Second Chorus

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Second Chorus has one little gem of a moment that has found its way into many Fred Astaire highlight reels. Astaire sings and taps "I Ain't Hep to That Step but I'll Dig It" then tries to coax Paulette Goddard onto the floor. She declines, twice, then joins him in a joyous dance. The rest of the movie is not as enticing. Astaire and Burgess Meredith portray trumpet players vying for a spot in Artie Shaw's orchestra and for the affections of Goddard. The interplay among the three stars has its charms, and there's plenty of toe-tapping big-band music from Shaw, who plays himself in a substantial part and wrote the Oscar-nominated "Would You Like to Be the Love of My Life" with Johnny Mercer. Filmed in 1940, Second Chorus pales in comparison to the nine-film Astaire-Ginger Rogers partnership that had just ended. Astaire doesn't dance enough, and a tedious subplot involving Charles Butterworth stretches the movie about 15 minutes too long. No great surprise that like Royal Wedding, Second Chorus has slipped into the public domain and is generally available in poor-quality prints. --David Horiuchi

Description

When pretty college band manager Ellen (Paulette Goddard) is lured away by the glamour of famous bandleader Artie Shaw, trumpet players Danny (Fred Astaire) and Hank (Burgess Meredith) scheme to get her back in a wily game of romantic cat-and-mouse. Packed with great song-and-dance numbers, this romantic comedy delight will lift your spirits to the skies!

Customer Reviews:

Disappointing Film-to-DVD Copy.......2007-08-19

Alpha Video is one of those companies that copies film-based movies directly to DVD with no digital remastering of either the video or audio. As a result, the video jumped at times and spots blinked across the screen. Most of the dialogue sounded like people talking inside a large tin can lined with acoustic insulation.

The plot and characters did not age very well. It may have been funny at one time, but having two friends, O'Neill and Taylor (played by Fred Astaire and Burgess Meredith, respectively) lying and conniving against each other for the motives of lust and greed made the entire movie disappointing. Even the one sympathetic character, Mr. Chisholm (played by Charles Butterworth) got drawn into this "comic" device when he decided to use his position as concert sponsor to force his unwanted musical abilities on Artie Shaw.

Paulette Goddard's character Ellen Miller did women a disservice by pretending to put her foot down when she had an opportunity to display common sense and tell the two "friends" she did not want to see them again, after they used her friendship to gain auditions with Shaw and then embarrassed her with their unprofessional antics onstage. Instead, she keeps letting them get her into trouble, almost causing Chisholm to return home with his sponsorship money by making him think Ellen was married to Taylor. They finally almost see the error of their ways and put their lying and conniving to good use by convincing Chisholm that their latest scam was all a misunderstanding and persuading him to recommit to the concert.

Adding to the disappointment is the fact that Astaire had only two dance numbers, one with Goddard (she's no Ginger Rogers) and a solo dance at the end of the movie.

It sort of comes out okay in the end, but the idea that a woman's love can make a bad guy turn good has resulted in many women choosing to remain in abusive and even lethal relationships. Sorry, but I don't find this to be a very valuable theatrical device anymore. At least "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" did not pretend to be other than what it was.

If you want to view the movie, rent a copy until one of the better DVD production companies releases a properly remastered version.

Of special interest to Astaire fans.......2007-04-03

"Second Chorus" is not a widely known film, but it will probably be enjoyable to any fan of Fred Astaire. If you're not particularly fond of Astaire, you might want to pass on this one since seeing Astaire in action in an unusual role is the main attraction. The story is that Danny O'Neill (Fred Astaire) and Hank Taylor (Burgess Meredith) are leaders of a band. The two have been intentionally failing in college, because they like the atmosphere, and also because as long as they are officially students they can spend their time running the band and making a pretty good living at it. When Ellen Miller (Paulette Goddard) enters the picture, they both get greedy and want her attention for themselves. Thus they each double-cross the other and both wind up getting expelled from the university, thus ending their cozy arrangement with their band. They spend most of the rest of the film continuing to double-cross one another, this time over trying to get into Artie Shaw's band as well as trying to win over the affections of Ellen, who now works for Shaw. In the end, Danny and Hank patch things up and decide to work together, with good results coming from their teamwork.

