Sadly Over-hyped

Please don't spend money on this.

Perfectly adorable

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

As I started to watch this movie, I just thought I was rounding out my Ginger Rogers Fred Astaire movie viewing. However, they only seemed to only a small part of this movie. The movie had a little of their dancing, a little of Irene Dunne's singing: 'A Russian Lullaby' 'Yesterdays' and 'Smoke Gets in your Eyes,' Then, there was Fred Astaire singing a couple of Jerome Kern songs: 'I Won't Dance' and 'Lovely to Look At.'Then, there was a couple of fashion shows (the story takes place in Paris). Finally there were a couple of so-so-who-cares love stories and a very weak plot. The movie seemed to have a little of everything and not enough of anything in particular. That is, the story just didn't hold together because there were just too many unnecessary (or improbable) elements to it. For example: ----Why did Ginger Rogers sometimes feign a Polish accent (badly) and other times, not?----What was the purpose of the Russian element to the story? ----What does it add to the story that Irene Dunne (who spoke perfect 'American') was a Russian princess? ----Why did a football player, John Kent (Randolph Scott) tag along with a jazz band—from Indiana?---How did this penniless jazz band get the money to go from Indiana to Paris—DURING THE DEPRESSION?For me, the only reason for having the story was to transport all of these Americans to Paris was for the fashion shows.

. . . to get to the first of ROBERTA's "big three" songs? Apparently, producer Pandro S. Berman was writing off the possibility of male viewers, what with his demeaning selection of cowboy hero Randolph Scott as a wishy-washy serial hen-pecking victim confined to his aunt's dress shop. With the endless Jibber-jabbering about the cut of gowns and other get-ups, relieved only by rather pointless tap-dancing sessions on the part of Scott's sidekick, played by Fred Astaire, there's not much here for those of the male persuasion. The only fashion parade my guys have liked, besides Victoria's Secret TV specials, is the one at the end of director Robert Altman's PRET-A-PORTER in 1994, where the chicks modeled their birthday suits. ROBERTA, with its countless gowned Perp-walks from the 1930s, will bore any straight man to death!

I'm not sure I get the lower-than-usual IMDb voter rating for "Roberta" vs. "Shall We Dance" (1937) and some of the other weaker Astaire & Rogers films. The script and dialog are =far= better than "SWD" and "The Story of Vernon & Irene Castle" (1939) even if the musical numbers are not quite up to say, "A Damsel in Distress" (1937), "Follow the Fleet" (1936), or the remarkable, if somewhat technically inferior, "Flying Down to Rio" (1933).I imagine that R&A fans might have wanted more dancing and less Irene Dunne and Randolph Scott ("Randolph Scott!"), but the lead love story featured two of the =very= hottest stars of the day, much as Gene Raymond and Delores Del Rio (in "FDTR") were in '33. Question: Did Dunne insist on singing in the old "bel canto" style to try to keep up with Rogers? She shouldn't have. Ginger's waaaaay out front here, and no one's going to catch her. In fact, this =is= the best of Rogers's acting performances in the entire series. Dancer, glib wisecracker, foreign accents and comedic timing galore. That, and boy, did Bernie Newman put her in some utterly =breathtaking= art deco outfits.Speaking of fashions, if you're into =that=, Roberta's a film about a fashion designer, and the fashion show scenes are black & white mind blowers.Musically, the memorable tunes include "Lovely to Look At," "I'll be Hard to Handle" and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," respectively by Eddie Duchin, Gerry Kern and Gerry Kern; not exactly a couple of lightweights... and Al Newman handles them superbly.The digitally restored print they've been showing on TCM is terrific, btw.

My take on this movie: Helen Westley great. Randolph Scott a tall hunka sweetness. Ginger Rogers has nice accent. Irene Dunne lovely singer. Fred Astaire great, especially playing those organ fingers. Indianians and Indians a nice touch tongue twister. The elevator being stuck always gets some laughs out of me.I also like the 1950s remake: "Lovely to Look At".I loved the little black "vulgar" dress, the front at least. The back I would have re-designed to have more substance around the waistline.Scott's fiancé/gf was a miserable, cold fish, cold block of ice. I am glad she got talked into getting the terrible dress. That was so funny, and an ironic comeuppance for her.A sweet movie. 10/10.