A Damsel in Distress (film)
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| A Damsel in Distress | |
|---|---|
 A Damsel in Distress VHS cover |
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| Directed by | George Stevens |
| Produced by | Pandro S. Berman |
| Starring | Fred Astaire George Burns Gracie Allen Joan Fontaine |
| Music by | George Gershwin (songs) |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures Inc. |
| Release date(s) | November 19, 1937 (U.S. release) |
| Running time | 98 min |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
A Damsel in Distress (RKO) is a 1937 English-themed Hollywood musical comedy film starring Fred Astaire, Joan Fontaine, George Burns and Gracie Allen, with a screenplay by P.G. "Plum" Wodehouse based on his novel, music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin, and directed by George Stevens.
The film was made at George Gershwin's instigation, an enthusiasm that Wodehouse mischievously attributed to the fact that his novel was about a successful American songwriter named George Bevan. George Gershwin died of a brain tumour while the film was in production.
The first Astaire RKO film not to feature Ginger Rogers, the nineteen year-old Fontaine was chosen, with Burns and Allen drafted in to provide the comedy. It soon emerged that Fontaine couldn't dance, but Stevens persuaded Astaire not to replace her with Ruby Keeler. The film, now considered a masterpiece of popular song and dance, was the first Astaire picture to lose money. The Stiff Upper Lip routine garnered co-choreographer Hermes Pan the 1937 Academy Award for Best Dance Direction.
[edit] Key songs/dance routines:
The choreography explores dancing around/past/through obstacles and in confined spaces.
- I Can't Be Bothered Now: Sung by Astaire while executing a tap solo with cane in the middle of a London street and escaping on a bus.
- Put Me To The Test: Astaire, Burns and Allen comic tap dance with whisk brooms, a routine inspired by vaudeville duo Evans and Evans and introduced to Astaire by Burns, who quipped: "Gracie and I ended up teaching Astaire how to dance".
- Stiff Upper Lip: Sung by Gracie Allen and followed by an innovative extended comic dance by Astaire, Burns and Allen through a fairground obstacle course.
- Things Are Looking Up: Astaire sings one of Gershwin's finest and most neglected melodies, followed by a romantic dance through the woods with Fontaine, where George Stevens artfully uses trees to hide Fontaine's terpsichorean shortcomings.
- A Foggy Day In London Town: Astaire introduces what has become a standard in the Great American Songbook, sung while alternately walking and dancing solo through a wooded landscape.
- Nice Work If You Can Get It: The film's second Gershwin standard is introduced by Astaire and chorus, followed by a stupendous Astaire tap solo, executed while confined by and playing a set of drums. It was shot in one continuous take and makes use of a very early version of the zoom lens.
[edit] External links
- A Damsel in Distress at the Internet Movie Database
- Illustrated review (1999) by Michael Skupin.
- Online version of Wodehouse's novel: A Damsel in Distress
[edit] References
- Fred Astaire: Steps in Time, 1959, multiple reprints.
- John Mueller: Astaire Dancing - The Musical Films of Fred Astaire, Knopf 1985, ISBN 0-394-51654-0
- George Burns: Gracie: A Love Story, G.P Putnam and Sons, 1988.
