's interest, involving a sneaky move on Stephanie's part to ensure Sophie wears that dress.

All in all, the storyline revolved way too much around the John-and-Stephanie storyline and Fred and Ginger's characters seemed unecessary and even 'in the way' for most of the film. I found little to no chemistry between Fred and Ginger's characters, and when they decided to get engaged near the end of the film you're left wondering if the screenwriter must have thought "Crap, I'd better do something with these two minor characters, the film's almost over!"

The dancing and Fred and Ginger's singing numbers are alright, but nothing to write home about. My favourite was the "I'll be hard to handle" dance duet (after Ginger sings the song in her stupid accent). I do LOVE her cute high-waisted pantsuit outfit though.

Irene Dunne gets top billing in this film, and sings a number of times throughout the feature. I'm not a huge fan of her singing, so these warbly scenes were something I could have done without. The "I Won't Dance" song by Fred is the best of the film's musical offerings.

All in all I felt that Roberta lacked the spark, cohesiveness and dynamism of other Astaire-Rogers films - especially the ones featuring Edward Everett Horton and Eric Blore as supporting players.

While not a terrible movie, it isn't one of their best. An interesting bit of trivia is that a young and blonde Lucille Ball (who was a contract player at RKO at the time) is one of the uncredited models in the fashion show finale of the movie, wearing the large, fluffy feather cape.