The things that are not so great about this film are mainly the quality of the video, the less than great comic timing, and the tiresome scenes with J. Lester Chisholm, played by Charles Butterworth. Mr. Butterworth is no Edward Everett Horton, and as a less-than-adequate character actor you just want to shoo the guy off stage every time he turns up. Also, if you're watching this film to see lots of Astaire's wonderful dancing, you'll likely be somewhat disappointed. He does do some singing and dancing, but this film mainly shows off his comic abilities, of which the mischievous Astaire has plenty. This part would have been better if the comic timing of the script had been tighter, though.

As for the second feature, "That's Dancing" is a documentary made in 1985 along the same lines of "That's Entertainment". However, in my humble opinion "That's Entertainment" did it before and did it better. Actually, this documentary seems a bit drawn out and lacks the excitement of its predecessor. However, you do get to see some good shots of Astaire and others doing some pretty impressive dancing. Considering the low cost of this double feature, for the ardent Astaire fan it is probably worth it.

never seen this film look better!!.......2006-10-24

this hal roach studios dvd release of 'second chorus' has to be the best restoration of this film so far. not top of the line spectacular, but very, very good!! on the back cover it says the dvd is "mastered from original 35mm nitrate camera negative", and indeed the images are clean and crisp, no spots, specs, or lines. those who have seen the inferior prints of this film in the past will be pleasantly surprised. it's well worth the money.

for me, astaire is hollywood royalty; a peerless dancer and entertainer. all of astaire's body of work is great --- he never fails to deliver fresh, original interpretations of music through his singing and dancing. his films should be in every dvd library, that's why THIS DVD EDITION is such a find.

and while the film itself is not a classic, it does have some wonderful moments, starting with the toe-tapping tune by the artie shaw orchestra that accompanies the opening credits. this, along with "i ain't hep to that step but i'll dig it" and "love of my life" and the instrumental band music ... they're all upbeat, peppy tunes. it's a shame there's not more of them, they're just great to listen to.

paulette goddard's sweet-tart personality also works well with astaire, and her one dance (a jitterbug!!) with astaire is well done and fun to watch. again, we could use more dancing, even the great astaire has ONE solo dance number. goddard herself was just reaching fullblown stardom at this time (1940). burgess meredith, brilliant as always. artie shaw, charles butterworth and the supporting cast, excellent.

with more music and dance numbers (this film seems to have fewer numbers than your traditional musical), and perhaps better production values (paramount studios would do better by astaire in later films) this could have been a classic musical. but even so, as it is , it's still well worth a look!!!!

bummer.......2005-10-04

How can I review the movie "Second Chorus" when I have never received it?

The Movie Has Some Redeeming Qualities, And One Great Song.......2005-09-05

What did Fred Astaire have to say about Second Chorus? "The worst picture I ever worked on."

Looking at it now the movie has some redeeming qualities, but on balance we have a Fred Astaire musical with only two real dance numbers, and the second is near the end of the movie, plus it's a musical with only three songs...and each of the songs has a different composer with Johnny Mercer doing all the lyrics. The musical has the earmarks of an idea that went wrong. Still, if you're an Astaire fan it's worth watching all the way through once, and then using your fast-forward clicker several times to the three musical numbers, which are good.

Trumpet player Danny O'Neill (Fred Astaire) heads The University Perennials, a reasonably successful college band made up of musicians who deliberately fail each year to graduate. His best friend and competitor is a fellow trumpet player, Hank Taylor (Burgess Meredith). They both fall for Ellen Miller (Paulette Goddard), whom they hire to manage the band, and they both compete for a spot with Artie Shaw. There's plenty of plot complications, friendly but under-handed double dealing and lots of misunderstandings. Eventually, Danny and Ellen wind up together, Danny wins a place with Shaw...and probably so does Hank.

The fast-forward button is essential because the plot just goes on and on. What the movie has going for it is Astaire, when he's given the opportunity to dance and to sing, the music of Artie Shaw, trumpet players Bobby Hackett dubbing for Astaire and Billy Butterfield dubbing for Meredith, and Johnny Mercer's lyrics. Mercer collaborated with Shaw on the one romantic swing number Astaire sings to Goddard. It's a knock-out. Unfortunately, the song has been long forgotten, but it's worth the price of the public domain DVD. "Would You Like to Be the Love of My Life?" goes like this:

Would you like to be the love of my life for always,
And always watch over me?
To square my blunders, and share my dreams
One day with caviar, next day a chocolate bar.

