Es tanzt die Göttin (1944)

Es tanzt die Göttin: Directed by Charles Vidor. With Rita Hayworth, Gene Kelly, Lee Bowman, Phil Silvers. Rusty Parker wins a contest and becomes a celebrated cover girl; this endangers her romance with dancing mentor Danny.

“Two of these things are to be expected, the third is a complete surprise (that would be Phil Silvers dancing).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis is a delightful, if longer than it needs to be musical. A sub-plot with flashbacks and probably the worst Jerome Kern number ever written (Poor John), do not contribute enough to make them worthwhile. Itu0026#39;s as if they wrote the movie, realized they didnu0026#39;t have enough material to produce a full-length picture, and added these other scenes to u0026quot;fill it outu0026quot;. They donu0026#39;t work.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s funny to see a 1940u0026#39;s musical with Gene Kelly (on loan from M-G-M)clearly taking a backseat to his leading lady. His second act number where he dances with himself is one highlight of the film. Other strong points are u0026quot;Make Way For Tomorrowu0026quot; and the lovely, u0026quot;Long Ago And Far Awayu0026quot; (although I thought it odd that the latter number did not have a dance sequence attached to it). u0026quot;Put Me To The Testu0026quot;, a number where Rita and Gene get to dance together, is a very good number, but the title song does nothing for me, although it is staged wonderfully.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRita Hayworth is absolutely breath-taking. Her dancing is excellent, and this is clearly a role that suits her. Some of her hair pieces, however are awful. In a few scenes, the color of them do not match the color of her natural hair. Very distracting.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003ePhil Silvers is wonderful as Genius, Gene and Ritau0026#39;s friend and co-worker. Seeing him dance, especially as well as he did, was a wonderful surprise.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe major problem I had with this movie was that I never believed the relationship between the three leads. I didnu0026#39;t believe that Kelly and Hayworth were in love, or that Kelly and Silvers were real friends. Canu0026#39;t quite put my finger on it, but I didnu0026#39;t buy it.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eExcellent supporting work by Eve Arden, Otto Kruger, Edward Brophy and Leslie Brooks.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e6 out of 10”