A Damsel in Distress (1937)

A Damsel in Distress is a lighthearted romp to showcase the classic comedy team of George Burns and Gracie Allen, the classic songwriting team of George and Ira Gershwin, and the classic dance team of Fred Astaire and... Joan Fontaine? Damsel was filmed in 1937 when Astaire was taking a break after his seventh film with Ginger Rogers, so the 19-year-old Fontaine plays Lady Alyce Marshmorton, a young British woman whose scandalous love life leads to a mistaken-identity problem with American Jerry Halliday (Astaire). OK, so the romance falls flat and Fontaine can't really dance, but Burns and Allen provide their usual screwball comedy (especially in a funhouse sequence) and Astaire is as charming as ever, such as his dance with a drum set (an idea he revisited in Easter Parade) to "Nice Work if You Can Get It" and his rendition of "A Foggy Day," which set the standard for all singers to follow. Those songs are among the finest film songs the Gershwins ever wrote, and they're complemented by "I Can't Be Bothered Now" and "Things Are Looking Up." Fontaine, incidentally, got out of the musical-comedy business and over the next few years landed some pretty fair gigs in Gunga Din and The Women, and securing one Oscar nomination and one win for her work in two Hitchcock films, Rebecca and Notorious. --David Horiuchi Amazon.com

Astaire / Burns & Allen Gem Needs to be on DVD

If ever a film deserved to be released on DVD, this delightful treasure should be DVD'd at once! It amazes me it is not yet released! Maybe the reasons are copyright issues or some such film business. Fred minus Ginger are more than made up for with George Burns and Gracie Allen who are hilarious. They also demonstrate their versatility in two dance numbers with Astaire and hold their own admirably keeping up with him! The "Stiff Upper Lip" number with the Fun House mirrors is among the most ingenious things I've seen in a musical and is alone worth viewing the movie. I own a barely viewable copy taped off Public TV in the nineties. One piece of trivia mentioned was that Joan Fontaine was paired with Astaire because he and Ginger's latest movie had 'fallen off a bit' at the box office. Fontaine' role is bland at best (her potential as a a dramatic actress was yet to be revealed, it seemed). Also present for further comical antics are British Big Band leader Ray Noble and Reginald Gardner. This movie is a first-class collector's treasure! October 6, 2008

What Are They Waiting For?

Will someone please tell me why the hell this film has never been released on DVD? Okay, so Ginger Rogers isn't in it and Joan Fontaine is incredibly weak. So what? This is a Fred Astaire, Burns & Allen, Gershwin film. It's a classic. It introduced at least two Gershwin classics to the world. It's part of Hollywood history. Any more reasons required? Come on, folks, get off your butts, stop wasting time reissuing worthless trash, and put this out on DVD so we can enjoy it...and do a good job, too! Include bonus features and commentary and documentaries and all those good things you've provided for lesser films. We're waiting!!! October 3, 2008

Considering the Pros and Cons of Purchase

"Damsel In Distress," (1937) another Fred Astaire romantic musical comedy for RKO Radio Pictures, as the studio was then known, was, despite some great help - and most of the usual suspects behind the camera -- the great dancer's first box office flop. It is, therefore, not in print, I believe, and hard to find: I settled for a used videotape, and, if you really want it, you might have to, too. So let's look at the pros and cons. Firstly, and most importantly, neither sound nor picture is what we've been happy to become accustomed to.

However, the talent is there. Astaire himself, of course, playing Jerry Halliday, professional American dancer visiting London. The late great vaudevillians/comics, George Burns (playing George) and Gracie Allen (playing Gracie), his staff people. But someone important is notably missing: Ginger Rogers. She is replaced by Joan Fontaine, then just beginning her career, as the romantic lead, Lady Alyce Marshmorton. There are sturdy British supporting players Reginald Gardiner as Kegs, butler with a hand in many pies; Montagu Love as Alyce's father, Lord Marshmorton, mistaken for a gardener by Astaire's character; Constance Collier, then a very big name in the British worlds of theater, society, and sapphism, as Lady Carolina Marshmorton, Alyce's Aunt. The talented George Stevens directed. The nine-song score is by George and Ira Gershwin, completed before production began on the picture. Confusingly enough, some sources say this was their last completed film score; others say "Shall We Dance" was. Go figure. Pandro S. Berman produced, as usual; Hermes Pan was in on the choreography, as usual. Story and screenplay, as silly as anything Astaire ever made, were by outstanding British humorist/novelist P.G. Wodehouse: Lady Alyce is of an age to marry, but can't make up her mind, until she shares a cab with Halliday, and falls for him. Van Nest Polglase was not on hand to supply his usual gorgeous art deco sets, but it's doubtful that that's what caused the movie to flop.

