Roberta (1935)

recommended

One of my all time favorites.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

. . . CASBLANCA bar owner Rick won't let his piano man Sam play "that song" again. Having recently run across one of the world's last surviving DVD copies of ROBERTA on a rummage sale's 25-cent miscellaneous Bric-a-Brac table, the answer to Rick's reluctance finally can be revealed: soprano Irene Dunne (and\or her loop group of Dubbers) totally botch "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" in what's probably the worst job of Lip-Synching in Film History (and to which Rick no doubt had unfortunately taken Ilse on a spoiled date at a film festival back in their Paris Heyday). Though the many other vocalized songs spread over the 106-minute running time of this 2006 Turner DVD are not noticeably off-kilter, the smoke getting into Irene's peepers beginning at 1:16:15 seems to be the kind emanating from what's popularly referred to as "Wacky Tobacky." These mind-altering fumes apparently affected everyone involved in the staging of this musical misfire detrimentally. The tune is broached by a dozen strolling mariachis. Then once Irene begins to warble, multiple takes chop up the ditty like one of Hannibal Lector's liver dishes, presumably to allow production assistants to rub Ms. Dunne's face during these breaks with onion juice, so that she can go off on two separate crying jags mid-verse. To make matters worse, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers channel the future Addams Family in DANCING to "Smoke" like a pair of funereal waltzing dead to close out ROBERTA's wake.

Football player Randolph Scott and his dancer friend Fred Astaire go to Paris where Scott winds up running a ritzy dress shop and Fred reunites with old flame Ginger Rogers passing herself off as a countess. Scott also finds himself torn between two women -- fashion designer Irene Dunne and his snobbish ex-girlfriend Claire Dodd.It's not a bad movie; it's actually pretty good with nice songs and some likable characters. Unfortunately, for Fred & Ginger fans, this isn't a showcase for them. They take a back seat to Randolph Scott and Irene Dunne. Irene even sings some songs but be warned it's that operatic style that was popular in movies of the period that not everybody will be crazy about today. Scott does fine and isn't nearly as stiff as I've seen some reviewers describe him. His character is pretty corny ("Gee, you're swell") but intentionally so. Fish out of water and all that. Whenever they are on screen, Fred and Ginger sparkle. They're the highlight of the movie, whether it's their dance routines or just their playful banter. They had such wonderful chemistry. Songs include "I Won't Dance," "Lovely to Look At," and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes". That last one is butchered by Irene Dunne due to her aforementioned singing style. Despite that and some other flaws, it's an enjoyable movie. Not one of Fred & Ginger's best but good. Oh and, for those interested in that sort of thing, there's a fashion show at the end. Pay attention and you'll notice Lucille Ball is one of the models.

