''Let's Dance'' is a 1950 American

Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by Norman Z. McLeod starring

Betty Hutton Betty Hutton (born Elizabeth June Thornburg; February 26, 1921 – March 12, 2007) was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedian, dancer, and singer. She rose to fame in the 1940s as a contract player for Paramount Pictures, appea ...

Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz, May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, actor, singer, musician, choreographer, and presenter, whose career in stage, film, and television spanned 76 years. He is widely regarded as the "g ...

and Roland Young. It was produced and released by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

Plot

During World War II, Kitty McNeil and her dance partner Donald Elwood are performing for troops in London. Don announces his engagement to Kitty on stage, but Kitty later tells him she's recently married pilot Richard Everett, a member of a wealthy Boston family. Everett is killed soon after the marriage after being shot down. Five years later, Kitty is locked in a struggle with her late husband's grandmother Serena for the custody of Kitty and Richard's son, Richard "Richie" Everett VII. Serena dislikes Kitty, and thinks she knows best about Richie's education. Kitty decides to flee to New York City with Richie. Desperate for money, Don has taken a job at Larry Channock's nightclub. Don runs into an out-of-work Kitty at a café, and manages to get her a job as a cigarette girl. However, Serena has sent her two lawyers Pohlwhistle and Wagstaffe to the club, where they subpoena Kitty in an attempt for Serena to gain custody of Richie. Don persuades Larry to give Kitty a steady job as his dance partner at the club, but various potentially embarrassing details about Richie not going to school and spending most of his time at the club emerge at court. However, all are easily answered by the kind nightclub staff. The judge gives Kitty sixty days to give Richie a stable home life, to which end Don agrees to marry Kitty. However, Don and Kitty get into an argument at the marriage license bureau, thus ending their short-lived engagement. Kitty becomes engaged to the rich Timothy Bryant, a friend of Don's. A jealous Don manages to end the engagement, and all looks well until Serena wins back custody of Richie. Kitty kidnaps Richie and hides him at the club. However, Don, who has made a substantial amount of money from selling a racehorse, manages to smooth things out between Kitty and Serena. A delighted Kitty agrees to marry Don.

Cast

as Kitty McNeil *

as Donald Elwood * Roland Young as Edmund Pohlwhistle * Ruth Warrick as Carola Everett * Lucile Watson as Serena Everett * Gregory Moffett as Richard Everett * Barton MacLane as Larry Channock * Shepperd Strudwick as Timothy Bryant *

Melville Cooper George Melville Cooper (15 October 1896 – 13 March 1973) was an English actor. His many notable screen roles include the High Sheriff of Nottingham in ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' (1938), Mr. Collins in ''Pride and Prejudice'' (1940) and ...

as Charles Wagstaffe * Harold Huber as Marcel * George Zucco as Judge Mackenzie * Peggy Badley as Bubbles Malone * Virginia Toland as Elsie

Production

Buoyed by the great success of

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

teaming Astaire with their biggest female musical star

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. Possessing a strong contralto voice, she was celebrated for her emotional depth and versatility across film, stage, and concert performance. ...

in the 1948 musical blockbuster '' Easter Parade'', Paramount decided to team Astaire with their biggest female musical star (Hutton) hoping that the same box-office magic would happen. Astaire's character, perhaps coincidentally, even possessed the same first name (Don) as in the 1948 film. Unfortunately, the film did not repeat the earlier film's success. While the film did reasonably well financially, overall it proved to be a disappointment. ''Let's Dance'' was completely overshadowed by Hutton's other musical film of 1950, '' Annie Get Your Gun'', which became one of the highest-grossing films of the year. Hutton was loaned to MGM to replace Garland (because of illness) as

Annie Oakley Annie Oakley (born Phoebe Ann Mosey; August 13, 1860 – November 3, 1926) was an American marksman, sharpshooter and folk heroine who starred in Buffalo Bill's Wild West. Oakley developed hunting skills as a child to provide for her impoveris ...

in ''Annie Get Your Gun''. Frank Loesser wrote the music.

Comic book adaptation

* Eastern Color Movie Love #7 (February 1951)

References

External links

* * * * {{Norman Z. McLeod 1950 films 1950 musical comedy films 1950 romantic comedy films American musical comedy films American romantic comedy films American romantic musical films Films directed by Norman Z. McLeod Paramount Pictures films Films based on short fiction Films scored by Robert Emmett Dolan 1950s English-language films Films adapted into comics 1950s romantic musical films 1950s American films English-language romantic comedy films English-language romantic musical films English-language musical comedy films