You’ll Never Get Rich (1941)
Robert Benchley enlists his friend Fred Astaire to help throw his wife off the scent of his womanizing ways by setting Fred up with Rita Hayworth. Rita is attracted to Fred , but understandably finds both men suspicious. Since the country’s in the middle of a war, all the action then has to move to an Army base after Fred is drafted. I enjoyed it somewhat better than the other Astaire-Hayworth pairing, but it’s also rather lazy in its story telling. There’s two very similar solo dance sequences with Astaire in Army jail. Fred grossly tricks Rita into marrying him. And, there’s a truly bizarre dancing extravaganza involving weird choreography and wedding dress costumes all while dancing on a tank. It’s lovely to see them dance together, but I don’t think I’ll be revisiting either film any time soon.
Oscar Nominations: Best Music, Original Song; Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture