Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers star as chums from back in Indiana in this adaptation of an old novel, “Gowns by Roberta” by Alice Duer Miller. Huck Haines (Astaire) has taken his band, the Wabash Indianians, on an engagement at a café in Paris, only to find that the owner thought he was hiring a band of Indians and doesn’t want them anymore. Stranded with only seventeen dollars, the band doesn’t know what to do until Huck’s friend John (Randolph Scott) tells them that he has an aunt who lives in Paris and designs women’s dresses under the brand name of Roberta. Hitting the kindly aunt up for some help, she takes them in, after introducing them to her assistant, Stephanie (Irene Dunne.) John is immediately taken with Stephanie, although she’s a lady of culture and breeding and he’s just a football player back home.
Meanwhile, the Countess Sharwenka (Ginger Rogers) has come to Roberta’s for a gown, and is throwing a royal fit about it. Huck comes to investigate, only to discover that the “Countess” is really just his old friend, Lizzie, from Indiana. She has taken on the persona of a countess to try to get ahead in show business in Paris, but so far, it hasn’t worked very well.
But then John’s aunt dies, leaving the business to John. He knows nothing about women’s clothes and begs Stephanie to work with him. That’s for the best – as it turns out, she’s been designing all the gowns for years. They start working together and falling in love – until John’s old girlfriend shows up, that is.
This is an unusual Rogers and Astaire movie in that, they aren’t the main characters, and they only dance together twice in the film. However, I think their personalities show a bit better in this film than they have in others. While Irene’s singing voice did grate on my nerves from time to time, I enjoyed this film quite a bit and think you will too.
This film is not rated.
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