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Good story, Not enough for a whole film

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

In the early part of the twentieth century the divide between the theatrical branch and the cinematic branch of the acting profession was much greater than it is today, and relations between the two branches were not always cordial, with stage actors regarding the cinema as a vulgar pantomime and screen actors regarding theatricals as snobbish and pretentious. To judge by the barbed satire aimed at Broadway in "All about Eve", relations do not appear to have improved much by the early fifties, and "The Band Wagon" is another film from the same period designed to show that anything Broadway could do, Hollywood could do better. Even putting on a stage production.Tony Hunter is a song-and-dance Hollywood star who comes back East to take the lead in "The Band Wagon", a stage musical written by his friends, the husband-and-wife partnership of Lester and Lily Marton. (Tony is not only based upon but also played by Fred Astaire). Unfortunately, the production has fallen into the hands of Jeffrey Cordova, a pretentious, self-obsessed Broadway actor- director who wants to turn the Martons' light-hearted comedy into a portentous modern-day reinterpretation of the Faust legend. Predictably, Cordova's production turns out to be a total flop and its backers pull out, whereupon Mr Hollywood rides to the rescue. Tony offers to sell his personal art collection to refinance the show on condition he is given total artistic control. He ditches Cordova's ideas and restores the Martons' original conception; Cordova is enough of a good sport to recognise the justice of Tony's complaints and continues to act in the show. Equally predictably, Tony's production proves a rip-roaring success.A sub-plot deals with Tony's romance with the show's leading lady, a beautiful prima ballerina named Gaby. The two start off by taking an instant dislike to one another, but in that hoary old rom-com cliché (hoary even in 1953), hatred at first sight is always the prelude to true love. Gaby, in fact, already has a boyfriend, a choreographer named Paul, but as he proves to be a snobbish culture-vulture of the same stamp as Cordova, he can quite safely be discarded. So there we have it. Mr Hollywood proves that that he can direct a theatrical production better than any of those snooty Broadway types, and is rewarded for doing so by winning the heart of a girl young enough to be his daughter.A later Astaire musical, "Funny Face", was famously (and in my view wrongly), attacked by the film critic of "The Times" for its alleged "anti-intellectualism". (The film-makers' offence was to have poked fun at Jean-Paul Sartre, something of a sacred cow in the fifties). I felt, however, that the same charge could have been brought, with greater justice, against "The Band Wagon". I found myself sympathising with Cordova much more than I was supposed to. Certainly, the man has his faults, but at least he has some sort of artistic vision and respect for culture. Tony, by contrast, is all too obviously the sort of man who, when he hears the words "culture" or "artistic vision", reaches for his (metaphorical) revolver. We never get to see very much of what Cordova's "Faust" musical would have been like, but we see quite lengthy excerpts from the original version of the show, and it appears to be less a musical than a revue, a series of miscellaneous sketches with no unifying theme. The "Louisiana Hayride" number looks like a rip-off of "Oklahoma!", "Triplets" is a novelty comic song and the finale is an attempt to turn a Chandleresque hard-boiled detective story into a musical comedy. (Yes, it's just as bizarre as it sounds).According to one legend, the report on Astaire after his first screen test for RKO read "Can't sing. Can't act. Balding. Can dance a little," and (apart from the "balding" part) the same could have been said of his leading lady here, Cyd Charisse. OK, Cyd could dance more than just "a little"; she was a former ballerina who was perhaps the best female dancer in Hollywood at this period. She was also a great beauty who undoubtedly had the best legs in Hollywood, notwithstanding any claims to the contrary made on behalf of Betty Grable. She was not, however, a great singer or actress. The first of these problems could be overcome by dubbing her singing voice, but there was little anyone could do about the second. There is little chemistry between her and Astaire and the scene where they initially quarrel seems particularly contrived and artificial. This lack of chemistry is not necessarily simply due to the age gap; Astaire was to combine rather better with his co- star in "Funny Face", Audrey Hepburn, who was eight years younger even than Charisse.On the positive side, the whole thing is very professionally and slickly produced; Astaire shows that his dancing skills had not been diminished by his advancing years, although to be honest he was never a great singer. (There may be some truth in that RKO legend). There are some decent songs, such as "That's Entertainment!" and "Dancing in the Dark". The story, however, is not a very interesting one and merely serves as a framework on which to hang a very miscellaneous ragbag of song-and-dance numbers. "The Band Wagon", in the sense of the real-life film, has little more coherence than the fictitious stage show with which it shares a name. 6/10

