The only things that save Second Chorus from being a complete disaster are Astaire's dancing and Artie Shaw and his band's music.
The writing is horrendous, managing to make even Astaire's character dislikable, as he does truly nasty things to his "friend," the equally dislikably nasty Burgess Meredith.
Charles Butterworth, who is supposed to be the comic foil in this picture, is as lame an actor as I've seen.
Finally, the look of the film is awful, with harsh lighting and shadows. (I realize this may be because the surviving print of this film has deteriorated over the years.) Unfortunately, the music and dance numbers are few and far between. However, if you're a die hard Astaire and/or big band fan, it's worth fast-forwarding through the dialog to get to any scene where Fred's dancing or Artie and his band are playing.
The writing is horrendous, managing to make even Astaire's character dislikable, as he does truly nasty things to his "friend," the equally dislikably nasty Burgess Meredith.
Charles Butterworth, who is supposed to be the comic foil in this picture, is as lame an actor as I've seen.
Finally, the look of the film is awful, with harsh lighting and shadows. (I realize this may be because the surviving print of this film has deteriorated over the years.) Unfortunately, the music and dance numbers are few and far between. However, if you're a die hard Astaire and/or big band fan, it's worth fast-forwarding through the dialog to get to any scene where Fred's dancing or Artie and his band are playing.