Most people lay the blame for that at poor Joan Fontaine's door. She was just beginning work; she was supposed to be the second lead, and help carry the picture, but she couldn't. She was then rather colorless for starters, and she couldn't dance. She was given only one brief dance with Astaire, and the haste with which she sits down in the nearest chair, as soon as that's over, is still telling after all these years. Supposedly, as Fontaine, sister of Olivia De Havilland, sat at the movie's premiere, watching herself try to dance, a woman behind her loudly said "Isn't she awful." The actress always said she thought this movie set her career back four years. She would eventually succeed, of course: she was nominated for an Oscar for the well-known 1940 film "Rebecca," in which, you'll recall, she, in character, couldn't ride or sail, either. She lost Oscar that year, oddly enough, to Ginger Rogers, who'd gone on to better things, in "Kitty Foyle: Natural History of a Woman." But she won the Oscar in 1941 for Alfred Hitchcock's "Suspicion." She always said she considered Astaire a notable exception among her male co-stars, in that he cared more about the film than himself.

Well, Astaire cared about the movie, and the studio did too: that's why they brought Burns and Allen in after production began. These seasoned performers actually could both sing and dance pretty well, in addition to being funny. They do a nice job together on "Stiff Upper Lip." The pair, and Astaire,(both men in spats), dancing to an instrurmental number, do an infectious, enjoyable funhouse romp that most people consider the picture's highlight. Finally, I've always loved Astaire's versions of "A Foggy Day in London Town," and "Nice Work If You Can Get It," so I just plain wanted the picture. You might, too.
February 9, 2008

What could be better: Fred Astaire, George Burns and Gracie Allen, and the Gershwins. Everyone to the fun house!

From 1933 with Flying Down to Rio to 1939 with The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, Fred Astaire made 10 movies. All except one had him partnered with Ginger Rogers. By 1937 he decided he wanted a break, and the result was A Damsel in Distress. Who was his new partner? Well, he didn't really have one. The closest in the film would be George Burns and Gracie Allen. Joan Fontaine, who was the love interest, simply doesn't register strongly. Probably deliberately, Astaire chose Fontaine because she couldn't sing and couldn't dance. She was the antithesis of Rogers. At 20, she was sweet, shy and attractive. She makes a pleasant love interest, but the movie works as well as it does because of Astaire, Burns and Allen, and some great George and Ira Gershwin songs.

Lady Alyce Marshmorton (Fontaine) met an American she thinks she loves, but her mother is having none of it. Lady Marshmorton is determined Alyce will mary Reggie, a proper British twit. She's keeping Alyce closely watched at the the family manse, Tottleigh Castle. But Alyce runs off to London with the family's butler, the obsequious Keggs (Reginald Gardiner) in pursuit. In London, Alyce meets Jerry Halliday (Astaire), a famous American dancer who has been promoted into a heart throb by his publicity agent, George (George Burns), assisted by George's secretary, Gracie (Gracie Allen). One confusion leads to another, with Jerry, George and Gracie arriving at Tottleigh Castle. Then there are misunderstandings, reconciliations and leaps from a balcony. Things aren't helped by a pool set up by Tottleigh Castle's servants to pick who will eventually win Lady Alyce's hand. Kegg and a young houseboy, Albert, are determined each of their own candidates will be the winner and win the pot for them. They take turns stirring the pot. However, is there any doubt who eventually wins the lady's hand?

Joan Fontaine doesn't sing a note in the movie. Only briefly and cautiously does she share a simple but elegant dance with Astaire. She was probably the most obviously non-dancer he ever worked with. The most complicated steps she's called upon to do are a few simple, graceful jumps. In every case Astaire is there guiding her with his hand or an arm around her waist. For a young woman with no dancing ability, it must have been a petrifying experience for her.

