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A perfect antidote or bookend to ON THE TOWN this excellent, mature and solid cinemascope musical is an absolute knockout. Made by MGM to placate Kelly for refusing to loan him to Samuel Goldwyn for GUYS AND DOLLS this film is probably one of the few 50s MGM efforts that plays well to audiences in 2004........but only of one sees it in cinemascope. Inventive use of the widescreen allows superb choreography to become ironic and witty......and the bewildering idiocy of TV stations to only show the center of the screen is an insult to any audience seeking to enjoy this clever and thoughtful musical. A small profit on first release and a drive in future saw this pic drop from view early in its life. the dance numbers are uniformly (no pun) astonishing and sometimes hilarious (especially Dolores Gray) BUT... I yi yi...Cyd Charisse in Baby You Knock Me Out lives up to its title. Trivia alert: one of the old boxers at Stillman's Gym is Gus Mecurio, father of STRICTLY BALLROOM lead dancer and actor Paul Mecurio. Kelly on skates is as good as Kelly singin in the rain...it's the same number but on wheels!.....this is a great film and a perfect musical. Imagine Kelly's rage at MGM after refusing him the Guys and Dolls loan out and they they distribute that film for Goldwyn anyway! No wonder WEATHER is such a suitably dark film of the disillusionment met head on in the American mid 50s. A full revival is much deserved.

Keep in mind that the era of the movie musical was pretty much in the dust when IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER hit the screens in 1955. Yet the story is an odd hybrid for benign musicals, and a rather dark story of three GI's coming home from the war, vowing a loyal, buddy-buddy reunion, then, upon reuniting years later, realizing they have outgrown one another and have virtually nothing in common. There is a reunion dinner at a posh nightclub, and try as they might, hostility and acrimony flare up among the men as they gradually discern they have now little in common. The movie also teams Dan Daily and Michael Kyd with Kelly, a Grade A, winning combination for the few, but excellent numbers, they perform.

However, this movie should be seen for one and one reason only: Gene Kelly's dance on roller skates to one of the most beautiful tunes ever written by Comden and Green. As the story goes, Kelly had been searching for just the right opportunity to dance on skates in a film for years. Betty Comden has said she lived close to Kelly in Beverly Hills and that he had purchased skates years before at a hardware store near-by and that she'd watched Kelly take his daughter skating many times. It's not a stretch that Kelly spent a lot of hours imagining just where and when he'd do a roller skates number as he flew around Beverly Hills on wheels.

Another delight is the very robust and creative "trash can lids" number featuring Kelly, Dan Daily, and Michael Kyd. With a trash can lid stuck to one foot, the trio bounce up and down a street to a snappy melody while still in uniform. For those who thought lanky Dan Daily was "just another hoofer," this number proves he could hold his own with the best of them.

I have heard Comden and Green also relate the story that after the movie opened someone told them they had seen the film in a drive-in. "I knew that the end had come," (for the movie musical) commented Adolf Green.

IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER is very much worth seeing for being one of the last studio movie musicals of its kind. Moreover, the novelty of watching Kelly teamed with Dan Daily and Michael Kyd--the only time those three dancers appeared together--is supremely enoyable. IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER remains underrated to this day and serves as one of the final signposts for the demise of the great screen musical.

Dennis Caracciolo

Just an aside,really:

You notice how sparsely Gene Kelly's finest numbers are shot? Long takes,little in the way of cinematic flair? Well,ponder this for a moment-he will often do something truly spectacular at the end of a take,leading one to wonder just how many times the poor chap put himself through the preceding minutes before getting it right...

A case in point is the justly famed (among those in the know) "Rollerskate Number":In order to demonstrate that the skates are,indeed,authentic,Kelly will swap-flawlessly-from "tap" to "glide" at the end of each take.

Incredible.

Compare and contrast,by the way,with protege Donald O'Connor's emulation in "I Love Melvin"-we never see thetwo movements co-existing within the same shot.

Gene Kelly made me want to dance when I was 11,and not feel like a poof for doing so.

I was fortunate enough to see this film on the huge screen at the restored deco Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, MD (now part of the AFI), so I took full advantage of the Technicolor & Cinemascope (especially the 2-3 scenes where the camera pans back to show off the huge city set). The visual quality after almost 50 years is still pretty good, but the soundtrack was "wobbly." The film needs some restoration.

