Director: Sidney Lanfield
Screenplay: Michael Fessier and Ernest Pagano
Starring: Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth, Robert Benchley, John Hubbard, Osa Massen, Frieda Inescort
Country: United States
Running Time: 88 min
Year: 1941
BBFC Certificate: U
Legendary dancer and actor Fred Astaire co-starred in 10 musicals with Ginger Rogers in an acclaimed partnership that has stood the test of time. It’s this partnership that many will think of when asked about Astaire and his on-screen dance partners. Yet, Astaire said his favourite on-screen dance partner was actually Rita Hayworth, with whom he appeared in just two pictures. He spoke fondly about how quickly Hayworth picked up the dance numbers. An excellent showcase for the wonderful chemistry Astaire and Hayworth had together can be be seen in You’ll Never Get Rich, a wartime-themed musical released in 1941 which features songs by the great Cole Porter.
Directed by Sidney Lanfield, the musical comedy follows womaniser and theatre impresario Martin (Robert Benchley) who tasks dance choreographer Robert (Fred Astaire) with helping him to woo dancer Sheila (Rita Hayworth). Martin also wants to take the heat off himself as he is caught with a bracelet by his wife, which she suspects is for Sheila, and for good reason; the message accompanying the jewellery is written to Sheila. This leads to some comic misunderstandings involving Martin’s wife Julia (Frieda Inescort) and Sheila’s fiancé Tom (John Hubbard). Robert gets in over his head due to this misunderstandings and runs away to join the army but feelings for Sheila take over. What then plays out is a ‘will they, won’t they’ style story, backed by some great musical numbers.
The film starts well from the opening moments where the film titles are road signs along the road as Robert is driven to an engagement, to the opening tap dance number involving Astaire and Hayworth and beyond. The gags are at times funny and there are some real one line zingers in the script, but it’s hard to deny that the film, whilst always entertaining, is quite standard outside of the dance numbers and moments in which Astaire and Hayworth share the screen.
The musical numbers though are, as is to be expected, excellent, from the aforementioned brief opening tap dance with Astaire and Hayworth through to “Shootin’ the works for Uncle Sam”, a number that plays like an army march with a load of chorus girls in a train station, and then morphs into an actual army march as Robert joins the army.
But my personal favourites are “So Near and Yet So Far”, which starts with Astaire singing before turning into a full dance number involving Astaire and Hayworth’s characters, and “The Wedding Cake Walk”. The latter involves a lot of dancing brides and grooms and ends with Astaire and Hayworth dancing on top of a tank, which is layered like a cake with dancers on each level.
The film was Hayworth’s first as a headliner and she oozes star quality in every frame; she’s simply fantastic. As I mentioned at the outset, her chemistry with Astaire is excellent, and in their three dance numbers together they’re phenomenal. It’s a shame they only appeared in two musicals together.
You’ll Never Get Rich is not top tier Astaire or Hayworth, but it’s a great showcase for the pairing of the two actors, is never less than entertaining and contains some fabulous dance numbers. It’s also important in the elevation of Hayworth the bit part player to Hayworth the superstar, as she appears in her first headline role.
Film: 
You’ll Never Get Rich is released on 23rd September 2024 by Powerhouse Films on their Indicator label. The limited edition is a UK Blu-ray premiere. The 4K restoration is brilliant and the film looks fantastic as a result, particularly the dance numbers. Detail is rich. The sound is also great.
INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES
4K restoration
Original mono audio
Audio commentary with film historian Peter Tonguette (2024)
Christina Newland on Rita Hayworth (2024): the critic and writer discusses the career of the iconic performer
Fred Astaire’s Approach to Filmmaking (1985): archival audio recording of a lecture delivered by John Mueller, author of Astaire Dancing: The Films of Fred Astaire, at the National Film Theatre, London
Super 8 version: cut-down home cinema presentation
Original theatrical trailer
Image gallery: promotional and publicity material
New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Rick Burin, an archival interview with Rita Hayworth, extracts from an archival profile of Fred Astaire, an overview of contemporary critical responses, and film credits
UK premiere on Blu-ray
Limited edition of 3,000 copies for the UK
The commentary by film historian Peter Tonguette is very good, accentuating the positives of the film, but not shy in looking at what doesn’t work so well. It gives a good overview of key scenes, the production, and looks at both Astaire and Hayworth the actors and the characters they portray in the film. It’s well worth a listen.
Christina Newland: A Radiant Star is a fantastic 20 minute piece on Rita Hayworth. Newland highlights how the film cemented Hayworth as a star, looks at the year 1941 in which the film was made, and gives an overview of the actor and difficult childhood she had. Newland talks about some of the earlier roles Hayworth (who was born as Margarita Carmen Cansino), which were very small roles, and what happened to transform her into the iconic Rita Hayworth we now know. Astaire was very well established at the time You’ll Never Get Rich was made and this was Hayworth’s first headlining role. Newland talks through the production and the chemistry between Astaire and Hayworth. She also looks at the difficulties the star had with Columbia Pictures studio head Harry Cohn. This is a fascinating and excellent feature.
Fred Astaire’s Approach to Filmmaking is a lecture conducted by John Mueller at the National Film Theatre in London in 1985. It plays over the film like a commentary for just over 75 minutes of the runtime. There’s some good insight into Astaire but much relies on you seeing the sequences discussed, and as it’s audio only and you don’t see the dance numbers discussed, those sequences don’t always work, and certainly don’t work as well as if you were at the lecture. That being said, it’s a welcome addition thanks to the information provided.
The Super 8 version is a nice addition; a very brief run-through of the film with occasional narration introducing scenes and also introducing the actors, playing like an extended trailer.
The trailer is fun, opening with actor Robert Benchley (who plays Martin) dreaming he’s in a Fred Astaire movie, before he’s told it’s not a dream and we get a typical 1940s trailer showing some of the key scenes from the film in which he features with Astaire.
The image gallery contains a delightful array of more than 50 images, mostly production and publicity stills, but also lobby cards and some posters, including some gorgeous artwork.
The isolated score and effects track highlights Cole Porter’s fantastic songs and and the hummable score.
I wasn’t provided with the booklet to review.
You’ll Never Get Rich is important as the first headline role for future superstar Rita Hayworth and she’s fabulous in the film, as are the dance numbers she features in with Astaire. Indicator’s release contains an excellent transfer and several insightful extras, particularly a first-rate visual essay on Hayworth. Fans are likely to be pleased with the treatment the film is given.
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