But with Burns and Allen, two pros, Astaire has one excellent routine and one classic. With the "I've Just Begun to Live" theme (there's no song), the three of them do a complicated and amusing three-way dance that is part soft shoe, part tap. The classic is danced to "Stiff Upper Lip" and takes place in an art deco fun house. The number was put together by Hermes Pan, who won an Academy Award for it. The three of them dance on and with every device Pan could think of for a fun house: Moving walkways, collapsing stairs, slides, turning tunnels, rubber doors, distorting mirrors and a circular turntable. It's inventive, surprising and great fun to watch. And pay attention to Gracie Allen. She and her husband were one of the great comedy teams in America. At best they probably are only faded memories now. Gracie, however, was not only a skilled comedienne, she was a very good dancer. She used small gestures and never lost the ability to look "lady-like" while dancing. She could be almost as funny dancing has she was delivering her ditsy lines.

The Gershwins wrote five songs for the movie and there's not a clunker among them. The songs are smart, amusing and clever. Even the one romantic song, "A Foggy Day," is best appreciated by literate lovers:

A foggy day in London town,
Had me low, and had me down.
I viewed the morning with alarm.
The British Museum had lost its charm.

How long, I wondered, could this thing last.
But the age of miracles hadn't past.
For suddenly, I saw you there
And through foggy London town
The sun was shining everywhere.

The songs are:

--"I Can't Be Bothered Now," a fast tap number that takes Astaire into the London streets. He turns his umbrella into an animate object. The number is shot with daytime fog swirling around.

--"Stiff Upper Lip" is a collection of amusing cliches, sung by Gracie. It sets up the fun house number.

What made good queen Bess
Such a great success?
What made Wellington do
What he did at Waterloo?

What makes every Englishman
A fighter through and through?
It isn't roast beef, or ale, or home, or mother.
It's just a little thing they sing to one another.

Stiff upper lip, stout fella,
Carry on, old fluff.
Chin up, keep muddling through.

Stiff upper lip, stout fella,
When the going's rough.
Pip pip to old man trouble
And a toodly-oo, too.

Carry on through thick and thin
If you feel you're in the right.
Does the fighting spirit win?
Quite, quite, quite, quite, quite.

Stiff upper lip, stout fella,
When you're in the stew.
Sober or blotto, this is your motto,
Keep muddling through.

--"Things Are Looking Up," sung by Astaire to Fontaine and then danced by them by the streams and trees of Tottleigh Castle.

--"A Foggy Day." Astaire sings of the first meeting he and Fontaine had while she watches him from her balcony as he strolls and dances in the fog-swept woods.

--"Nice Work If You Can Get It," is a close harmony rendering sung as entertainment at a party at Tottleigh Castle. Astaire joins in. It morphs into a fast tap and drum number for Astaire at the close of the movie, just before he and Fontaine sweep arm and arm out of the castle.

The movie can be located on VHS. The copy I have looks very good. For Astaire fans, it's a must have. The fun house number alone justifies the purchase. August 13, 2006

A comic gem overlooked!

There are several things of importance about this film. Most importantly.......it's George Gershwin's LAST COMPLETE score. He did write 1 more song for 38's GOLDWYN FOLLIES but never completed it (Ira Gershwin and Vernon Duke did.....OUR LOVE IS HERE TO STAY) but A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS is choc a bloc with gags and songs and great comic performances. Fred Astaire really seems so much more at ease here than with his former dance partner Ginger Rogers. The storyline is bright and breezy and filled with great character actors Constance Collier,Ray Noble(yes, the British band leader),Reginald Gardner and Harry Watson.The charming if wan Joan Fontaine but most importantly George Burns and Gracie Allen at the top of their game....GB:(criticizing Gracie for her forgetfulness) "Gracie, sometimes I think that their's nothing up here" (indicating his brain)to which Gracie replies: "Ah George , you're self conscious!"
The Gershwin songs are some of his best...A FOGGY DAY, NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT,I CAN'T BE BOTHERED NOW and STIFF UPPER LIP
Burns and Allen and Fred Astaire have two dynamite dance numbers as a trio......most impressively is the "fun house" sequence which contains bits from his Broadway days with sister Adele...take note of the "Swiss Miss" section in the fun house! It's the closest thing to actually seeing Fred and Adele Astaire actually dance on film. Point of interest: Adele had retired from the stage and had refused to team up with Fred in films because she met and married British nobility and retired to live in Britain before the start of WWII.
Hermes Pan is credited with the dance direction but you can see Fred Astaire's mark all over the film. This also may have been one of the last films to feature any actual British countryside footage before the blitz!
A charming film, wacky story and hilarious performances and Oh those Gershwin songs! Ok so it didn't have Ginger but it is a great cup of English Musical Comedy tea and crumpets!
When will Turner finally release this on DVD???? Come on guys! This is a classic awaiting rediscovery! March 28, 2006

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