The Sky's The Limit

Arf, arf. Bow-wow. One of the worst Fred Astaire movies out there. A real dog. It follows the Astaire formula of boy meets girl boy looses girl boy gets girl, a few dances together, a major solo and so on. But it does not come off well, due to the script and the romantic interest not being much of a dancer. You can tell Fred was trying to do everything he could to make her look better than she was when they danced together. She is so much younger (shame on you, casting director) he looks like a predator. One highlight, though--his solo dance was to "One For My Baby and One More For the Road," a great American Songbook classic. He trashes a bar for his dance! Not only that, they used real glasses instead of movie sugar glasses and had to have a nurse on set to patch him up when it was over. It was made during WW2, sugar was rationed and he did not want to deprive the troops of sugar.

A very underrated film! There are some great dance numbers in this even if they aren't quite as plentiful. The one where Fred Atwell (Fred Astaire) dances on top of the bar was simply amazing. I understand this wasn't as popular when it was released because it was a more dramatic role for Fred Astaire than some of his other films. There is still some comedy mixed in, though. This was also the period of time just after he and Ginger Rogers went their separate ways. So they seemed to be "hanging a lantern", as they say, on the criticism he had been receiving at the time about whether or not he would be able to hold his own without her. Hanging a lantern, if you've never heard this phrase before, is a technique used by writers to address what everyone is thinking so they can move on from it. They state the obvious disadvantage, plot hole, etc., to get it out of the way and then move on with the story. Some interpret it as a way to turn what people see as a disadvantage into an advantage. The ending makes me wish there had been a sequel to find out what happened afterwards. But I guess they wanted to leave it to our imagination. Although, I don't want to say anything more than that or I'll give away the ending. :,)

This is not your typical Astaire musical. In it Fred plays a serious Flying Tiger hero about to transfer to the US Navy during WWII. The core idea is that pilots are on a string, a string of mortality, they can get it at any time, and Fred knows this and only wants one last fling at love before his number might be called.Along the way he meets the fabulous Joan Leslie and, well, falls in love for real.The movie showcases their love from the awkward "meet cute" (Roger Ebert) to the powerful and quite delicious, mysterious, and surprising ending that is the ending to end all Astaire films.The music is sublime, led by Johnny Mercer (lyrics) and Harold Arlen (music). The dance sequences are thrilling, tied to the plot in ways that many musical numbers in other musical films are not.The grim overcast of the war is everywhere and the lovers live under the threat of death and lonliness.What a movie!This was the last of the youthful Leslie's great pairings.She began being the child bride of Gary Cooper in "Sgt. York. Then she was Bogey's first love interest in "High Sierra." She gloriously played Cagney's wife in "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (Finally aged eighteen!) and ended her awesome streak playing Fred's lover (at 19-20!) in "The Sky's The Limit."After that she made some uninteresting films, got married and moved on with her life.Such is Hollywood!At any rate the knockout songs include "Shining Hour," "I Got A Lot In Common," and the astounding "One For My Baby" where the master does the greatest solo dance ever recorded on the screen."The Sky's The Limit" is one of those masterpieces that, like "Chimes At Midnight," and "Ride the High Country," get passed over by the masses. But do not be fooled: this is great Astaire. One of his very best. Its romance is real and powerful and its ending is all the way mysterious and epic.This is the darkest Astaire and one of his very best, if not the best."The Sky's The Limit" is towering.

I had the opportunity to watch this film on the big screen many decades after its release (mid 1990s?)at the Stanford Theater in Palo Alto California (the theater restored in all its Art Deco glory). Joan Leslie, Astaire's costar, was present with her family and the theater did it right; Leslie was driven up in a vintage Packard limosine, with clieg lights waving across the sky. At the start of the film Leslie spoke about her making of the film (she was 17, and Astaire was in his mid fourties), and how, because she was so young at the time and had a very tight schedule between school, making movies, etc, that she had never seen the Hollywood premier. She was incredibly gracious and articulate and it was fun seeing her children and husband watch their mother/wife treated like Hollywood royalty for the first time in their lives. The memory has stayed with me and given the film a special place in my heart and in my movie collection.The film centers on Astaire, a Flying Tigers pilot home on leave from China before the US entry into WW II, posing as a diletante and Leslie (working for an aircraft manufacturer) trying to "rehabilitate" this intriguing man she just met, all while they are romancing and falling in love. It's a fun B&W movie getting America ready for war and another Astaire "everyman" role with lots of story telling through song and dance. The movie provided a nostalgic trip down memory lane and is highly recommended!

Entertaining; nostalgic; absorbing; what more. Uplifting and escapism. Better than the crap on TV today which is regarded as entertaining as you do not need to have a brain and is totally mind numbing.to say the least . Moron society is on the increase just believe everything you see and hear. What a shame.

very good

This is just another wonderful Fred Astaire Movie. I don't think I ever saw a Fred Astaire movie that I didn't like including some that he made later on in life such as "The Man in the Santa Claus Suit". He and Ginger Rogers have given so much pleasure to so many people with plenty of glamour thrown in to make our lives brighter.

Good condition

Good film