ASTAIRE-ROGERS MUSICAL

Evening Star, Issue 23147, 22 December 1938, Page 15

ASTAIRE-ROGERS MUSICAL

‘CAREFREE’ COMING TO STATE Because she cannot make up her mind about marrying, Ginger Rogers finds herself in the centre of a hilarious and tuneful whirlwind of troubles in ‘ Carefree,’ RKO Radio picture, which reunites her with Fred Astaire, and will be shown to-morrow at tho State M iss Rogers portrays a famous actress, engaged to Ralph Bellamy, a prominent lawyer, while Astaire is a psychiatrist and friend of Bellamy. When she continually postpones the date of their marriage, Bellamy’ sends Miss Rogers to Astaire for a mental

diagnosis. The- result, however, is that Miss Rogers falls in love with Astaire, instead of Bellamy, and when he fails to respond, sets out to win his attention by fair means or foul. This involves hen - in a series of wild escapades when, as part of the treatment, Astaire releases her inhibitions and she puts tho city' in an uproar. Subsequently Astaire falls in love with her himself, and instead of being Bellamy’s John Alden he becomes his rival, which leads to an uproarious climax. Embellished with Irving Berlin melodies and with a series of dance routines that challenge former AstaireRogers triumphs, ‘ Carefree ’ is hailed as the ideal musical comedy-romance. Many of the scenes take place in a huge country club setting, said to be one of the most impressive structures ever built for pictures, and in addition

to Bellamy the supporting cast includes Luella Gear, of Broadway fame, Jack Carson, Clarence Kolb, and Franklin Pangborn. Mark Sandrich directed the Pandro S. Berman production.