The Bandwagon

What I love most about "The Bandwagon" is just how light it is, not just on its feet, but also in tone. This is no frivolous musical, but it is a musical comedy that doesn't take itself too seriously, nor does it want to be. It is one of the great MGM musicals from the same era of MGM musicals which produced, "Singin in the Rain", and "An American in Paris". It's about the highs and lows of putting on a show, the tragedy of when one doesn't work out, and the joyousness when one does. But mostly "The Bandwagon" is about entertainment, giving the people what they want, and it doesn't skimp on riches, it's bright, witty, and dreamlike, it's there for us to enjoy time and time again.

"The Bandwagon" is about Tony Hunter (Fred Astaire), a washed up movie star who heads to New York to star in a Broadway Musical written by two friends of his, Lester and Lily Martin (Oscar Levant and Nanette Fabray). They've got a part tailor made for Tony, it's light and funny, just what he's known for. But before you could say Broadway smash, the Martins entrust their show to an ego driven director named Jeffery Cordoba. Jeffery currently has three shows running on Broadway simultaneously, while he himself is performing "Oedipus Rex". Very quickly Jeffery changes the Martin's show show it parallels the story of "Faust". It no longer is light and funny, but dark and tragic. However everyone seems to go against their better judgment because Jeffery just happens to be a genius.

There is also an acting coup, when Jeffery also hooks up famed ballerina Gabrielle Gerard (Cyd Charisse) to star opposite Tony. At first Tony is terrified of this, since he is a hoofer, while Gabrielle is much more refined. It becomes obvious early on that the show is not working, Jeff's demands become more and more outrageous, soon it is preview night, and no one is prepared, but of course this is a crowd pleasing musical, all they need is to go back to the drawing board and all will turn out well.

When you look at all the plot points, you could say that "The Bandwagon" is sort of the companion piece to "Singin in the Rain". That film took aim at the movie business, while this one is about Broadway. The dreadful show within a show in "The Bandwagon" mirrors the similar situation in "Singin in the Rain" which had a movie that needed fixing. This probably isn't just coincidence, since both films were produced by Arthur Freed, the mastermind behind the best MGM musicals. Freed basically had the same idea for both films, he wanted to use existing musical numbers that MGM had the rights over and make a musical surrounding them. Both films had the same screenwriters who Betty Comden and Adolph Green, they had the difficult job of taking all these songs and somehow making a story around it. Luckily they were witty writers and had a great flare for comedy. The characters played by Levant and Fabray were loosly based on them, however they weren't married in real life.

The other creative force behind "The Bandwagon" was Vincent Minnelli, probably the best known director of musicals. However Minnelli never just stuck to one genre, he could do comedy, and drama, but there was something special when he made musicals. He made magical worlds within his musicals, and "The Bandwagon" lets him play around a bit even making fun of his own pretensions in a musical. The film is warmly lit for most of the time, and Minnelli makes every number memorable.

Let's talk about these musical numbers, there's too many to count, some don't seem to last long enough, you beg for more. The big one for sure is "Dancing in the Dark" featuring Astaire and Charisse. It's a purely romantic sequence with the two characters seeing if they could actually dance together. It begins quite casual almost as if the two dancers are making it up as they go, then it flows into a gorgeous number with a beautiful symphony backing them up.

There is also the triplets number featuring Astaire, Fabray, and Buchanan as toddlers. They do the entire number with fake feet strapped to their knees. According to Fabray in the making of documentary, they each had to learn how to dance on their knees, there was no trick photography included. The final riot comes with the final ballet call "Girl Hunt", which is a parody of Mickie Spillane pulp novels. The mystery doesn't make a lick of sense, but who cares with all the spirited dancing going around.

Each star makes their own mark on the film, but when you think of "The Bandwagon", it's hard not to think of Astaire. This was the beginning of the next great era in Astaire's career. He was semi-retired by the time he made "The Bandwagon", Gene Kelly seemed to have come in as the next generation. You could make comparisons between Tony Hunter and Astaire's own career, however I don't think he was ever that far forgotten. If anything, "The Bandwagon" shows off some of Astaire's best filmed moments, the aforementioned "Dancing in the Dark", as well as early in the film "A Shine on your Shoes". I love watching Astaire dance, it's one of the greatest pleasures the movies can afford. Astaire was known as a perfectionist along with Kelly, from what I've heard and read about him, he was quiet and shy and very insecure about his dancing. Yet when you see him on screen, it all goes away, and you are left with a man who looks to be enjoying himself.

Astaire would go on to call "The Bandwagon" his favorite film, and it probably is his best, unlike the films he did with Ginger, he's more of a solo act here, more well-rounded and perhaps even more comfortable within his own skin. He's free of any expectations because he's been able to grow as an artist and he's able to just have fun and go with it.

I look at "The Bandwagon" today as one of the great entertainments, something that lasts because the people who made it were the best in their field. That was the norm in Hollywood back then, when they could get creative forces behind one project and made magic. Their talent was taking something that looked so difficult and make it seem so effortless.