‘The Bandwagon’ is a wonderfully happy movie with a top class cast. As well as Fred Astaire, it stars Nanette Fabray, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant and Jack Buchanan, all seasoned, proven perfomers and all ideally suited to blend expertly with the sizzling, brilliant dancing of the master, Astaire.
The music of ‘The Bandwagon’ is brilliant. The song “That’s Entertainment” has become a standard and the ballet sequence ‘Dancing in the Dark’ with Astaire and Cyd Charisse is part of cinema’s folklore. Another high spot is the “Shine on Your Shoes” number which Fred does with real life shoe shine Leroy Daniels.
The movie is given an added edge by the “near to the knuckle” casting. For instance the main character, Tony Hunter, is an aging dancer making a comeback- uncannily similar to …well…Fred Astaire himself. The film’s song writing couple, Lester and Lily Marion were based on the actual songwriters of the movie – Comden and Green. Cyd Charisse’s character is based on the French ballerina Zizi Jeanmaire and Jack Buchanan’s Jeffrey Cordova character is an amalgam of real life movie personalities, Orson Welles, José Ferrer and George S. Kaufman.
‘The Bandwagon’ is a rare delight, a musical masterpiece- I cannot recommend it highly enough.
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