Would you like to take the merry go round I'll lead you,
I'll need you, wait and you'll see

I hope in your horoscope
There is room for a dope who adores you,
That would make
The only dreams of my life come true,
For the love of my life is you.

Astaire's dance number with Goddard to "I Ain't Hep to That Step But I'll Dig It" (music by Hal Borne) is a fast charmer. Goddard was no dancer, and it's interesting to see how cleverly Astaire positions her to make her look good. What's frustrating is that one number that evidently was very good was cut to make more time for the story and for Artie Shaw and his band. The number was called "Me and the Ghost Upstairs" with music by Bernard Hanighen and words by Mercer. Hermes Pan danced the part of the ghost. The number was filmed but the only things that survive, as far as I know, are a couple of rehearsal out-takes and the song track by Astaire. It features some of Mercer's cleverest lyrics:

Once upon a midnight dreary
While I pondered weak and weary
From a long trip on the Erie
Comes a rappin' on my chamber door

It's an ectoplasmic tapping
That disturbs my nightly napping
Like a shroud that's gently flapping
Emanating from the second floor

Buddies are we, me and the ghost upstairs
Sipping our tea, me and the ghost upstairs
But he's inclined to moan when left alone
So I think of things that'll tickle his funny bone

Lonely old ghost upstairs

Regular folks, droppin' our worldly cares
Swappin' our jokes, me and the ghost upstairs
And then he slaps his shroud and laughs out loud
And says "Oh boy, that'll paralyze all the crowd"

Jolly old ghost upstairs

He's quite a cook, he serves a beautiful drink
He wrote a book and in invisible ink
I took a look and the title 'pon the page
Was 'The Groups of Wraith'

Once in a while he brings a gang of friends
Does it in style, careless of what he spends
And though the place is small we have a ball
'Cause you know those spooks don't require no room at all

We have some mighty fine affairs
Me and the ghost upstairs
We have some mighty fine affairs
Me and the ghost upstairs.

My copy of the movie is from Passport Video. It's watchable but not much more than that. There are chapter stops but they aren't keyed to the musical numbers, which is an irritation. Still, if you're an Astaire completeist (and I am) and like Johnny Mercer and Artie Shaw, you might want this. And don't forget "Would You Like to Be the Love of My Life." It really is a first-class, sophisticated, swinging love song.

Fred Astaire Triple Feature: Second Chorus/Royal Wedding/The Over The Hill Gang Rides Again

Average customer rating:

Great to have Astaire on DVD, but the print quality is low

Fred Astaire Triple Feature: Second Chorus/Royal Wedding/The Over The Hill Gang Rides Again
Starring: Fred Astaire
Manufacturer: Madacy Records
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00007JZWB
Release Date: 2002-12-10

Customer Reviews:

Great to have Astaire on DVD, but the print quality is low.......2003-01-24

Here are three Fred Astaire movies: Second Chorus, Royal Wedding, and The Over the Hill Gang Rides Again. The first movie, Second Chorus is a light, frivolous movie, with less of Astaire's dancing than is typical in his outings with Ginger Rogers. It's fun to see, but the print is fairly muddy, and sometimes it's hard to see detail. Royal Wedding is cute, and features some of Astaire's classic dance scenes--the hatrack dance and the dance on the ceiling number. The Over the Hill Gang Rides Again is a made-for-television movie featuring a number of familiar old faces from Westerns. It's an ok movie, and it's fun to see Astaire in the "fish out of water" kind of a movie. It's Fred Astaire's only Western, and although he plays a Texas Ranger, he's the most dandified Texas Ranger you'll ever see. Overall, the DVD compilation is fun, and the price is certainly low enough to overcome the print quality objection.

