BUY WAR BONDS!

The Sky's The Limit

1943

After a Flying Tiger becomes a hero in WWII, the War Department gives him leave in the form of a hero tour across America to drum up support for the war. That doesn't sit too well with Fred Atwell (Fred Astaire) and he literally jumps off the train and makes his way to New York City, the best city in the world, for a little genuine rest and relaxation (though I can tell you, I've never RnRed there myself, far from it!)

In NY, Fred meets a great girl, Joan Manion (Joan Leslie), a singer turned photographer looking to cover the war instead of celebrities. Fred keeps his identity a secret, ditching his uniform for regular duds and stringing Joan along, not actually really lying to her, but saying, "Yeah, babe, I work." If she knew he was a hero pilot, she'd no doubt fall for him at the drop of a hat but Fred just wants her to fall in love with Fred, not Fred The Hero. He's so head over heels for this woman that he easily could have just donned the uniform and come clean and been done with it at the alter saying, "I Do." Instead he makes it complicated.

Through it all there are four song and dance numbers, two of which are duets with Joan Leslie. Being purely heterosexual and not exactly the feminine type, I can say in my deepest man voice that watching men dance is not generally pleasing to me... but watching Astaire dance can be mesmorizing and nothing less than a delight and a half. I started watching Astaire movies about a decade ago and have seen a good dozen or so. Each time I am awestruck at that man's moves. Pure grace. It doesn't make me want to go enroll in every Arthur Murray dance class I can while longing to star in a Broadway musical, but it truly is a treat to watch on screen.

It was quite interesting to see Mr. Astaire indulge in some serious acting here. The movie wasn't all sunshine and rainbows like so many Astaire musicals are. He really had a chance to show a lot of emotion here. One dance number had Fred completely drunk and taking out his frustration through a furious dance, violently breaking glass expressing his anger and sadness at losing his love. My one complaint about the movie comes here and it's nobody could dance so fluidly and have such precision in timing and movement while so plastered. Ahh well, tis just a movie.

Overall, The Sky's The Limit does not disappoint. I haven't seen that many movies this year but this is far and away one of the most enjoyable! Something about this era in film really draws me in and this goes to show that movies today, while many can be so incredible, they just aren't the same.