Carefree (1938)

Written by CinemaSerf on June 20, 2022

Another classy outing for Astaire and Rogers with a bit of help from Irving Berlin with "Change Partners and Dance With Me" but this one is just a little too far-fetched to hold up as well as "Top Hat". Astaire agrees to hypnotise the girlfriend (Ginger Rogers) of his rather posh pal Ralph Bellamy - so as to improve their relationship. Instead of achieving it's planned purpose, this hypnosis engenders all manner of chaos as nobody falls in love with the right person and by the end we are all totally frazzled, confused and bamboozled. It's a fun story with "The Yam" being another standout track - more so because Rogers delivers it on her own, and rather well too; I never found her the strongest of singers. Clarence Kolb is also really quite cheery as "Judge Travers". It's still good entertainment over 80-odd years after it was made and well worth a watch.