Minelli's great master piece is undoubtedly The Band Wagon. Although it tells the commonplace story of a show and the plot is classic, that is to have a project for a show, the difficulties and success of life, Vicente Minnelli has succeeded in creating a movie of fine psychological analysis, prompting the spectator to think about society. Thus the Director responds well to those who have severely criticized musicals. Another element which gives particular value to this movie is the ballet Girl Hunt. Inspired by detective movies, Minnelli also has a lot of humor, humanity and poetry. It is a well stylized ballet. This belongs to a category of movies without violence and perhaps without cruelty. These days we no longer see musicals of this quality and the opportunity to see such masterpieces as The Band Wagon in more cinemas would be welcomed.

Here's the question of the century. Is it wrong to say that the best Fred Astaire picture happens to be one without Ginger Rogers? In the case of Vincente Minnelli's wonderful 1953 musical masterpiece "The Band Wagon", I think not. This is the film that answers the question: how does MGM follow up a big hit like "Singin' in the Rain" (1952)? Well, for starters, getting Betty Comden and Adolph Green, the same screenwriters of that film, to write the script for this one is a pretty darn good idea. Furthermore, changing the focus from Hollywood to Broadway isn't a bad idea either. And instead of Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen taking over the director's chair, we'll have Vincente Minnelli, the director of "Meet Me in St. Louis" (1944), lead the charge. Sure, Gene Kelly won't be in this picture, but do you know who will be? None other than the talented dancer who helped teach Debbie Reynolds how to dance, Fred Astaire. YES! Now we're talking! Fred Astaire plays Tony Hunter, a washed-up Hollywood star who has recently quit the business and heads back to New York to try his luck out on Broadway. His two pals Lester and Lily Marton (Oscar Levant, Nanette Fabray) think they have the perfect script for his comeback. They are able to get popular Broadway director Jeffrey Cordova (Jack Buchanan) to sign on for directing their play. However, Jeff insists on changing the light comedy into a dark and dramatic retelling of "Faust", which Tony thinks is outside his comfort zone. If that wasn't enough, a young and beautiful ballerina named Gabrielle Gerard (Cyd Charisse) is signed on to be his co-star. Gabrielle also intimidates Tony because he has trouble dancing with ladies that are taller than him and feels that he doesn't have enough classical background to be dancing in her league. Will Tony and his pals be able to pull off a successful show even with all these obstacles working against them? Would you believe me if I told you that Tony's concerns over dancing with his co-star Gabrielle was written especially for the film because it really happened on set? I'm not even kidding. On the "making of" featurette on the 2-disc DVD of this film, they said that Fred Astaire was concerned over the height of Cyd Charisse. Keeping this trivia in mind, I applaud the screenwriters for having the guts and the great sense of humor to put those details into the script as it was happening on set. Also on the aforementioned featurette, the screenwriters Comden and Green stated that the troubles the film's characters were experiencing while preparing for this production were based on things these two had experienced while participating in other theatrical productions. And you know what? I completely buy that these kinds of situations happened in real-life. I'm convinced that there are some Broadway directors who put too much scenery on set or that the guys operating the sets keep going the wrong way because they can't see what they're doing. It's completely believable in that sense. In the tradition of "Singin' in the Rain", "The Band Wagon" is yet another MGM musical in which it was a miracle that it came together as well as it did. The 'making of' featurette for this picture seemed to imply that this was not a pleasant production. Once again, some of the picture's main stars couldn't get along with each other very well. Oscar Levant drove then-newcomer Nanette Fabray nuts because she stated that he was always looking for someone or something to put the blame on whenever he did a take wrong. But when she told him to go to hell during the production, I guess that shut him up good. Well played, Ms. Fabray. And of course, it's a testament to both Levant and Fabray's delightful work in this film that they make us forget their struggles together during production. Fabray in particular makes everything better whenever she's on screen with her positivity and endearing charm throughout. "The Band Wagon" literally makes you also forget about the troubles Minnelli was having at the time with his wife Judy Garland and the painstaking hours of rehearsal Astaire used to make his dances perfect. Speaking of the songs and dances, the music by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz is some of the very best. "That's Entertainment" is arguably the greatest song ever written for the big screen. Not since "Make 'Em Laugh" have I heard a song that is the ultimate summary of what Hollywood is all about. It's a bittersweet reminder that anything can be considered entertainment to each and every one of us. Excellent message, terrific melody and rhythm, and outstanding lyrics, this song is a certified classic. And what worthy songs it's accompanied by. It's not every day you come across numbers such as "Dancing in the Dark" and "The Girl Hunt" which solely contain music and no singing. But it's all for the better since they showcase both Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse's dancing skills at their best. The endurance, variety of movements, and enjoyment that Astaire and Charisse demonstrate in these numbers are second to none. You truly don't see talent like that anymore. Every single musical number is simply perfection from the "Shine On Your Shoes" number in the recreation center to the "I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plan" duet between Astaire and Buchanan. If I were to talk about every single excellent thing about "The Band Wagon", we'd probably be here all day. So I'll shorten the rest of my thoughts down for those who haven't seen it yet. All five of the main actors have charisma to spare. The entire soundtrack is sublime. The writing is sensational and relatable. The dance sequences are some of the finest. The stylish production and cinematography are all top notch. Get aboard "The Band Wagon" indeed.

