Review of Lady Be Good

Famous tap dancer Eleanor Powell, who headlined a variety of B&W MGM musicals in the '30s, may have been first billed in this '41 musical, but cute Ann Southern had much more screen time, and was the de facto female lead, while charismatic Robert Young was the male lead. They are characterized as a sometimes married husband &wife song writing team, with Young spending much time at the piano trying to compose tunes, while Ann leads in composing the lyrics. But, they query whether they weren't more productive when they weren't officially married. ...........The film begins with a divorce trial spearheaded by Ann's character(Dixie), with Lionel Barrymore's character the presiding judge. He had also been the judge in the previous divorce trial between Ann and Young, when he had ruled in favor of divorce. Since then they had remarried. .........As part of her plea, Ann begins recounting the relevant facts, which become the main substance of the film, although considerable extraneous scenes are included. Periodically, the screenplay returns to the courtroom to discuss the relevance of what we have seen. Meanwhile, actor and sometimes singer John Carroll and Eleanor are establishing a romantic relationship. Much more peripheral singer/comedians Red Skeleton and Virginia O'Brien start appearing together in scenes, suggesting a possible developing romantic relationship. All 3 couples are included in the finale group sing...........All the newly composed songs, supposedly composed by Young and Ann, were composed by the teams of Arthur Freed and N.H. Brown or Roger Eden. However, much the most memorable songs had been composed recently by Kern and Hammerstein("The Last Time I saw Paris"), or by the Gershwins("Oh, Lady Be Good", "Fascinating Rhythm"), back in the '20s.......... I didn't realize that Ann had been a professional band singer, as was her sister. She sang the Oscar winning original song "The Last Time I Saw Paris", composed the year before, as a lament to its conquest by the Nazi's. She was also the first to sing the title song, which was sung a number of times, including in the finale. Eleanor danced to the title song, with her dog Buttons, which she trained, after others failed to do satisfactorily. Later, she danced to "Fascinating Rhythm". Meanwhile, Virginia sang "Your Words and my Music" in her unique deadpan manner, which somehow gained popularity as a novelty during the '40s. I find it quite disconcerting!.........I have to mention the Berry Brothers trio, who performed several times their gymnastic style of dancing and clowning around. They were one of several African American brother teams who did so in the occasional musical during the '40s. I should also mention that famous choreographer Busby Berkeley directed the musicals. He had moved from Warner to MGM in the late '30s, and would continue with MGM into the '50s, choreographicing the occasional musical that didn't include Gene Kelly(who always choreographiced the films he was in). Returning to the initial divorce scene, Judge Barrymore denies Ann her second divorce from Young, citing his impression that they were still in love most of the time. This sparks their reunion and a signal for the imminent film ending.