Swing Romance

A generally-entertaining story that was fun to watch, except for a number of parts in the final 30 minutes which annoyed me. It was, well, the normal lying and deceiving that was played out in so many films of this era, and is so many of Fred Astaire's movies.

Speaking of Astaire, I watch his films to see him dance. That's what he does best, so it was disappointing not to see much of that in "Second Chorus."

Although I thought Charles Butterworth's character was stupid, I really enjoyed seeing a young Burgess Meredith and it's always a treat to see Paulette Goddard, one of the real beauties of the 1940s. Overall, this was a good- hearted story and when Astaire danced, he was fantastic, as always.

The songs are in here are good and band-leader Artie Shaw even showed he could act, too. I liked this despite poor tape quality. I see that this is out on DVD so I might consider purchasing this, even though Astaire himself has been quoted as saying "Second Chorus" was his "worst movie." Ouch!

In this 1940 film, Fred Astaire (Danny) plays a 7th year college student (he was only 41 at the time), who keeps flunking courses so he can stay on in town and play trumpet in a very successful dance band. His roommate and fellow bandmate is played by (Hank)Burgess Meredith.

Fred & Burgess are vying for the affections of the lovely Paulette Goddard (Ellen), who meets Fred at a dance, and later takes a job as his booking agent and secretary.

Ellen is hired away by Artie Shaw, and the remainder of the movie takes place in New York. Danny & Hank have both followed Ellen to New York, and are trying to get on with Artie Shaw's band. A series of mishaps and problems follows, as both men try to win Ellen and a job with the band, while knocking each other out of Ellen's affections.

Charles Butterworth plays the unfortunate Mr. Chisholm, who is the butt of many of the jokes and mishaps.

Not very original, and on the DVD I saw, pretty muddy, but still it's Fred Astaire, and there is one nice dance number featuring Fred as a band conductor who just busts out dancing. There are also some nice big band numbers, and Paulette Goddard makes a nice foil for Astaire.

Worth seeing, if you are a Fred Astaire fan or just love big bands and Artie Shaw.

This is an OK Fred Astaire movie. A couple of good dance sequences - one with Paulette Goddard, who is not impressive on the floor, and one where he's tap-dancing while conducting Artie Shaw's orchestra. The plot is dismal, Burgess Meredith as comic relief is faintly amusing at best, though in his defense the script gave him very little to work with.

Fans of swing will want to see "Second Chorus", though, for the musical sequences. In particular, a five-minute fantasia that Shaw and the band (plus a string section) play. This piece has been scored and has been recorded several times under the title of Artie Shaw's Clarinet Concerto; but no other clarinetist, popular or classical, has brought the same excitement to the piece that Shaw did. It's worth renting for that sequence alone.

It's a real shame that the director couldn't work out a sequence in which Astaire dances to Shaw's clarinet - playing, say, "Begin the Beguine", or "Frenesi", or "Traffic Jam", or any other his many other hits. A real shame indeed.

There are not many strong points to "Second Chorus", and it is really only watchable because of Fred Astaire, whose talent and charisma provide for some good moments. The writing is noticeably weak, and the rest of the production is not strong enough to overcome the faulty story-line and the mediocre dialogue. The whole premise of the college band does not work for a moment, and there is never a time when the viewer is not overly conscious that the whole situation is contrived.

To be sure, some of Astaire's most enjoyable pictures have lightweight plots, which allow him and the rest of the cast to be the center of attention. But the good ones are much more creative than this, and they also come with much better characters and dialogue. As slight as the story lines may be in "Top Hat" or "Swing Time", you don't think about it while you are watching them, because everything else is of such high quality. "Second Chorus", on the other hand, seems thrown together, as if they just hoped that Astaire could keep it afloat by himself.

That's not to criticize the rest of the cast, who do their best. Paulette Goddard can be very charming, but her character here gives her very little to work with. She does manage to get a couple of nice moments out of it, anyway. Burgess Meredith is stuck with a character who is both ill-defined and annoying, so he never has any chance to show what he could do.

It's worth watching once, as is practically anything that stars Astaire. There is at least one very good number, and most of the time it is watchable, as long as your expectations are not too high.

Attention all musicians (it doesn't matter if you're any good or not), you will LOVE this movie. Everyone else, I'm afraid you may not catch the full effect. Browsing through these reviews, I see a lot of negative posts from people who were expecting Astaire's usual powerhouse dancing numbers. It's a shame that these reviewers missed the musical subtlety of the performance--a slightly different but equally powerful direction for Fred.

For example, there's one number where Astaire dances a fabulous romp while conducting a band. Priceless! Anyone who's played in a band (even if it's your high school marching band) should get a thrill out of this routine. The beauty is that most conductors are stereotypically the most lifeless, brooding, nose-in-the-score dead weights you've ever seen. And to see Astaire conducting the band with pirouettes, arabesques and fancy footwork is just classic.

Another musical inside joke happens early on when a trumpet solo is sabotaged by a rival trumpeter. The rival scribbles out the proper notes and pencils in the most horrifically atonal arrangement you've ever seen or heard. Again, musicians will recognize (and "hear") what is about to happen just by looking at the butchered score. The hilarious payoff comes at the actual performance. It's a fear all musicians have when blindly sight reading a sheet of music. Once again, CLASSIC!

Then there's "poor Mr. Chisholm" and his lazy mandolin. Anyone who's ever played in a band knows about the hanger-on who's not very good at his instrument, but for whatever reasons the band leader doesn't boot him out into the street. (Btw, if you don't know the guy I'm talking about, chances are IT'S YOU.)

All in all, this was a fantastic, hilarious & inspiring experience for me, and I'm sure anyone who has dabbled on an instrument may feel the same. It has certainly motivated me to pick up my old trumpet and squeak out a few notes (much to the despair of my upstairs neighbour, I'm sure).

Musicians, don't miss this. Other great movies for musicians: Five Pennies (1959), Swing Girls (2004), Eddie and the Cruisers (1983), and of course the mack daddy of them all, This is Spinal Tap (1984).