There was probably a good reason why RKO put these top-rated stars into a vehicle that was alien to everything they had done before; it's interesting to speculate that perhaps the studio felt the franchise was winding down and needed kick-starting in a new direction, or maybe the studio felt the partnership was growing too demanding and wanted to 'teach them a lesson' or, to explore another avenue, maybe they HAD been unable to persuade Astaire to sign another contract and decided his last contractual obligation would be in a movie weighted towards Ginger. Whatever, they came up with a bio-pic of two dancers who had revolutionized ballroom dancing a quarter of a century earlier but were, at the time of filming, virtually forgotten. Unlike the others in the franchise this time around there would be no mistaken identity ploys to keep the couple apart until the last reel, no new score (just a single new number) from the likes of Berling, Kern or Gershwin AND for good measure an unhappy ending.
Vernon Castle was an Englishman from Norwich who moved to America and appeared in a dozen or so Broadway shows before forming a dance partnership with his wife, Irene, which brought them fame and fortune. He enlisted soon after the outbreak of World War I and was killed in February, 1918, and the film more or less follows that outline. This time around there is virtually no chasing the girl; they meet and marry within two reels, spend another reel starving then become an overnight sensation, enjoy it for five or six years until Vernon dies in an airplane accident.
Fred and Ginger do what they did best, sing and dance but this time in a completely different style to the one fans were used to and expected. Nevertheless they still manage to charm and captivate and actually carry much more of the film with no Eric Blore, Edward Everett Horton, Erik Rhodes or Helen Broderick to share the load. In lieu of these comic stalwarts we get Walter Brennan (playing the part of a man who, in real life, was Black) and Edna May Oliver, both of whom are up to the little they get to do. Apparently it disappointed fans on its initial release but today it stands up well and reminds us just what our grandparents, parents, and even ourselves loved about Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
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