On the day before Easter in 1911, Don Hewes is crushed when his dancing partner (and object of affection) Nadine Hale refuses to start a new contract with him. To prove Nadine's not important to him, Don acquires innocent new protege Hannah Brown, vowing to make her a star in time for next year's Easter parade.
After he's left a bit high and dry by his established partner "Nadine" (Ann Miller), acclaimed song and dance man "Hewes" (Fred Astaire) makes a rather drunken promise to their pal "Jonathan" (Peter Lawford) that her replacements are ten-a-penny. The words are barely out of his mouth when he encounters "Hannah" (Judy Garland) who's making $15 a week as a dancer on the stage in a club. She has potential, thinks he, and so he ups her wages a bit and invites her to train with him. From here on in, this plot is fairly predictable so don't expect anything remotely left-field. What we do get, though, is a classy and charming romance that's peppered with half a dozen energetically choreographed routines that prove quite a feat for a woman usually wearing six-inch heels and an ankle-length skirt! Obviously, everyone does their own singing - to the likes of Irving Berlin's "It Only Happens When I Dance With You"; "A Couple of Swells" and the title track and these songs showcase not just the powerful voice of Garland, but also of the fainter but equally soothing dulcets of the dapper Astaire too. Lawford doesn't really trouble the scorers but does enough and Miller plays the increasingly irked "Nadine' - "Shakin' the Blues Away", quite entertainingly as the film gathers pace. It's precision film-making at it's most natural, is colourful, lively, occasionally quite pithily written and well worth a watch.