Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

JohnHowardReid Copyright 26 February 1935 by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 7 March 1935. U.S. release: 8 March 1935. 12 reels. 105 minutes. SYNOPSIS: American band manager in Paris falls for a Russian princess who is working as a designer for his aunt's fashion salon.NOTES: Roberta opened on Broadway in 1933 and ran a most satisfactory 295 performances. Tamara had the lead role as Stephanie, Ray Middleton was Kent, Bob Hope was Huck Haines, Lyda Roberti was Sophie Teale, Fay Templeton was Roberta. Also in the cast Sidney Greenstreet as Lord Delves, George Murphy and Fred MacMurray. The Ginger Rogers character did not appear in the stage play at all. Odd then that Ginger bases her performance on Miss Roberti's, complete with thick accent and mannered gestures. The play was directed by Hassard Short, produced by Max Gordon.The song "Lovely To Look At" with music by Jerome Kern, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh, was written especially for the film and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song, losing to "Lullaby of Broadway" from Gold Diggers of 1935. Roberta placed 9th in the Film Daily's annual poll of American film critics. Negative cost: $610,000. Initial domestic rentals gross: $1,467,000. Initial foreign rentals gross: $868,000. Studio profit after paying advertising, print and distribution expenses: $770,000. Second to Top Hat as RKO's top-grossing release of 1935. Re-made by MGM in 1952 as Lovely To Look At.COMMENT: Although she has the melodic "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" number (plus a couple of lullabies for Helen Westley, including the pleasantly nostalgic "Yesterdays") and though she is shimmeringly photographed (though not so well recorded and her costumes alas sometimes unflatteringly dated), Irene Dunne (she receives top billing as "The Golden Girl with the Silver Song" too!) is upstaged in this piece by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Fred and Ginger have all the best lines and most of the best songs and to make their triumph complete they dance "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" too! Fred's easy, assured charm, his confident, sparkling personality (his way with dialogue seems as effortlessly smooth as his dancing) makes him rise right above the dated theatrical plot that often threatens to swamp Miss Dunne and all but drowns her luckless co- star Randolph Scott who is often gauche and never less than ill-at- ease as the oh-so-conventional hero of this piece. Ginger has a chance to play the comedienne and she pours on the phony accent with amusing emphasis, wears flattering costumes and dances with style and panache. Helen Westley does okay by her brief part (she plays the Roberta of the title!), Claire Dodd plays the femme fatale with narrowed-eyes skill, Lucille Ball can be glimpsed as a mannequin, while Candy Candido and his orchestra are as swinging a band as any lover of Kern's songs could wish. It seems likely that the original stage play had some harsh or even satirical things to say about women's fashions but little of this remains in the film, though fashion showings still figure largely in the footage. Still what they lack in taste they make up in curiosity appeal and some of the mannequins themselves are lovely. Credits are smooth and all in all despite the sometimes painfully silly Dunne-Scott story-line, Roberta is delightful entertainment.OTHER VIEWS: It says much for the talents of Ginger and Fred that they steal the show even though they are forced to play second fiddle here to a lumbering romantic plot involving the regal but somewhat dowdy Irene Dunne (as a fashion designer she's certainly no great shakes at designing her own clothes) and a not over-bright band manager of rather limited vocabulary, played with too much enthusiasm and too little charm by Randolph Scott. (In the Broadway play, the hero is a football hero, which certainly suits his character and dialogue far more appropriately). A stronger director than Seiter would have insisted on downgrading this she-loves-me she-loves-met-not malarkey in order to showcase Rogers and Astaire. But as it is, the film could be improved by skillful cutting. Ginger is superb, both as a dancing partner and a deliciously accurate impersonator of Lyda Roberti, whose heavy-as-a-samovar accent and girlishly hammy mannerisms she parodies with such gusto. Whenever the camera focuses on Ginger and Fred, the film comes brilliantly alive with their energetic dancing and spirited playing. In fact they dance and dally, saunter and sing with such infectious enthusiasm, it doesn't really matter that the movie is stuck with Dunne (though she does have a couple of the now famous songs) and Scott -- plus some cornball comedy with Luis Alberni and some sentimental tosh with Helen Westley — as well. If Seiter is slow at attacking his script, at least he makes good use of some wonderful sets and shows off Jane Hamilton to advantage. He also allows Astaire to show off his gloriously rhythmic skills from smooth camera angles without annoying reaction shots of the audience and other awkward cuts that interrupt the flow. I must admit I'm not overfond of the opening novelty organ interlude and that I could also do without that bit where banjoist Gene Sheldon catches his thumb in his instrument. But the fashion shows now have a novelty appeal and some of the costumes are stunning too, — one of the most striking, a plumed and feathered evening gown modeled by an easily recognizable Lucille Ball.

kijii As I started to watch this movie, I just thought I was rounding out my Ginger Rogers Fred Astaire movie viewing. However, they only seemed to only a small part of this movie. The movie had a little of their dancing, a little of Irene Dunne's singing: 'A Russian Lullaby' 'Yesterdays' and 'Smoke Gets in your Eyes,' Then, there was Fred Astaire singing a couple of Jerome Kern songs: 'I Won't Dance' and 'Lovely to Look At.'Then, there was a couple of fashion shows (the story takes place in Paris). Finally there were a couple of so-so-who-cares love stories and a very weak plot. The movie seemed to have a little of everything and not enough of anything in particular. That is, the story just didn't hold together because there were just too many unnecessary (or improbable) elements to it. For example: ----Why did Ginger Rogers sometimes feign a Polish accent (badly) and other times, not?----What was the purpose of the Russian element to the story? ----What does it add to the story that Irene Dunne (who spoke perfect 'American') was a Russian princess? ----Why did a football player, John Kent (Randolph Scott) tag along with a jazz band—from Indiana?---How did this penniless jazz band get the money to go from Indiana to Paris—DURING THE DEPRESSION?For me, the only reason for having the story was to transport all of these Americans to Paris was for the fashion shows.

