EssenceStory Well Deserved Praise

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

Ghoulumbe Better than most people think

lugonian YOU'LL NEVER GET RICH (Columbia, 1941), directed by Sidney Lanfield, could very well be a screwball comedy about an oddball inventor and his many failed get-rich-quick schemes. The title, derived from the lyrics lifted from an old army song, indicates Columbia's attempt in capitalizing on Army comedies that had become the new rage starting with the ever popular BUCK PRIVATES (Universal, 1941) that not only made overnight sensations of the burlesque comics, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, but popularized some popular song hits introduced by The Andrews Sisters. While YOU'LL NEVER GET RICH starts off amusingly well as a backstage musical, the second half shifts maneuvers towards BUCK PRIVATES material set in an Army camp. Though there's no Bud and Lou with the Andrews Sisters to boost up any musical-comedy morale, there are songs by Cole Porter, an original screenplay by Michael Fessler and Ernest Pagano, and the leading presence of legendary dancer Fred Astaire opposite the up-and-coming Rita Hayworth, a few years before her motion picture achievement as GILDA (1946) and becoming THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI (1948). Most of all, there's humorist Robert Benchley in some good scene-stealing support.The film opening offers a different approach as apposed to the traditional title credits with Robert Benchley's character, in the back seat of his limousine, telling Jenkins, (Emmett Vogan), his chauffeur, to slow down. As he gazes through the window, the camera captures its opening credits with star and staff names posted on billboards, wooden fences, road signs and on the side of a barn before story proceedings get underway. Martin Cortland (Robert Benchley), the owner of the Courtland Theater, stops off in a jewelry store on Fifth Avenue and 54th Street to buy an anniversary present for his wife and gift for one of the chorines appearing in an upcoming musical show choreographed by Robert Curtis (Fred Astaire). Courtland leaves the store following a purchase of a seven dollar Chinese back scratcher for his wife and an expensive diamond bracelet for Sheila Winthrop (Rita Hayworth). After Sheila refuses Cortland's present, the bracelet is soon discovered by Cortland's ever-suspecting wife, Julia (Frieda Inescort), with Sheila's name engraved on it. To avoid possible divorce proceedings, Cortland tries to convince his wife he bought the bracelet for Robert as a present for Sheila. At the Crystal Roof where the Courtlands are to celebrate their fifteenth wedding anniversary, the couple have Sheila and Robert accompany them at the dinner table where Courtland passes off the bracelet gift to give to Sheila in the presence of his wife. Sheila, caught by surprise, leaves the banquet as Robert attempts to explain. Problems arise when reporter captures the moment and places Robert and Sheila's "engagement" on the front page of the morning newspaper. Upon receiving his draft notice, Robert leaves his troubles behind him for Army life at Camp Weston. Aside from becoming a private under the leadership of a tough sergeant (Donald MacBride), and the company companionship of Kewpie Blair (Guinn Williams) and Twivel Tongue (Cliff Nazarro), his past encounters soon catches up with him, creating further complications ahead.Other members of the cast consist of John Hubbard (Captain Tom Barton); Osa Massen (Sonya); Marjorie Gateson (Sheila's Aunt Louise); Ann Shoemaker (Mrs. Barton); and Frank Ferguson (Justice of the Peace).With a fine yet unmemorable score by Cole Porter, the motion picture soundtrack is as follows: "Dance Duet" (performed by Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth); "Boogie Barricade" (danced by Fred Astaire and ensemble); "Dream Dance" (instrumental); "Shooting the Works for Uncle Sam" (sung and danced by Astaire/ensemble); "Since I Kissed My Baby Goodbye" (performed by The Delta Rhythm Boys/ danced by Astaire) "A Stairable Rag" (danced by Astaire); "So Near, Yet So Far" (sung by Astaire, danced by Astaire and Hayworth); and "The Wedding Cake Walk" (sung by Martha Tilton, danced by Astaire and Hayworth, ensemble). Of the tunes, only "So Near, Yet So Far" has possibilities of a song hit. As surprisingly brief as musical interludes go, the best moments belong to the fine chemistry dance duets from Astaire and Hayworth, which, upon their conclusions, makes one wish for either more or longer segments between them on the dance floor. Astaire's two separate tap dancing solos accompanied by the Delta Rhythm Boys, in the guard house has its moments, but not quite as fantastic as those Astaire solos from either TOP HAT (1935) or SWING TIME (1936).As Abbott and Costello providing many laughs through their routines in BUCK PRIVATES, Columbia attempted in duplicating that match with Guinn Williams and Cliff Nazarro. Nazarro introduction to the film set at Grand Central Station starts off in hilarious fashion with his double-talk routine. As the story progresses, his constant repeated vaudeville-style gags grow tiresome long before the closing Columbia logo hits the screen. Though Nazarro should be credited for some hilarious moments from another movie for Columbia, BLONDIE GOES TO COLLEGE (1942), his drill routine here is definitely no match for how Abbott and Costello did it in BUCK PRIVATES. In spite of some flaws and typical story, YOU'LL NEVER GET RICH still provides some fine entertainment during its 88 minutes.No doubt a box-office winner back in 1941, YOU'LL NEVER GET RICH, along with Astaire and Hayworth's second and final collaboration of YOU WERE NEVER LOVELIER (Columbia, 1942), each distributed to home video (dating back to the 1980s) and DVD, can be seen occasionally on either Turner Classic Movies or Get-TV cable channels. So near yet so far. (***1/2)