The best remembered film adaptation of the 1933 play of the same title. Jerome Kerns composed all the songs, except for the prior "Back Home in Indiana", with lyrics usually supplied by others. However, several of the best remembered songs were not from this play, while several songs from this play were dropped. Unlike nearly all the other Fred & Ginger RKO films, we have 3 musical leads, including Irene Dunn. While I usually think of Irene as a non-musical dramatic actress, she had considerable musical training, and would return the next year in the role of the musical lead Magnolia, in "Showboat", again based on a very successful play, with Kern the composer. Interestingly, Kathryn Grayson would reprise her roles in both these musicals in the early '50s, with the advantage of Technicolor.The screenplay is awfully contrived, more so than the '52 remake, although more faithful to the original play. As Huck, Fred's little band from Indiana is signed for an engagement in France, under the assumption that they are a group of 'Indians'. Rejected because they are not and because of their terrible impromptu rendition of "Back Home in Indiana", they are faced with the bleak task of finding employment in a foreign land. Fred thinks he remembers an old flame(Ginger) who moved to Paris to become an entertainer, while a 'pretty boy' in the group(Randolph Scott) remembers he has a long uncontacted aunt(Minnie) who runs a fashion store in Paris. Thus, they set off to find one of these. Scott has no trouble finding the Roberta, and Aunt Minnie. He also finds her young assistant Stephanie(Irene), who takes an immediate shine to him. Serendipitously, Ginger, who has taken an assumed identity of Countess Scharwenka, to promote her entertainment career, shows up at Roberta, and makes a big scene over a dress she doesn't like. She too takes an immediate interest in Scott, who prefers Stephanie. Later, Fred arrives and, after a chilly initial reception, he and Ginger begin to rekindle their old romance. Later, Scott's old girlfriend Sophie(Claire Dodd) somehow tracks him down, setting up a romantic triangle with Stephanie. Soon, both Sophie and Stephanie have a falling out with Scott, while Fred and Ginger continue to warm up to each other. Sophie leaves for good, while Stepanie returns to help Scott manage Roberta(Aunt Minnie having died), now reformulated to include a musical fashion show, thus including Fred's band and dancing skills. Musically, the film starts off quite slow, with the best musical moments mostly concentrated in the last part of the film. Irene and Ginger divide up the female singing parts, with Irene's 's best songs being "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", and "Lovely to Look At", both danced to by Fred and Ginger. Ginger's best songs are "I'd Be Hard to Handle" and "I Won't Dance". Fred mostly gets lesser songs to sing and dance solo to. Fred and Ginger do a brief reprise dance at the end, after a rather boring fashion show.I don't find Irene very interesting as an actress, although her singing was OK... Claire Dodd, as Sophie, fit her typecast roles as usually an arrogant 'other woman'... Helen Westley was unusually accommodating as the matronly Aunt Minnie. In most of her film roles, including several Shirley Temple films, she was an obstacle for the protagonist to overcome. Incidentally, both this site and the Wikipedia site got her character's name wrong. She's not Roberta! That's only the name of the store...Ferdinand Munier, in the small role of Lord Henry, must be the most obese actor I've seen in a feature film: a natural to play Santa Claus. Victor Varconi, as Ladislaw, once a popular leading man in silent films, was mostly relegated to supporting roles in talkies, mostly due to his thick accent...Luis Alberti utilized his experience in comedy in his early small role as Voyda....In the 30s, Scott divided his roles between westerns or other frontier stories, and parlor films, including several Shirley Temple films, and the Fred and Ginger film of the following year: "Follow the Fleet" He would be reunited with Irene in the combo outdoor drama-musical film "High,Wide, and Handsome", with Kern once again composing the music. This was the only one of the many RKO Fred & Ginger films that was later remade in color. Titled "Lovely to Look At", after one of the included songs, many of the details of the screenplay were altered from the original. Although the multitalented Astaire was then under contract with host MGM, instead of bringing him back to play his role, more leading characters were added to fit the '3 buddies & 3 girls' formula established as popular in "On the Town". Thus, Scott's non-musical 'pretty boy' role is split between 'pretty boy' Howard Keel, who also took on Fred's leading male singing role, and Red Skelton who, along with Kurt Kasznar, also took on Fred's comedic role. Gower Champion took on Fred's role as the featured male dancer. Kathryn Grayson took on Irene's role as the non-dancing lead female singer and object of the 'pretty boy's ardor, while also somewhat incorporating Helen Westley's role as Aunt Minnie, who had recently died in this version. Ginger's dual persona as a low class chorus girl and a reasonably high class singing and dancing partner for Fred were split between Ann Miller, as her man-hungry low class aspect, and Marge Champion, as her classy singing and dancing aspect. Ann also served as the equivalent of Sophie in the present film, in a meatier role...Now finally available on DVD, you will probably find it less fun than the present film, with the Fred & Ginger team hard to beat, but it has it's positives.

"Roberta" is one of the best high quality entertainment movies of the first century of film-making. What a delight! It is clean, fun, romantic, clever, colorful and exciting entertainment from start to finish. I agree with the review of trpdean of New York, NY (13 January 2005) – it's captivating! What's not to like?Some critics or reviewers have a penchant for labeling comedy-romance musicals as having "thin" plots. Hmmm! Perhaps they want to be watching a heavy drama or mystery flick instead? Let's face it – entertainment that has half a dozen or more songs, as many dance numbers, some comedic hijinks and romance on the side, doesn't need a heavy, complicated plot. Nor does it have time to develop one. But for the less than two hours that "Roberta" has, its plot is very good and just right for tying together all of these entertainment pieces. I won't give the plot away here, but it does have a different twist. And, it's as believable as any piece of fiction or biography or history one might read. Based on a Broadway Play, this movie delivers laughs, smiles, warmth and a happy feeling throughout. Yes – a guy can even enjoy the one long fashion parade aspect – if for no other reason than to see what the well-to-do fussed over fashion for in the 1930s. Some folks have commented about Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers having second billing. Irene Dunne was certainly a top star at the same time, and as with any film, someone has to be listed first. Usually, "the" star or headliner of a film has the majority or largest part in the movie or play. But this film had nearly equal time for the three main characters – Irene, Fred and Ginger; and Randolph Scott had a considerable amount of time. This was a very unusual role for Scott – we're used to seeing him in Westerns and as aloof and tough in many films; but here he played a good guy from next door, college athlete, and decent and considerate guy. To his ex-girl friend of course, he was a country bumpkin because he wasn't educated in the ways of the world. But, he played the decent, honest, forthright character perfectly. It all worked for the best, and to me, "Roberta" is a great example of a movie that has several stars of equal or near-equal billing for their great talents. The rest of the main supporting cast added to the enjoyment of this film as well. So, this film has some tremendous music numbers and dance routines, two very nice romances that fit snugly, wonderful humor, a fine display of fashion, and a peek at life lived in the upper crust in 1930s Paris. One last word on the very fine plot ("thin" to some others) -- I didn't suspect the true identity of Dunne's character – it was so well hidden from us until toward the end. But then, I suspected that at the end of the movie she would "spill the beans" about knowing the truth about the countess (Rogers) all along. Of course, that didn't happen, so we were fooled again and left with just a great two hours of top entertainment from two handsful of first class performers. "Roberta" is indeed a gem among classic films of the 20th century.