Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

TheLittleSongbird Fred Astaire reportedly considered Second Chorus his worst film, and after seeing it I have to agree. Other lesser films like Belle of New York, Let's Dance and Yolanda and the Thief were wildly uneven films but had some great moments between them and utilised Astaire's talents better. Second Chorus is far from a terrible film, but it should have been much better and Astaire fans may find themselves short-changed.Astaire does have the least likable character in his whole career in Second Chorus and he was too old to pass for a flunking college student, but he does make a real effort to bring to the role his usual poise and charm. His dancing is superb, especially in the dancing and conducting the orchestra number Poor Mr Chisholm and the Russian Café Number, though generally there was not enough of his dancing talent in this film, and is charmingly tender in the Academy Award-nominated Love of My Life. Artie Shaw is no great shakes as an actor, but his performing and musical talent cannot be denied and is brilliantly put on display here, especially in the fascinating fantasia Concerto for Clarinet, which has never been performed more excitingly than with Shaw. Paulette Goddard has very little to work with mostly is not the best of dancers, a contender for Astaire's worst partner in this regard, but she looks entrancing and some of her comic timing amuses, would have done even more if the material was stronger.Second Chorus has some nice songs (if nowhere near the most memorable score in an Astaire film), especially Poor Mr Chisholm and Love of my Life, and a whimsical and suitably energetic incidental score. Choreographically, it's not the most inspired but it's far from leaden or amateurish either, while it is not classic Astaire Poor Mr Chisholm is a lot of fun and I Dig It is cleverly choreographed and charmingly danced (even if Paulette Goddard's inexperience as a dancer does show at times here but her personality shines). The 'completely re-written' trumpet solo scene makes for some delicious comedy, the only scene in the film that I found really funny. A large part of me does wish that Me and the Ghost Upstairs was kept in the film, it is a delightful scene and would have been the clear highlight if kept intact, a number so good that it deserved more than just being featured on regional DVDs.Charles Butterworth does bring some pleasing whimsy to his role and is the one character that we feel a small amount of sympathy towards, but mostly the comedy is not very well-written in Second Chorus and even Butterworth struggles in making it funny and some of his humour grates. Burgess Meredith was an immense talent, but here is a role that doesn't do it justice. Meredith is occasionally amusing here in a role where his sense of comedy is not very well-used but his character is even more loathsome and irritatingly grating than Astaire's, another victim of not-so-good writing, and anybody who knows him from his numerous villain roles will find it very difficult to shake off that feeling here.While there is nothing wrong with the music, singing and dancing, there should have been much more of them. It didn't feel enough and occurred too far and between, not a complete waste of Astaire's talents but not giving them anywhere near the amount of justice they should have done. Second Chorus is not a very well-written film, the comedy- with the exception of that one scene- grates far more than it should have sparkled, and the characters fail to be interesting and are very difficult to engage or empathise with, with the small exception of Mr Chisholm. Apart from the I Dig It number, the chemistry between Astaire and Goddard is lacking, it charms in that number but comes across as forced everywhere else, and surprisingly the chemistry between Astaire and Meredith is even flatter and lacks snap, some of it even juvenile in their attempts to sabotage each other. The production values are rather harsh and lacking in crispness and further disadvantaged by some pretty bad to dreadful regional DVD quality, with a lot of murk and jitter and some hissy sound quality. Where Second Chorus most falls down is in the wafer-thin and often insultingly ridiculous story, with pacing that was in serious need of a sharp kick sometimes and the ending is a little confused.To conclude, a not terrible but lacklustre film where it is easy to see why Astaire would consider it his weakest. But even lesser or off-form Astaire is still watchable, and you can do with far worse. 5/10 Bethany Cox

DKosty123 This is the last film in which Artie Shaw would actually do some acting. Originally, the producers wanted to make a film with just Artie Shaw & his music. Then along came the opportunity to get Fred Astaire during one of the rare times his career lagged for a short time so they grabbed him and put some first rate folks around him.Paulette Goddard was a very busy actress during this period. She is fine as the lead in this one too. She rarely disappointed during her career. This is a few years after she divorced Chaplin & in 4 years she would marry Burgress Meredith who is in this movie too. A lot of folks in this cast were busy going to the alter. Artie Shaw would be married 8 times during his lifetime.Fred Astaire has a sequence conducting & dancing Shaws Orchestra, and it is an interesting sequence. There are also several famous folks doing cameos. The big thing with this is some excellent music from an era of music that is now looked back on fondly by everyone who discovers it. Big Band, great stuff & a small plot to hang on about a backer for the concert.

JasonLeeSmith Even for a Fred Astaire film, this movie had a ridiculous plot. At 41 years of age, we are meant to believe that Fred is a perennial college student in his mid-twenties, who has just graduated and is vying with his ex-room-mate (Burgess Meredith) both for a job with Artie Shaw's band and the affections of Paulette Goddard.The songs are few and far between, and (with the exception of "Poor Mr. Chislom") not very good. Even more surprising, there is virtually no dancing -- with more scenes, instead, focusing on Astaire doing a very bad mime of playing the trumpet.The characters all come across as selfish, and things which are meant to be viewed as harmless pranks appear nasty and needlessly hurtful. By the end of the movie, you have not developed a level of empathy for any of them -- except perhaps for Paulette Goddard, who really shines in this movie as a great comic actress and foil for much of the movie. See it for her role, but most of Astaire's other movies are much better.

writers_reign Let's begin by saying that Fred Astaire is watchable in ANYTHING such is his charisma, vocal and dancing ability but having said that this vehicle needs all the help it can get. Maybe in 1940 Paulette Goddard was considered leading lady material but even Joan Fontaine (who co-starred with Astaire in A Damsel In Distress) was better than this. It's possible also that back in 1940 moviegoers wouldn't have questioned two middle-aged guys who keep deliberately flunking courses in order to stay in College and play in a band - BUT, did no one wonder about the OTHER band members? Theoretically the band would change personnel every year given that the average College degree takes four years to obtain and presumably when the band was founded it contained members from Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior Classes. On the plus side there is, of course, Artie Shaw, who ran one of the Greatest bands of the Swing era and far outclassed Benny Goodman as a clarinettist. It's one of the few pictures where Astaire has no real excuse to dance - by which I mean the storyline makes no mention of him as a hoofer as is often the case in his movies - so that the few dances have to be contrived and even then they pale by comparison to his hoofing in other films. If you're an Astaire completist you'll want to see this but there's not an awful lot to make you want to own it.