A fine MGM musical with Fred Astaire as an aging hoofer, Cyd Charisse as the condescending ballerina, Jack Buchanan as the director of the show, and Nanette Fabray and Oscar Levant as Astaire's friends and co-stars.

There are many musicals that have great numbers but discardable plots. In this case, the librettists were Betty Comden and Adolf Green, two of the best and most prolific. And the plot is the glue that holds the numbers together. Comden and Green were responsible for a couple of Broadway successes, in addition to Hollywood's "On the Town" and "Singin' in the Rain." Their script here has not only general appeal but biting wit.

The choreography is by Michael Kidd whose athletic style ("Seven Brides for Seven Brothers") wouldn't seem to mesh too well with Astaire's more graceful ballroom techniques, but actually it works out okay. It turns Astaire and Charisse into paragons of elegance compared to the goings-on around them. Oscar Levant is hilarious. He's always hilarious if you know Oscar Levant and the manifestations of his neuroses. Notice in the "That's Entertainment" number, where he shares the dancing with Astaire, Fabray, and Buchanan. He's the only one who glances at his feet, as if curious to see where they're going.

The director, Vincent Minelli, uses a lot of extras and seems to know exactly what to do with them. (I think anyone who's worked as an extra would notice this first of all; right, Buckie?) Minelli puts color to wonderful use in every scene too. Each new set looks like the director jumped heedlessly, feet first, into the visible spectrum.

The acting is up to par, and Levant and Buchanan are especially good, or at least especially funny. (There's tension in the plot but not drama.) Minelli had some kind of supernal vision too. When the show fails because of an excess of pomposity and ambition, we should have seen a series of spinning newspapers with fictitious names ("New York Star", "Midvale News", "Zinzinnati Beobachter") bringing us headlines like "BIG SHOW FLOPS" and "TOO SNOOTY FOR FOLKS", but instead a lugubrious chorus introduces us to a black-and-white sketch of a gigantic egg. I was a kid when I first saw this in a theater and couldn't stop laughing at the egg, and now, at the age of 142, I still find it amusing, although I no longer laugh at it for fear of expelling my false teeth into the guacamole. Once, upon laughing too hard in a fancy restaurant, my glass eyeball achieved such a hyperbolic trajectory that -- well, it gave the diners two tables downwind a rare opportunity to become very unpleasant.

Alas, I recall one part of the movie that didn't work for me and doesn't work for me now. The long, usually climactic ballet had become a staple of musicals. Some were exhilarating -- "Singin' in the Rain." Some struck me as simply overblown -- "An American in Paris." And some went nowhere, as does this one, "The Girl Hunt." I suppose at the time, what with Raymond Chandler and Mickey Spillane, it was more of a novelty, but those writers were already being parodied to death by people like Bob Hope.

The numbers aren't based on monuments to the Great American Songbook either. You've heard most of them before but they aren't standout standards. One number, occurring about half way through the film, "Dancing in the Dark", is among the best that Astaire has put on film with any partner. Not necessarily the most fun or the most sparkling, but romantic, relevant to the plot and technically difficult. Astaire and Charisse twirl their way up a set of a dozen or so steps, for instance. They make it look SO easy but if you or I were to do it we'd break both legs in the first few seconds. That brings me to Cyd Charisse and legs. That's a problem, because I'm not sure I want to go much beyond that point. What a dish, with legs of infinite length, as in the old Flashman comics, so that one feels, were she really to stretch, she could touch her toes to the horizon.

You have to see this, I'm afraid. The consequences of not doing so would be dire. Astaire doesn't do pirouettes with hat racks or mops, and he doesn't prance on the ceiling, because he doesn't have to. The performers are at the top of their games, the music is MGM-gorgeous, and the story is funny.

This Fred Astaire film is a bit unique. For once, Astaire plays a man much like himself and this self-deprecating humor makes the film quite enjoyable. For example, the film begins with a couple guys on a train talking about how great Tony Hunter (Astaire) WAS but how he's a bit washed up now---and Hunter is sitting behind a newspaper and he loudly agrees with them! Later, when he's paired with Gabrielle (Cyd Charisse),he complains that he's much too old for her!

The story begins with Hunter arriving in New York city to meet a couple old friends who want him in their newest production. Lester and Lily (Oscar Levant and Nanette Fabray) think it's a great idea to get a big-name but EXTREMELY self-absorbed actor-director for this production. However, Cordova (Jack Buchanan) wants to completely take over the show and make it his vision--a vision that is quite the opposite of Hunter's style. The show seems destined to fail. Can there be any way to save it from this megalomaniac? The show features many excellent production numbers--all of which are very polished and exciting to watch. The most memorable occurs early in the film when they sing "That's Entertainment" but several other numbers really are crowd-pleasers (like the weird one where they are dressed like babies). As for the story, it's enjoyable and light. My only complaint is Levant. During the 40s, 50s and 60s, he was one of the cleverest raconteurs in Hollywood and on television and was able to deliver wonderful one-liners that could bust your gut. Here, however, he's hardly noticeable. Could it be that they misused him? Or, possibly, that Levant was having emotional problems and just wasn't himself (he was VERY public about his history of Bipolar Disorder). I just know that I was hoping to hear the snappy Oscar Levant. As for the rest, they are all quite good and the film quite enjoyable--one of Astaire's best of the 1950s.

I have seen my fair share of good musicals as well as some disappointing ones. What's for sure for me, The Band Wagon is one of my favourites from the genre. It has a good engaging story and a witty script. It also has brilliant direction from the great Vincente Minelli, and absolutely fabulous production design from the scenery to the costumes. And the choreography is really clever and fabulous, and the same applies for the superb music. As for the performances, Fred Astaire is very likable and stunning here, and Cyd Charisse is simply gorgeous. There are also some very memorable sequences namely the Dancing in the Dark sequence and the Mickey Spillaine parody The Girl Hunt ballet. Overall, this film is fabulous and one of the best of the musical genre. 10/10 Bethany Cox