Hollywood Musicals - Second Chorus / Mr. Imperium

Average customer rating:

Hollywood Musicals - Second Chorus / Mr. Imperium
Starring: Lana Turner , Ezio Pinza , Marjorie Main , Barry Sullivan , and Cedric Hardwicke
Director: Don Hartman , H.C. Potter , and Hans Burger
Manufacturer: Sling Shot
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000063K1M
Release Date: 2002-03-26

Average customer rating:

Beware this "bootleg" DVD
VERY POOR QUALITY

Royal Wedding/Second Chorus
Starring: Fred Astaire , Jane Powell , Peter Lawford , Sarah Churchill , and Keenan Wynn
Director: Stanley Donen , and H.C. Potter
Manufacturer: Peter Pan
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0000C0FLP
Release Date: 2003-10-28

Product Description

Royal Wedding
Follows the hi-jinks of a brother (Astaire) and sister (Jane Powell) dance act as they search for love on a transatlantic journey. This movie showcases some of Astaire's most memorable dance scenes in film history and has delighted audiences since the movie's release in 1951.

SECOND CHORUS
Friendly rivals Danny (Astaire) and Hank (Burgess Meredith), are trumpet players in a college swing band when they meet Ellen (Paulette Goddard), the band s new manager. So begins the on going wooing and courtship of Ellen, while trying to out do one another and maliciously destroy their friendship.
Features the Oscar nominated song "LOVE OF MY LIFE"

System Requirements:
Running Time: 177 Min.

Format: DVD MOVIE

Amazon.com

Royal Wedding
Fred Astaire dances on the ceiling in this 1951 Alan Jay Lerner musical for MGM, directed by Stanley Donen (Singin' in the Rain). The appealing story finds Astaire as part of a brother-and-sister act (along with Jane Powell) that travels to London at the time of Queen Elizabeth II's wedding. Astaire and Powell each find romances that threaten to break up the act, but that's mostly fun window dressing in a movie better known for some truly creative sequences made vivid by Donen, including Astaire's famous dance with a hat rack and his duet with Powell, "How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You (When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life)?" --Tom Keogh

Second Chorus
Second Chorus has one little gem of a moment that has found its way into many Fred Astaire highlight reels. Astaire sings and taps "I Ain't Hep to That Step but I'll Dig It" then tries to coax Paulette Goddard onto the floor. She declines twice, then joins him in a joyous dance. The rest of the movie is not as enticing. Astaire and Burgess Meredith portray trumpet players vying for a spot in Artie Shaw's orchestra and for the affections of Goddard. The interplay among the three stars has its charms, and there's plenty of toe-tapping big-band music from Shaw, who plays himself in a substantial part and wrote the Oscar-nominated "Would You Like to Be the Love of My Life" with Johnny Mercer. Filmed in 1940, Second Chorus pales in comparison to the nine-film Astaire-Ginger Rogers partnership that had just ended. Astaire doesn't dance enough, and a tedious subplot involving Charles Butterworth stretches the movie about 15 minutes too long. No great surprise that like Royal Wedding, Second Chorus has slipped into the public domain and is generally available in poor-quality prints. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews:

Beware this "bootleg" DVD.......2004-10-18

ROYAL WEDDING isn't on DVD yet. That's because the OWNER of the film, Warner Bros. hasn't released it yet.

But several other companies have, under the "guise" of public domain. The original copyright on the film was not renewed properly with the Library of Congress, so the film is perceived to be public domain, although the music is very much copyrighted and every distributor of this movie is participating in copyright infringement by selling these "bootlegs".

The companies make the money, because they're selling OTHER people's property.

The people who ultimately suffer are YOU, THE CONSUMER, unknowingly buying products of inferior (worse than professional VHS) quality, thinking you're getting the real thing, because it's a DVD.

Save your money. Wait until Warner Bros. gives us the real thing
thing...

And by the way, the movie gets 4 stars, it's the cheapo bootleg DVD that gets 1 star!

VERY POOR QUALITY.......2003-11-20

Unfortunately the release of this DVD with such poor visual and sound quality is appalling. One expects sharpness, one gets a version worse than one sees on television. Don't bother buying this version!!

