BLUE SKIES

US, 1946, 104 minutes, Colour.
Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Joan Caulfield, Billy de Wolfe, Olga San Juan, Robert Benchley, Frank Faylen.
Directed by Stuart Heisler.

Blue Skies is an entertaining '40s musical combining the talents of Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. They had appeared to advantage in Mark Sandrich's 1941 Holiday Inn. Here they are presented in colour, in a romantic story, with big budget Paramount production.

The story is a usual Showbiz story, two men in love with the same girl, one of them doing a radio programme to find the other and bring the couple together. Fred Astaire is (like Bob Hope in the Road movies) the man who stands back for Bing to be the hero and winner. There is some entertaining comedy by Billy de Wolfe and Olga San Juan.

While the story is conventional, the Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire characters resemble many of their performances in other films and with Joan Caulfield being an attractive heroine, the film is significant for its Irving Berlin score. It includes Bing and Fred singing and dancing popular songs and some lavish production numbers: ‘A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody', 'I've Got My Captain Working For Me Now', 'You'd Be Surprised', 'All By Myself'. There is also the very entertaining Bing and Fred show with 'A Couple Of Song And Dance Men' and a highlight is Fred Astaire's dance performance of 'Puttin' On The Ritz'.

Direction is by Stuart Heisler, more noted for his action films rather than musicals. A pleasing example of a big studio trying to emulate the M.G.M. musical.