Ed Uyeshima Barely five minutes into the film and only thirty seconds long, a small jewel is not to be missed in this vintage 1941 musical, as it ranks among the best dance numbers to be seen from the golden age of Hollywood. It's where Fred Astaire casually asks Rita Hayworth to follow him on a complex tap routine set to Cole Porter's "Boogie Barcarole". That Astaire performs flawlessly is to be expected, but the stunning 23-year old Hayworth is startling in her precision and élan. Not only is she absurdly beautiful in her crisp rehearsal togs, but she matches Astaire step for step with unbridled confidence and with her long, gorgeous gams perfectly synchronized with his. The rest of the number, performed with an army of similarly dressed dancers, is not nearly as interesting especially since the fusion between boogie-woogie and classical feels forced.The movie itself, directed by Sidney Lanfield and written by Michael Fessier and Ernest Pagano, is a silly mistaken identity affair that feels lifted from one of Astaire's earlier pairings with Ginger Rogers and then retrofitted into a military theme. Hardly a stretch, he plays Bob Curtis, a Broadway dancer and choreographer who works for philandering producer Martin Cortland, played by Algonquin wit Robert Benchley. Cortland has his eyes on chorus dancer Sheila Winthrop and attempts to give her a diamond bracelet until his wife Julia mistakes the gift for her. He pretends the bracelet is from Curtis, which of course, leads to larger complications, especially when Curtis gets drafted and his superior officer turns out to be Sheila's intended fiancé. Off the dance floor and in her first leading role, Hayworth, already in her 38th film, is charming as Sheila, although Frieda Inescort easily steals all her scenes as the deadpan Julia, a perfect match to the acerbic Benchley.Lowbrow comic shenanigans are interspersed with the Robert Alton-choreographed musical numbers. The highlights are an impressive Astaire tap solo set to "Since I Kissed My Baby Goodbye" and two more duets with Hayworth - the alluring rumba, "So Near and Yet So Far", and the infectious "Wedding Cake Walk" where the pair get married amid a dress-alike chorus, do a mean Harlem shuffle and tap-dance atop a white cake shaped like a tank. In fact, opening two months before Pearl Harbor, the film portends the upcoming war with patriotic ensemble numbers like "Shootin' the Works for Uncle Sam". The 2003 DVD includes trailers for this film as well as two classic Hayworth vehicles, the career-defining Gilda, and future husband Orson Welles' pulp classic, The Lady from Shanghai. The movie is very lightweight, but Astaire's artistry is always worthwhile in any setting, and it's easy to see why Hayworth became the fantasy figure of many an American soldier.

bkoganbing Though the 42 year old Fred Astaire was certainly not eligible for the peacetime draft still he plays the would be soldier very well in You'll Never Get Rich. Leaving Rita Hayworth is certain to be a problem though.The first peacetime draft in American history forms the background for this film in the same way as Universal's Abbott and Costello classic, Buck Privates. You'll Never Get Rich bares some resemblance to Buck Privates in the comedy portions of the film though it does stay away from the burlesque aspects that Abbott and Costello brought to it.Remember this is a Fred Astaire film and in the plot it has a lot of resemblance to what Astaire had been recently doing over at RKO with Ginger Rogers. The same kind of kittenish romantic complications with humorist Robert Benchley taking the Eric Blore/Victor Moore part as the one who causes all the problems.The dance numbers bear a strong resemblance to the routines Astaire did with Rogers. But here he is being brought over to Columbia to showcase the woman who would be Columbia Picture's mealticket for the next decade and a half. Rita Hayworth was just coming into her own as a box office attraction when this film was done. On the dance floor she complements the elegant Mr. Astaire divinely. This was the first of two films she did with Astaire and while I like You Were Never Lovelier a lot better than this one, You'll Never Get Rich is still entertaining.Cole Porter wrote the score for this film and it's probably one of his lesser efforts for the screen and stage. Still it did have an Oscar nominated song in Since I Kissed My Baby Goodbye. It's not a song that immediately brings Cole Porter to mind for today's audience though.Will both Rita Hayworth and Uncle Sam get the services of Fred Astaire? See You'll Never Get Rich and find out.

Alice Liddel This under-rated film in the Astaire canon deserves another look. Not for its mediocre merits as a musical comedy or its sparkleless gaucheness as a romantic comedy. No. This is one of the great explorations of the Astaire persona. Mr. Top Hat and Tails is put in a squalid army environment, and roundly subverts it with lies and disguises, injecting the surreal, and having startling homoerotic dreams. Furthermore, the 'gentleman' persona is exposed in primitive conditions, exposed as mendacious, cynical, cowardly, downright unpatriotic! Extraordinary.