Average customer rating:

Disappointing Film-to-DVD Copy
Of special interest to Astaire fans
never seen this film look better!!
bummer
The Movie Has Some Redeeming Qualities, And One Great Song

Second Chorus / That's Dancing!
Starring: Fred Astaire , Paulette Goddard , Artie Shaw , Charles Butterworth , and Burgess Meredith
Director: H.C. Potter
Manufacturer: PASSPORT VIDEO
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00008R9L7
Release Date: 2003-04-22

Amazon.com

Description

Second Chorus Fred Astaire stars in this swing musical. He plays a trumpet player in competition with another musician for the affections of their manager (played by the beautiful Paulette Goddard), who fends off their attentions while struggling to get them paying gigs. But who can resist being swept off her feet by the elegant Astaire? Goddard (at the time wife of movie legend Charles Chaplin, who starred with her in the classic comedy Modern Times) dances the light fantastic with Astaire in this delightful treat from the heyday of movie musicals. Songs include the Oscar-nominated "Would You Like to Be the Love of My Life?." A fine musical for all fans of Fred Astaire!

Bonus Material: That's Dancing With Fred Astaire Fred Astaire danced with some of the loveliest leading ladies ever to grace the silver screen. Here is a selection of original theatrical trailers that enticed audiences into movie houses during the golden era when Fred Astaire ruled as king of Hollywood's musical stars-- and his partner (whoever she might be) was queen.

Customer Reviews:

Disappointing Film-to-DVD Copy.......2007-08-19

Of special interest to Astaire fans.......2007-04-03

never seen this film look better!!.......2006-10-24

bummer.......2005-10-04

How can I review the movie "Second Chorus" when I have never received it?

The Movie Has Some Redeeming Qualities, And One Great Song.......2005-09-05

Average customer rating:

Not one of Astaire's best

Second Chorus
Starring: Joan Barclay , William Benedict , Don Brodie , Charles Butterworth , and Jimmy Conlin
Director: H.C. Potter , and Frank Cavett
Manufacturer: Miracle Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00062IXBK
Release Date: 2003-03-03

Customer Reviews:

Not one of Astaire's best.......2005-10-11

As the reviewers of the other versions of this DVD have said, this is not one of Astaire's better movies. Neither the dancing or the music are memorable.

Average customer rating:

Quality

Second Chorus (B&W)
Starring: Second Chorus
Manufacturer: Critic's Choice
ProductGroup: DVD
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You Were Never Lovelier

ASIN: B0009OO77O
Release Date: 2006-06-27

Product Description

Fred Astaire, Paulette Goddard, Artie Shawyou can probably figure out what kind of movie this is by reading the stars. The plot is wafer-thin but the dancin and singin are top-notch. Artie wails on the clarinet while Fred and new dancing partner Paulette cut the rug to shreds as a bunch of college kids (although Fred was, ahem, no spring chicken when the film was made) who cut loose when theyre not in class. Second Chorus (1940/84 min.) is everything youd expect from these stars, while Burgess Meredith and Charles Butterworth lend capable support in their enjoyable roles. Helen Forest sings with Artie Shaw and His Orchestra on center stage in a bonus episode of Symphony of Swing (1939/10 min.). B&w/NR.

Customer Reviews:

Quality.......2007-05-13

The movie itself is very good, but the quality of the record is extremely low, beyond acceptable.

Fred Astaire - Double Feature - Royal Wedding & Second Chorus

Average customer rating:

Second Chorus

Fred Astaire - Double Feature - Royal Wedding & Second Chorus

Manufacturer: Family Value Collection
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Product Description

Two Classic Fred Astaire Films in one DVD. Royal Wedding with the famous coat rack dance and the just as famous costar and Second Chorus a hard to find gem with the music of Artie Shaw thrown in.

Customer Reviews:

Second Chorus.......2006-02-23

This was not the type of Fred Astaire musical I'm used to. It was very disappointing and of poor quality. Royal Wedding was a great movie. I would give it a five.

Average customer rating:

Second Chorus
Starring: Joan Barclay , William Benedict , Don Brodie , Charles Butterworth , and Jimmy Conlin
Director: H.C. Potter , and Frank Cavett
Manufacturer: Genius Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0006H31TE
Release Date: 2004-01-01

Average customer rating:

SECOND CHORUS
Director: H.C. Potter
Manufacturer: CLASSIC LINE
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Product Description

Danny and Hank are surprised when Artie Shaw hires competent manager Ellen away from their college band. The two trumpet players scheme to get into Shaw's outfit themselves, each trying to trump the other's plays.

DVD:

DVD

DVD