Blue Skies (1946)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Stuart Heisler

Writers:

Irving Berlin (story)
Allan Scott (adaptation)

Release Date:

16 October 1946 (USA)

Genre:

Musical | Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

32 BERLIN HITS Old and New

Plot:

Jed Potter looks back on a love triangle conducted over the course of years and between musical numbers...

Plot Keywords:

Love Triangle | WWII | Frankenstein's Monster | Show | Radio Program

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Cast

Bing Crosby	...	Johnny Adams
Fred Astaire	...	Jed Potter
Joan Caulfield	...	Mary O'Hara
Billy De Wolfe	...	Tony
Olga San Juan	...	Nita Nova
Mikhail Rasumny	...	François
Frank Faylen	...	Mack
Victoria Horne	...	Martha (nurse)
Karolyn Grimes	...	Mary Elizabeth Adams

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

UK:U | Finland:K-16 | USA:Unrated

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Mark Sandrich, who directed several of the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers films, was the original director, but he died suddenly of a heart attack.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the opening tilt pan shot of Rockefeller Center, the waterfalls are clearly in reverse.

Movie Connections:

Featured in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs (2004) (TV)

Soundtrack:

How Deep Is the Ocean?

Not great, but Astaire is wonderful

Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, and Joan Caulfield star in "Blue Skies," a 1946 musical film also starring Billy de Wolfe and Olga San Juan. The film starts with Jed (Astaire) on the radio telling the story of his buddy Johnny's (Crosby) relationship with Mary (Caulfield), and saying that he hoped Mary, wherever she was, would hear him. Both Jed and Johnny had been in love with her, but she had chosen Johnny.

The story of this love triangle is backed up by one Irving Berlin song after another - there is a lot of music, some fine singing by Crosby and tremendous dancing by Astaire. This was to be his last film but his retirement only lasted a couple of years. He worked in film until 1977 and continued working in television and doing voiceovers until 1981; he died in 1987. In the late '50s, he did two dance specials on television, and he did one in 1968. Was he dancing at the age of 69? Probably.

The movie doesn't really hang together. The production values are great, but the story is trite, and there aren't enough fabulous numbers. Astaire does "Puttin' on the Ritz," which is the height of the film, also "Heat Wave," and with Crosby, "A Couple of Song and Dance Men." There is a section during World War II where Crosby sings some of his Berlin standards, "This is the Army, Mr. Jones," "White Christmas," and "Any Bonds Today?" The beautiful "Always" is done as a chorus number, as is "How Deep is the Ocean," with Crosby sometimes singing along.

Having heard Crosby when he had something to prove back in the early '30s, I can never be content with his crooning, except perhaps in some parts of "Holiday Inn." Astaire is the one who makes this film worthwhile at all. See it for him and for some of the music and musical numbers. Ignore the story.