CAREFREE

US, 1938, 85 minutes, Black and white.
Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Ralph Bellamy, Luella Gear, Clarence Kolb, Jack Carson, Franklin Pangborn, Walter Kingsford, Hattie Mc Daniel.
Directed by Mark Sandrich.

Carefree is the slightest of the Fred Astaire- Ginger Rogers '30s musicals. The biography of the Castles, the story of Vernon and Irene Castle, and the 1949 The Barkleys of Broadway were yet to come. However, this seems to be the last of their star vehicles. Mark Sandrich, who directed so many of the films, directs this one with music by Irving Berlin and choreography by Hermes Pan.

The usual ingredients are there. Ralph Bellamy plays a humourless lawyer. Fred Astaire plays a psychiatrist and Ginger Rogers goes to him for treatment and falls in love. This obvious plot provides opportunity for songs and dances in the usual manner as well as comic support from a cast including Jack Carson, Franklin Pangborn and Hattie Mc Daniel. It is entertaining of its kind but pale in comparison with the earlier classics.