You'll Never Get Rich (DVD, 2003)

I have seen nearly every musical Fred Astaire made, and You'll Never Get Rich (1941) is among my favorites. Ginger Rogers and Astaire are widely recognized as the best dance pair on the screen, but Rita Hayworth has got to be a close second. Rita is fantastic in this film, bringing all the talent and beauty the role requires and more. She plays a dancer who is pursued by a philandering Broadway producer (Robert Benchley). He buys her an engraved diamond bracelet but gets caught by his wife.

In the sort of confusion and switcheroos frequently found in Astaire musicals, Hayworth is pawned off to Fred, the show's choreographer and star dancer, to whom she is attracted. He falls for her too but is chased off by her fiance (John Hubbard), whom he didn't know she had, and joins the army. He can't escape Rita and her betrothed, though, because Hubbard is a captain in the army. She finds Fred in the guard house, where he spends most of his time as a soldier on account of one Hayworth-related infraction or another--he impersonates a captain to impress her and later goes AWOL for her.

Benchley arrives at the army camp and wants Fred and Benchley's newest romantic interest, Sonya (Osa Massen), to star in a show to entertain the soldiers. Astaire insists Hayworth get the lead instead, and he and she share the stage, with him being escorted by two guards every minute he's not in the guard house. Desperate to keep Massen happy, Benchley uses the diamond bracelet again and frames Astaire to make Hayworth angry and quit the show, and this just when Hubbard has proposed they marry immediately and she accompany him on his transfer to Panama.

Things are desperate for Fred, who's losing his girl and still in the guard house. He'll need to do some quick thinking and have a little help from his army chums and Benchley's wife if he's going to win back Rita!

Astaire and Hayworth are marvelous together. The dance numbers are all excellent, and there's lots of humor. You'll Never Get Rich is a wonderful movie musical from two of Hollywood's greatest stars.