Review of Carefree (1938) by Paul D — 25 Oct 2011

Fred Astaire as the not quite believable psycho-analyst ("My observations are as follows: she is a typical pampered female. What she needs instead of a doctor is a good spanking") manages to last just over 10-minutes until breaking out a harmonica and tap dancing in the middle of golf practise. As usual in these films, Ginger is full of contempt for Fred at first but at some point before their first dance together, he'll turn her round, whether he means to or not. This time the contempt - which we should really share as an audience - Fred as a doctor, honestly! - is for his profession as much as anything ("Maybe you were hitting it with your subconscious mind, you know the one that dreams. Smack it once with your conscious."), though of course he is smitten with her from first sight.

The Yam is the only really decent dance number in the film, but it's one of their strongest. A slow-motion dream sequence is also noteworthy, but other than Miss Rogers having a lot of fun on a hypnosis-induced shotgun rampage, smashing glass windows, upsetting judges and kicking policeman, Carefree is unlikely to stick in the memory as one of the pair's best.