vert001 RKO seems to have come up with two basic plots for Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. In one, whose template is THE GAY Divorcée, they are the romantic protagonists caught in a plot of misunderstandings which keep them apart while they are surrounded by comical eccentrics. ROBERTA is an example of the other type of plot, initiated accidentally by FLYING DOWN TO RIO, in which Ginger and Fred play old friends (or lovers) reunited after a period of separation (in ROBERTA and FOLLOW THE FLEET) who rather smoothly re-solidify and strengthen the old feelings mostly by way of dance. In these movies they themselves serve the role of comic relief and they are accompanied by another couple who serve as the romantic protagonists of the story. The bad thing about this is that it takes away from their screen time; the good thing is that it gives them a chance to relax and just have a lot of fun. ROBERTA is about as much fun as a movie can be when they're on the screen, but unfortunately Fred and Ginger are off screen more than in any of their movies other than RIO. It's a film perfectly designed for DVD's and their fast-forwarding option.By my standards, ROBERTA is the first of 5 straight Astaire/Rogers films that are blessed with great, not excellent but great, musical scores, this one by Jerome Kern with some fabulous new lyrics from Dorothy Fields. Unique in the series (and pretty much in film history from 42nd STREET on), the dances are recorded live, which was made possible because they were performed on a hard maple-wood floor (as opposed to the hard plastic that RKO's designers otherwise pushed on them) which enabled the sound of the taps to come through, if not as clearly as when they were dubbed, clearly enough. Perhaps because of this, the routines, always notable for their seeming spontaneity, come across as the most seemingly spontaneous of any routines that I've ever seen. The great 'Hard to Handle' number, interspersed with Fred's growling ejaculations and Ginger's giggling, is supreme in this respect, and is my favorite musical number of all. And as a side note, if you ever wanted to hear Ginger Rogers actually tapping, this and the metal staircase number in ROXIE HART are the two places where you definitely can. Other than in ROBERTA, the dance numbers were dubbed, and since this was a rather tedious process, Hermes Pan famously did the dubbing for Ginger's taps. Sometimes it's concluded from this that Ginger is not actually tap dancing in these routines, but that demonstratively is not the case.The other musical numbers are all of the highest level. 'I Won't Dance' presents Astaire with an opportunity to show just how musically talented he really was. He plays a blazing piano to begin it, charmingly sings the duet with Ginger, then delivers one of his finest dance solos, a veritable tour de force. Then they close the film with an explosive 45 second dance to this song that leaves the audience drooling for more. Before that has come the beautiful, simple duet to 'Smoke Gets In Your Eyes', a particular favorite of Astaire's. The dances of ROBERTA are about as good as any that Fred and Ginger ever did.ROBERTA also gives Ginger Rogers a chance to show off her comical abilities, something that was somewhat squelched in the other musicals with Astaire (Carefree being another exception). Her Countess Scharvenka seems to have been inspired by the idiosyncrasies of its stage originator, Lyda Roberti, and is a wondrous creation.The actual star of ROBERTA, of course, is Irene Dunne, a wonderful actress in her own right. In retrospect, taking time away from Fred and Ginger makes pretty much any role a thankless one, but it did give Irene a chance to sing with her fine operatic voice and also gave her some practice with comical line readings. Her career to this point had mostly consisted of melodramas. In an amazing career twist, it would soon be discovered that Dunne was one of the finest comediennes in Hollywood, and in my opinion the best partner that Cary Grant would ever have. ROBERTA may oh-so-slightly have pointed her in that direction.As for Randolph Scott, one of the greatest of western stars, 'nuff said.

Claudio Carvalho Huckleberry Haines (Fred Astaire) and his band, the Wabash Indianians, arrive at Le Havre, in France, for a season in a Russian nightclub. However, the owner Alexander Petrovitch Moskovich Voyda (Luis Alberni) expects the arrival of an Indian band and he calls off their contract.Haines and the band head to Paris, and his friend John Kent (Randolph Scott) decides to visit his Aunt Minnie (Helen Westley), who owns the fashion house Roberta, to use her influence to find a work for the band. John meets the manager Stephanie (Irene Dunne) and they immediately feel attracted for each other. Huck Haines meets in the Roberta's salon his old friend Liz with the artistic identity of Comtesse Scharwenka (Ginger Rogers) and she helps him to get a job with Voyda. When Aunt Minnie passes away, John Kent is the heir of her fortune and also Roberta. However he decides to give the fashion house for Stephanie, but she proposes a partnership between them two. But when John's old passion, the gold digger Sophie Teale (Claire Dodd) seeks out John, the infatuated Stephanie decides to leave the business and travel abroad with the Russian Prince Ladislaw (Victor Varconi)."Roberta" is an adorable musical with one of the most beautiful songs of the cinema ever. With music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Otto A. Harbach, "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" is performed by Irene Dunne. The plot is naive, but the musical numbers, the dances and the fashion parade are delightful. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Roberta"