The Band Wagon is directed by Vincente Minnelli and written by Alan Jay Lerner, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Songs are written by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz. It stars Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant, Nanette Fabray and Jack Buchanan. Out of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, it's a Technicolor production with cinematography by Harry Jackson.Story tells of ageing musical star Tony Hunter (Astaire) whose cinema glory days appear to be well behind him. Upon the request of his friends Lester (Lavant) & Lily Martin (Fabray), he heads to Broadway to appear in a play they have written with him in mind. He hopes this will restart his career, however, the play's director, Jeffrey Cordova (Buchanan), changes the play into an arty interpretation of the Faust legend. Not only that, but he brings in prima ballerina Gabrielle Gerard (Charisse) to star in it, and Tony and Gabrielle don't exactly hit it off.One of the greatest musicals to come out of MGM, The Band Wagon makes up for what it loses in plot ingenuity, with quality songs, stunning choreography, bustling vitality and heart, big heart! Three parts of the film is made up of character building and said characters attempts to put a show on successfully in spite of behind the scenes worries. Then the final third then switches in mood with a different show and primary characters come to their respective destinies.Along the way we are treated to a series of wonderful song and dance routines, with the stand outs being "Be Myself," "A Shine on My Shoes," "That's Entertainment," "Dancing in the Dark," "I Love Louisa," "I Guess I'll Have To Change My Plan" and the joyously macabre, "Triplets." These are then crowned magnificently by "Girl Hunt," an elongated parody of noir-type crime movies from the golden era, where it's not just Fred and Cyd who sparkle, but the dance troupe around them also dazzle the eyes with some truly amazing moves.Where the big heart comes in to it is with Astaire's take on the role of Tony. It's very touching at times, full of nostalgia pangs for his former glories. He also has good comic timing, whilst readily able to laugh at himself as the (thin) narrative thread reminds him of his ageing years. The latter of which accounts for the not so great chemistry with the divine Charisse, but the film under Minnelli's active direction easily overcomes this tiny flaw. There's also some salt in the story in the observation of what goes on behind the scenes of a Broadway play, specifically the people pulling the strings.Big production for a big movie, all told, it's big entertainment, yes indeed. 9/10