Romance in Manhattan (1935)

Romance in Manhattan is an absolute treat.  As a big Ginger Rogers fan, I expect to enjoy everything she's in, but this film proved to be so much more than I thought it would be. The story has a lot of heart and I was completely charmed by the characters.

Released by RKO Radio Pictures in 1935, the film stars Frances Lederer as Karel Novak, a Czech immigrant who makes the trip to America with his life savings and the expectation of a chance at a better life.  He's managed to save up the $58 he needs to obtain citizenship, only to find out upon arrival that the price has gone up to $200.  Desperate, he offers to work off the balance owed, but to no avail. He is ordered to return to Czechoslovakia.

Heartbroken, he reluctantly boards the ship, but as he watches New York City grow smaller in the distance he finds it impossible to leave after all he went through to get there, so he jumps ship and swims to shore. He doesn't realize until later that he has lost all of the money he had, leaving him flat-broke and homeless in a strange city.

Enter Ginger Rogers as Sylvia Dennis, a spunky chorus girl who happens upon Karel sneaking food left out for her and her fellow chorus girls outside of their club. She permits him to eat his fill and even offers him money, but he refuses, insisting all he really wants is a job. She offers to speak with her brother to see if he knows of anything available. Her brother, Frank (Jimmy Butler) is only about thirteen years old, but he agrees to share his gig selling newspapers with Karel until he's able to find a better job, and Sylvia provides Karel with blankets so he can sleep on the roof of their building.

Everything is rosy...for a while. From there we see the trio suffer through unemployment and trouble with the law, but nothing is so bad it can't be fixed, right? (Especially in a romantic drama released during the Depression!)

Primarily the story focuses on Karel's journey as an illegal immigrant trying to make it in Depression-era New York City. It's wonderful to see him triumph in spite of the many obstacles in his path. Sylvia's close bond with her precocious little brother is also a delight, as is the expected - but very sweet - love story with Karel.

Jimmy Butler is adorable as Frank. He appeared in several movies from the early thirties through the early forties (including Stella Dallas and Boys Town) before joining the army during World War II. He died in combat on February 18, 1945 - two days before his 24th birthday.

(The film's director, Stephen Roberts, died from a heart attack at age 40 the year after Romance in Manhattan was released. This was his final picture.)

The film also features J. Farrell MacDonald as a no-nonsense, kind-hearted police officer and the wonderful Donald Meek doing what he does best as a nervous judge.

Overall, I found a lot to enjoy in Romance in Manhattan. It's short and sweet with a great script and characters to root for - I highly recommend it. If you love Ginger Rogers and films made in the thirties, this one is a must.

Roberta (1935)

I'm a big Ginger Rogers fan, so it's surprising me to that this was the first time I had seen Roberta (1935).  Irene Dunne gets top billing for this film, so it isn't a true Rogers/Astaire musical, but it should have been, considering that the two of them contribute the best parts of the film.

The first scene opens on a ship headed for Paris.  John Kent (Randolph Scott), a former college football hero, is traveling there with his good friend Huck Haines (Fred Astaire), a bandleader who has booked a gig in the city for his dance band, the Wabash Indianians.

Unfortunately, when their client (an excitable club owner played by Luis Alberni) discovers that they're a dance band - not a band of American Indians - he fires them immediately, despite their attempt at changing his mind with a fun, creative performance in which Huck plays the "organ".

Randolph Scott as John and Fred Astaire as Huck

Astaire et al performing The Pipe Organ Number

Now in Paris with no job, the group has nowhere to stay and no idea what to do next, until John reveals that his aunt Minnie (played by the fabulous Helen Westley) lives in Paris - and happens to be the famous, wealthy dressmaker "Roberta".  He thinks maybe she can help the band land a gig, so he pays her a visit at her dress shop.

Helen Westley as Aunt Minnie

There John meets Aunt Minnie's assistant Stephanie (Irene Dunne).  He is instantly charmed by her and she seems to think he's pretty adorable, too.

Irene Dunne as Stephanie

While John is talking with his aunt, he meets Countess Scharwenka (Ginger Rogers), a fiery Polish nightclub entertainer who has taken Paris by storm.  Wanting to impress John, she tells him she can get his friend's band a job at her nightclub - assuming they're good - so, since Huck and the Indianians happen to be at Roberta's, he forces her to hear them play right then.

Huck and the Wabash Indianians perform Let's Begin

To Countess Sharwenka's dismay, she discovers that John's friend the bandleader just so happens to be an old boyfriend of hers - and the one person in Paris who knows her true identity: not as a Polish Countess, but as Lizzie Gatz, a small town girl from Indiana.

Lizzie convinces Huck to keep her identity a secret in exchange for a gig for his band at the nightclub where she performs.  (She manages to get it for him, too - even though her boss is the same nightclub owner that fired the band when they first arrived in Paris.)

Lizzie and Huck renew their friendship and reminisce about old times.

Then Lizzie, as Countess Scharwenka (Polish accent and moxie galore) performs I'll Be Hard to Handle, my favorite song of the film:

A wonderful dance number follows:

Meanwhile, John grows more and more interested in Stephanie, but he hasn't quite gotten over Sophie (played by gorgeous Claire Dodd), a girl who just recently dumped him because she felt he wasn't sophisticated enough for her.  Huck thinks that Sophie is a self-involved snob and John is probably better off without her, anyway.

Things seem to be going swimmingly...and then Aunt Minnie suddenly passes away.  Everyone knows Minnie intended to leave the shop to Stephanie (who, we find out, has secretly been the shop's head designer all along), but because she didn't leave a will, the shop goes to her next of kin, John.  John has no interest in running the shop by himself, so he and Stephanie agree to a partnership.  All the while their attraction continues to grow.

Unfortunately, Sophie learns about John's inheritance in a recently published newspaper article and decides she wants her old country bumpkin boyfriend after all, so she heads to Paris intent on winning him back.

What little plot that follows is mostly uninspired and contrived, with only the Rogers/Astaire song-and-dance scenes to save the film.  Ginger Rogers looks positively gorgeous in every scene and she is hands-down my favorite part of the movie.

Rogers and Astaire sing one of my favorite duets of all time, I Won't Dance, followed by a fantastic tap solo performed by Astaire.

Irene Dunne, who is usually so smart and funny and striking on screen, is dreadfully boring in this film. Anyone would have been with the lackluster lines she was given.

I did enjoy listening to Dunne sing - she performed four solos in the film, all beautiful ballads, and three of them were written by genius composer Jerome Kern: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, Yesterdays and Lovely to Look At.

Irene Dunne performing Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

The song and dance numbers were definitely the best scenes of the movie, but another highlight for me was the fashion.  There are a TON of glamorous dresses in this movie, so that was fun to watch, especially then-unknown Lucille Ball in a non-speaking role as one of the fashion models.

Overall, Roberta is a cute movie.  Lots of laughs (courtesy of Rogers and Astaire), musical numbers and beautiful gowns kept me entertained, but the silly plot kept getting in the way.

Rogers and Astaire make it worth a watch, though!