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The Barkleys Of Broadway

THE BARKLEYS OF BROADWAY

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CREDITS

1949, 109 minutes, Technicolor.
Producer, Arthur Freed; Director, Charles Walters; Screenplay, Betty Comden and Adolph Green; Music Direction, Lennie Hayton; Choreography, Robert Alton, Fred Astaire and Hermes Pan; Cinematography, Harry Stradling.

CAST

Josh Barkley, Fred Astaire; Dinah Barkley, Ginger Rogers; Ezra Miller, Oscar Levant; Mrs. Livingston Belney, Billie Burke; Shirlene May, Gale Robbins; Jacques Pierre, Jacques Francois; The Judge, George Zucco; Bert Felsher, Clinton Sundberg; Pamela Driscoll, Inez Cooper.

SONGS

My One And Only Highland Fling; Shoes With Wings On; You'd Be Hard To Replace; Manhattan Downbeat; A Weekend In The Country; Swing Trot by Harry Warren and Ira Gershwin; They Can't Take That Away From Me by George and Ira Gershwin; Bouncin' The Blues by Warren; Piano Concerto No. 1 by Tchaikovsky; Sabre Dance by Khatchaturian.

PLOT SYNOPSIS

"This 1949 comedy follows the explots of show-biz couple Josh and Dinah Barkley (Astaire and Rogers). Onstage, the Barkleys are the perfect Broadway singing-and-dancing duo. Offstage, they bicker nonstop. Enter a handsome French playwright (Jacques Francois) who entices Dinah into leaving musicals to star in his somber drama. Confusion and comedy prevail as Josh impersonates the pompous Frenchman in order to woo his wife back to the dance floor. . .and into his arms!"
- Liner Notes from Turner/MGM/UA Laserdisc

NOTES

"Plot-wise, scenarists Betty Comden and Adolph Green made the most of the least, their screenplay skillfully negotiating the inherent cliches. . ."
- Clive Hirschhorn, The Hollywood Musical

"Next to the patching of relations between Russia and the United States, there is probably no rapprochement that has been more universally desired than the bringing back together of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. . .But now the disjunction is corrected. Metro has joined the two again in The Barkleys of Broadway, and the health of the world should improve."
- Bosley Crowther, The New York Times

"A rather flat and unattractive reunion for a famous pair, with a witless script, poorish numbers and very little style. The compensations are minor."
- Halliwell's Film Guide


ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATION:
Cinematography (Color)

Judy Garland was originally cast in the Ginger Rogers part.

The Barkleys Of Broadway was one of the top-grossing films of 1949. See Box Office Hits

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