LET'S DANCE

Let's Dance
Paramount, 1950, Color, 112 minutes, ***
Released November, 1950

The great Fred Astaire puts on his dancing shoes and says Let's Dance to ebullient Betty Hutton in this Technicolor treat from the Golden Age of the Hollywood musical.

Hutton plays a war widow who, with the help of her song-and-dance partner Astaire, fights a desperate legal battle to gain custody of her son. Dazzling musical numbers highlight the heartwarming story, including "Oh, Them Dudes," a wildly comic Western spoof that has Astaire swap his top hat and tails for dusty cowboy duds. Then he tops it with "Piano Dance," dancing on, under, around and in a piano to create one of his most celebrated routines. The story begins in England, 1944... Then it's Boston, 1950.

Produced by: Robert Fellows
Directed by: Norman Z. McLeod
Assistant Director: Edward Salven
Screenplay by: Allan Scott
Additional Dialogue by: Dane Lussier
Suggested by a Story by Maurice Zolotow ("Little Boy Blue")
Music Direction: Robert Emmett Dolan
Vocal Arrangements: Joseph J. Lilley
Music Associate: Troy Sanders
Special Orchestral Arrangements: Van Cleave
Songs by: Frank Loesser
Dances Staged by: Hermes Pan
Art Direction: Hans Dreier and Roland Anderson
Set Decoration: Sam Comer and Ross Dowd
Gowns: Edith Head
Makeup Supervision: Wally Westmore
Sound Recording by: Hugo Grenzbach and John Cope
Director of Photography: George Barnes
Special Photographic Effects: Gordon Jennings
Process Photography: Farciot Edouart
Color by Technicolor
Technicolor Color Consultant: Monroe W. Burbank
Edited by: Ellsworth Hoagland

Cast: Betty Hutton [Kitty McNeil], Fred Astaire [Donald Elwood], Roland Young [Mr. Edmund Pohlwhistle], Ruth Warrick [Carola Everett], Lucile Watson [Serena Everett], Gregory Moffett [Richard Everett], Barton MacLane [Larry Channock], Shepperd Strudwick [Timothy Bryant], Melville Cooper [Mr. Charles Wagstaffe], Harold Huber [Marcel (Cook in Club)], George Zucco [Judge], Peggy Badley [Bubbles Malone], Virginia Toland [Elsie], Additional Cast: Sayre Dearing [Process Server], Ida Moore [Mrs. McGuire], Nana Bryant [Mrs. Bryant], Boyd Davis [Butler], Bobby Barber [Bartender], Herb Vigran [Chili Parlor Owner], Rolfe Sedan [Jewelry Clerk], Ralph Peters [Cab Driver], Paul A. Pierce [Square Dance Caller], Eric Alden [Captain], Milton DeLugg [Himself], Harry Woods [Police Lieutenant], Chester Conklin [Watchman], Major Sam Harris, Bess Flowers, Marion Gray [Guests], Peggy O'Neill [Woman]

Musical Program: [0:00] Overture (played by Orchestra behind titles); [0:01] Can't Stop Talking About Him (sung and danced by Betty Hutton and Fred Astaire in aircraft hangar); [0:22] Piano Dance (danced by Fred Astaire and played by Fred Astaire at the piano [onscreen]); [0:36] Jack and the Beanstalk (sung by Fred Astaire); [0:49] Oh, Them Dudes (sung and danced by Betty Hutton and Fred Astaire); [1:16] Why Fight the Feeling (sung by Betty Hutton); [1:24] The Hyacinth (played on music box, danced by Fred Astaire and Lucille Watson); [1:28] Why Fight the Feeling (instrumental arrangement danced by Fred Astaire and Betty Hutton); [1:46] Tunnel of Love (sung by Betty Hutton and Fred Astaire, danced by Betty Hutton, Fred Astaire and Chorus)