As others have said, the highlights of this film are the clever dance numbers, specifically:

the garbage can lid dance by the 3 soldiers (they also hop, crawl and dance around a stopped taxi, but nobody has mentioned that one),

the wonderful roller skating sequence by Kelly (since I'm tired to death of seeing the "Singing in the Rain" puddle dance, this is a refreshing change and an excellent sample of his skills!) He even parodies his "Rain" dance when he hops off & on the curb with his skates (folks, those are metal-wheeled skates - nowhere as smooth & speedy as the polyurethane ones of today) Somebody mentioned that the skating set features a big piece of the "Rain" set, but I don't agree - we're talking films set 30 years apart & I didn't see any similarities in the "Fair Weather" set

Dolores Gray's bizarre number "Thanks but no Thanks" where she rewards the tuxedoed men bearing jewels and affection (who literally vault, flip and tumble around her) with bullets, dynamite and finally a huge trap door where they all slide away

and Cyd Charisse's gym number "Baby You Knock Me Out"

(these last 2 numbers were featured on "That's Entertainment III")

It's interesting to see Michael Kidd, mostly known for his wonderful film choreography, dance onscreen. Wish there was more of it.

And Dan Dailey I hardly know, except for the film "There's No Business Like Show Business." He's the only actor of the 3 to let himself "age" in the ensuing 10 years, and it works. He does a very good job in the acting department too.

You can see why the film is not a lasting classic in league with "On the Town" and "Singing in the Rain" - it contains elements of bitterness & disillusionment between the 3 guys. They seem to get along best when they're either drunk or fighting bad guys. And the film - this is a sign of the times - glamorizes smoking (including by Dan Dailey's character, who says he won't drink or eat heavily b/c of his health, yet he "lights up" often), fixed boxing matches, gambling and drunken sprees.

Still, it makes an excellent "sequel" of sorts for "On the Town" and they should be paired together on TV or at film fests.

Also, Previn's tunes are not really memorable - they're OK.

The film also pokes fun at early TV - Delores Gray's show is a mix btw a variety show & something like "Queen for a Day" or "This is Your Life." Sponsors (in this case, laundry detergent)were a huge deal back then. Oddly, she's not paired with one of the guys as a romantic interest. Her diva act gets a bit tiresome however.

Cyd only gets 1 dance number, and there's no dance between her & Gene. Wish there were. They sparked a HUGE amount of chemistry in their dance number in "Rain."

Look out for familiar actors in small supporting roles, like Madge Blake (she was a radio gossip at the movie premiere in "Singin in the Rain" but most of you would know her as dotty Aunt Harriett in the Batman TV series), and the actor who plays the sports columnist at the gym is a character actor who has appeared in dozens of TV shows from the 1950s & 60s, besides movie appearances. And that's June Foray's uncredited voice in the animated Kleenzrite commercial - she did the voice of Rocky Squirrel, among many other voiceovers.

Still, I do recommend it, considering it is not shown very much, let alone in the letterbox format which is necessary for the integrity of the movie. Darn that pesky pan & scan! The ahead-of-its-time plot & the clever dance numbers make this film worth your while.

For a guy like me who can't dance his way out of a closet, musicals like this are a guilty pleasure. The choreography is great-- flying feet, trash can lids, roller skates—is there any step Kelly can't do. I especially like the boxing gym with its unlikely array of chorus boys. But it's got nothing on Kelly's solo glide over city streets. Nonetheless, Dailey and Charisse appear under-used; this really is a Kelly showcase, which is plenty. Musicals, of course, were right up MGM's alley. Their lavish production budgets could fill up a screen. Here it's a mesmerizing sample of candy-box colors, along with a Cinemascope canvas to color on.

But catch the storyline. It's a little on the dark side for a bon-bon like this. Our three musketeers return from WWII great buddies, swearing to meet again after ten years. But the decade passes and they've changed. Now they can hardly stand each other. Trouble is, as civilians, each has compromised himself. That is, Kelly fixes boxing matches, Dailey cheats inside his swanky position, while Kidd gets pretentious with his hotdog stand. What they have to do is rediscover the ex-GI's they really are. Good thing a leggy Charisse is there to help kick in. Especially for oglers like me. And what a send-up of the old TV hit This Is Your Life. An obnoxious Madeline (Gray) of "Midnight With Madeline" may make you turn off your sets at 9pm, and none too soon.

Anyway, the 100-minutes is a delightful way to pass a slow evening, and even made me want to give the closet another try.