OVP: The Band Wagon (1953)

Film: The Band Wagon (1953)
Stars: Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant, Nanette Fabray, Jack Buchanan
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Oscar History: 3 nominations (Best Story & Screenplay, Costume, Scoring)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

Each month, as part of our 2019 Saturdays with the Stars series, we highlight a different actress of Hollywood's Golden Age.  This month, our focus is on Cyd Charisse-click here to learn more about Ms. Charisse (and why I picked her), and click here for other Saturdays with the Stars articles.

As I mentioned yesterday, we are now in Month #3 of our Saturday with the Stars series, and as a result, we are starting our dive into the career of Ms. Cyd Charisse, which I'm super excited about because of all of the stars we're going to profile this month, she is arguably in the most famous movies, and it's likely that some of you have seen these films (which I haven't-them's the rules).  At this point in Charisse's career, she'd appeared opposite Farley Granger in The Wild North (one of her bigger hits), and was about to break out as a headlining name in 1953, with Sombrero and our picture of today, The Band Wagon.  This Vincente Minnelli film, quite frankly, might be the most-famous English-language film that I've never seen (I've done pretty well to knock out all of the classics), so I was super excited to tuck in on a Saturday night-tis my life to spend Saturday nights alone, watching old movies), and watch this celebrated picture starring Charisse in the role that would make her a legend.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film follows Tony Hunter (Astaire), a washed-up former song-and-dance movie star who has had a string of flops and is trying to make his big comeback on Broadway, only to find that Broadway has changed dramatically from what he grew up with on 42nd Street.  Aided by his married couple friends Lester (Levant) and Lily (Fabray), a well as a flamboyant actor-director called Jeffrey Cordova (Buchanan...this is supposed to be Jose Ferrer, right?...like, it's not subtle), they recruit a gorgeous ballerina called Gabrielle Gerard (Charisse) to join the show despite being hesitant to make the jump from the classical ballet to show business.  The quintet attempt to make a "modern" Broadway version of Faust, but it's poorly-received by the audience so Tony hocks his entire art collection in order to put on the show they originally dreamed of, a classic musical of yore, and of course this being a Hollywood movie with Astaire at its center, the show is now critically-acclaimed and a smash hit.

There's a lot of art imitating life here.  Written by Comden & Green (clearly the basis for Lester & Lily), the film shows Astaire as a failing movie star thinking of getting out of the game (Astaire was purportedly considering retirement at the time), and Charisse was a ballet dancer who was also struggling to figure out what her role would be in Hollywood.  Conversely, this sort of film had gone out of style in Hollywood despite the success of Gene Kelly's An American in Paris just two years prior, and was one of a number of critically-acclaimed flops that hallmarked Charisse's career (we'll get to a lot of them in the coming weeks, as she rarely made hits).  However, this life-imitating-art works wonderfully, as Astaire in particular is divine playing the lead, as few people played themselves quite as well as Fred Astaire.  I also loved Nanette Fabray in a supporting role (I hope I remember this when we get to the 1953 OVP, as I want to call her out as someone who should have been nominated for her splendid big-voiced work here).  Charisse, on the other hand, is both not-very-good and breathtaking all in the same film.

Charisse, if this is any indication, was not a particularly strong actress.  Some have accused Leslie Caron of a similar criticism, but Caron eventually got her dramatic acting chops once she wasn't under Gene Kelly's gaze, and at the very least was divine in Lili.  However, Charisse feels far too stiff onscreen here, an actress that, as Pauline Kael put it "sounds like she learned her lines phonetically."  There's zilch chemistry during her love scenes with Astaire & her big speech at the end has an odd timing to it.  But when she's dancing, it's as if she's suddenly gone from being Tara Reid to Meryl Streep.  Her work in "Girl Hunt Ballet" was marvelous, a sexy duet with Astaire putting music to an homage to Scarface or The Public Enemy.  Even better is "Dancing in the Dark," one of the best musical numbers I've ever seen onscreen.  For real.  The film probably should have ended here rather than a retread of "That's Entertainment," as Astaire & Charisse are so elegant, moving, and romantic that I just started randomly weeping, completely without notice.  Seriously-I can't really explain it, but it was like all of the things I love about the movies was playing out in one elegant loop.  The film is excellent despite a lack of chemistry between Astaire & Charisse in their spoken-word scenes, but it would be an all-timer for me if it had equalled that scene in Central Park, with Astaire and Charisse wordlessly expressing their love through a series of impossible sophistication.  I can't wait to see if there's another scene like this in store for me as we progress through Ms. Charisse's filmography, as honestly that one scene in itself would have made this entire series worth it.