Easter Parade (1948)

Too much of everything

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

A colorful confection that more than anything proves what a powerhouse performer Judy Garland was, as she manages to upstage Fred Astaire at every turn, no mean feat.Garland plays a showgirl that Astaire plucks from the chorus line and decides to turn into a star, just to prove to his fame-hungry ex (played by a miscast Ann Miller) that he can. This shoestring of a plot is used to thread together a bunch of hummable Irving Berlin tunes, including the title number.The laughs in the film go almost exclusively to Garland, who's especially hilarious in a scene where she and Astaire dance for the first time in front of an audience and she louses it up. The most memorable musical moments are one in which Garland and Astaire dress up as hobos, and one that opens the film, featuring a solo dance performed by Astaire in a toy shop. Miller gets her moment to shine as well, and she's a dynamo, making you forget for a brief moment how ill-suited she is to play the glamorous girl that got away.Johnny Green and Roger Edens won an Oscar for adapting the film's musical score.Grade: B+

Not a great Fred Astaire musical. He was perfection in every step. But Judy Garland, while good, looked wooden in her dancing alongside his genius. The best number was the drum dance which was right in the beginning. Almost all flat from there. Great to watch Astaire (as always) and Ann Miller is an exceptional dancer but overall the film lacks a certain joie de vivre. Maybe that it's set in 1912. I dunno. Or that there's more pizazz and not so much elegance. Second time I have seen this, first time in at least 10 years, not sure I'll ever seen it again... although because it's an Astaire film, I just might be tempted. As a man, watching men dance I can do without, but when it comes to a certain few, it's amazing to see such perfection and Fred Astaire is perhaps the best of the best!6.4 / 10 stars--Zoooma, a Kat Pirate Screener

Tom Hewes (Fred Astaire) has his dancing partner Nadine (Ann Miller) leave him during a tour to sign up for a show. He hires a waitress named Hannah (Judy Garland) to take her place. Naturally he has to teach her to dance. Naturally they hate each other. Naturally they fall in love. There's even Peter Lawford in this singing a tune(and quite good at it too).It's in bright Technicolor, all the stars are full of energy and giving there all...but this is just good and nothing more than that. The plot is old hat (even for a musical) and the songs (there are 17 of them!) are tuneful but not at all memorable. All the great singing and dancing can only carry the movie so far. By the end I was bored silly by the story and just waiting for it to end. So it's a GOOD musical but not even close to being a great one.

This is, overall, a very disappointing, mediocre movie, with a very bad script. Every now and then, however, there is a remarkable number that stands out like a brilliant diamond in a sea of dross.For me, the brightest of those diamonds is "Then I'll walk down the avenue," a strangely beautiful song performed superlatively by Garland and Astaire - in that order. If the rest of the movie were at that level, this would be one of the great movies of all times.Ann Miller also gets some remarkable dance numbers. For whatever reason, her personality does not light up the screen, unlike Judy Garland, but she was certainly one very fine dancer.The "François salad" number is also wonderful in its own way, and emphasizes the extent to which this movie is not one organic whole, but rather a series of independent solo turns, some of which work, most of which don't.And the last number, "Easter Parade," is a great song, even if the movie doesn't do anything special with it. What a shame. That could have been a crowning glory that effaced much of the forgettable footage that came before.An uneven movie, in short, but one with scenes that are never to be forgotten.