O.K., so it's not up to par with other Fred and Ginger movies, but it IS entertaining and their song and dance numbers are great especially when Fred sings "They Can't Take That Away From Me", and the dance with the number that they perform is the best number they ever danced together, but the making of the film was not that easy.
Originally the film was written for Fred and Judy Garland, but not quite into rehearsals, as Fred put it in his autobiography, "Our Judy got sick and finally it was decided to recast Ginger in her role. There was a wise crack about Fred and Ginger together on the screen that Fred gave Ginger class and Ginger gave Fred sex, and, of course, this wise crack was taken the wrong way, but if you think about it, Fred was never a Cary Grant, so dancers like Cyd Charisse and Ginger Rogers did make Fred look sexy on the screen. In Fred Astairs autobiography he states that after Betty Comden and Adolph Green gave their interpretation of their material that they felt they would have a hard time passing them up 'cause they were known for giving these readings better that the actors and actresses who finally got the parts, but Judy Garland couldn't complete the film and Fred Astaire stated that they really wanted to do this together because of their success together in Easter Parade, so after deciding to pull in one of their old hits They Can't Take That Away From me for their reunion, they began to slightly revise the script for Ginger.
I remember as a teenager that the movie was given the big build up that this was the first reuniting of Fred and Ginger since their last movie, and the great thing was that it was in Technicolor. I remember seeing the big campaign for the movie in Life Magazine and since I was taking tap dancing lessons, Dad took us to the Palace Theatre in downtown Cincinnati to see it. I also remember during the World War II seeing Gene Autry on the stage at the Palace Theatre, here in Cincy, singing and promoting War Bonds. Yee Gads! Am I really that old today? Of course, during the filming, Judy Garland visited the set acting like a Virago and Ginger Rogers escaped Judy's madness and disappeared in to her dressing room until after they quite frankly had to force Judy Garland out of the sound stage where they were filming the movie, but then Judy Garland did the same thing to Betty Hutton on the set of Annie Get Your Gun, but I know this is going off on a tangent, thank God Judy Garland didn't play Annie in the movie version. She would have stunk up the joint! Betty Hutton was far better for the role, except for maybe Betty Grable who wanted to play Annie in the worse way, but 20th wouldn't loan her out.
Anyway, even though basically Barkleys is slow moving in some of the parts of the movie, altogether it is fine entertainment and it's just a shame that movies like this no longer play on the big movie theater screen, because that's how you would see some fine singing and dancing by Fred and Ginger in glorious Technicolor, but then, watching this proves that they were the finest dancing pair on the screen, and for that - no - They Can't Take That Away From Me!
Originally the film was written for Fred and Judy Garland, but not quite into rehearsals, as Fred put it in his autobiography, "Our Judy got sick and finally it was decided to recast Ginger in her role. There was a wise crack about Fred and Ginger together on the screen that Fred gave Ginger class and Ginger gave Fred sex, and, of course, this wise crack was taken the wrong way, but if you think about it, Fred was never a Cary Grant, so dancers like Cyd Charisse and Ginger Rogers did make Fred look sexy on the screen. In Fred Astairs autobiography he states that after Betty Comden and Adolph Green gave their interpretation of their material that they felt they would have a hard time passing them up 'cause they were known for giving these readings better that the actors and actresses who finally got the parts, but Judy Garland couldn't complete the film and Fred Astaire stated that they really wanted to do this together because of their success together in Easter Parade, so after deciding to pull in one of their old hits They Can't Take That Away From me for their reunion, they began to slightly revise the script for Ginger.
I remember as a teenager that the movie was given the big build up that this was the first reuniting of Fred and Ginger since their last movie, and the great thing was that it was in Technicolor. I remember seeing the big campaign for the movie in Life Magazine and since I was taking tap dancing lessons, Dad took us to the Palace Theatre in downtown Cincinnati to see it. I also remember during the World War II seeing Gene Autry on the stage at the Palace Theatre, here in Cincy, singing and promoting War Bonds. Yee Gads! Am I really that old today? Of course, during the filming, Judy Garland visited the set acting like a Virago and Ginger Rogers escaped Judy's madness and disappeared in to her dressing room until after they quite frankly had to force Judy Garland out of the sound stage where they were filming the movie, but then Judy Garland did the same thing to Betty Hutton on the set of Annie Get Your Gun, but I know this is going off on a tangent, thank God Judy Garland didn't play Annie in the movie version. She would have stunk up the joint! Betty Hutton was far better for the role, except for maybe Betty Grable who wanted to play Annie in the worse way, but 20th wouldn't loan her out.
Anyway, even though basically Barkleys is slow moving in some of the parts of the movie, altogether it is fine entertainment and it's just a shame that movies like this no longer play on the big movie theater screen, because that's how you would see some fine singing and dancing by Fred and Ginger in glorious Technicolor, but then, watching this proves that they were the finest dancing pair on the screen, and for that - no - They Can't Take That Away From Me!