The Sky's the Limit (1943)

Pretty Good

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Absolutely Brilliant!

The earlier review of the film by Charles Reichenthal is wonderfully precise about what makes this film a surprising treat. As with most Astaire vehicles, some suspension of disbelief is necessary to accepting the plot. And, as usual, any number of situations are absurd and fantastical (the ages of the protagonists, etc.). But for me, the film is pure Astaire, Astaire as he interprets Mercer and more. So many details of the film are worth savoring: Astaire's "snake dance" for Robert Ryan in the soldiers' canteen (Ryan *is* absurdly menacing, but also lighthearted in a Robert Ryan kind of way--and completely appropriate to the whimsy of the scene, I thought), Benchley's speech (as noted), Astaire's crunching on an apple, the solo scenes where Astaire balances the comedy and drama in this film with such grace. The WWII setting is interesting for Astaire, as well, as he is so closely associated with the aesthetic of the 1930s. His feigned world-weariness in the film, which disguises the character's very real engagement with the War, anticipates for me Astaire's memorable dramatic performance in On the Beach. I enjoyed studying Astaire's surprising range in this unpretentious little film. Susan White

Fred Atwell (Fred Astaire), an Army pilot and former Flying Tiger, is on a national War Bonds promotion tour. While on leave in New York, he "courts" a fashion photographer and nightclub singer, Joan Manion (Joan Leslie). But his idea of courting seems to be following her around and p-ssing her off, while pretending to be an arrogant draft dodger and freeloader. Apparently, this works much better than, oh, say, telling her that he is a respectable war pilot and hero, and treating her like a lady.There are the usual masterful dances by Astaire, a few good songs by Harold Arlen (notably "My Shining Hour" and "One For The Road"), and a fairly good appearance by Robert Benchley. But this is not one of Astaire's better musicals.

Fred Astaire is a great dancer and any movie with his dancing has worthwhile moments. However this movie is so corny that it makes the usual Fred and Ginger movies appear to be cinema verite'! For no discernible reason, Fred, who is really an heroic fighter pilot, poses as a jobless ne'er-do-well to Joan. This is the stupid premise of the plot.Fred does one great solo dance, sings one song which is probably the best one he's ever done (One for My Baby), and has one good dance with Joan; she CAN dance. She sings one song (My Shining Hour) unimpressively.

Although "The Sky's the Limit" (1943) was a MGM film, the budget for production design was on the level of a Republic B-Western. This makes this black and white film noteworthy for production design buffs as they can pick apart each set and the many surprisingly obvious (for MGM) sound stage background projections. The low budget also required the use of stock footage, a technique that the MGM editors (used to working on high quality productions) were probably out-of-practice employing. As already pointed out, the most glaring example is the aerial combat scene that opens the movie. Fred Atwell (Fred Astaire) is shown in an obvious WWII P-40 cockpit mock-up (Ed Wood quality). Even worse the editors cut in footage from a WWI biplane dogfight. Fred Astaire and Joan Leslie (who plays his love interest) were 44 and 18 respectively when the film was produced. This kind of shoots down the overall credibility of their romance. Imagine an 18 year-old girl waking up to find a strange 44 year-old man in her kitchen. But they glam up Leslie so much that she looks a bit older. For anyone unfamiliar with Astaire he was hardly leading man material but was quite a featured dancer. He looked about 60 when he was 30 and not much older when he made "Finian's Rainbow" in 1968 at the age of 69. Some things to watch for are the neon lights on the instruments of the nightclub orchestra and the self-reflexive reference to Ginger Rogers (Astaire's usual co-star). There are a couple of good song and dance numbers although "The Sky's the Limit" could not really be considered a musical. Although the film itself is obscure, Astaire's dance number in the hotel bar is often referenced in discussions of musicals. Utilizing a marble floor, mirrors, and shelves of glasses he does an amazing multi-tempo dance routine, which climaxes in a frenzy of broken glass.Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.