SECOND CHORUS [1940 / 2013] [Blu-ray + DVD] [USA Release]
Transferred From an Original Fine Grain 35mm Print!
In only his second film after ending his legendary partnership with Ginger Rogers in 1939, that Fred Astaire returned to the screen in the frothy big band musical, ‘SECOND CHORUS.’
Excited about the opportunity to work with legendary big band leader Artie Shaw, Fred Astaire signed on for this romp co-starring Burgess Meredith and a winning Paulette Goddard. Shenanigans abound. Fred Astaire and Burgess Meredith play friendly rivals musicians who purposely flunk their college courses in order to maintain lucrative jobs as college band leaders, but the real attraction, of course, lies in Fred Astaire's musical numbers.
With lyrics by legendary Johnny Mercer [“Dream” and “Moon River”] and music by both Hal Borne [Fred Astaire's rehearsal pianist] and Artie Shaw. ‘SECOND CHORUS’ received an Academy Award® nominations for Best Song [“Would You Like to Be the Love of My Life?”] and Best Score. But it's the film's terrific final number [“Poor Mr. Chisholm”] that's the real award winner, especially with Fred Astaire whirling through a non-stop out sensational tap, while simultaneously conducting Artie Shaw's top of the line big-band, proof yet again of Fred Astaire's unquestioned status as the greatest dancer in Hollywood history.
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nomination: 1941 Academy Awards®: Nomination: Best Music in an Original Song for Artie Shaw (music) and Johnny Mercer (lyrics) for the song "Love of My Life." Nomination: Best Music and Score for Artie Shaw.
FILM FACT No.2: In a 1968 interview, Fred Astaire described his appearance in ‘SECOND CHORUS’ as "the worst film I ever made." Fred Astaire admitted that he was attracted to the film by the opportunity to "dance-conduct this real swingin' outfit". In an interview shortly before his death, Artie Shaw admitted this film put him off acting. Fred Astaire and Artie Shaw shared a striking series of personality traits in common: an obsessive perfectionism and seemingly endless appetite for retakes, profound musicality and love of jazz, personal modesty and charm, and in a late interview, Artie Shaw expressed his opinion of Fred Astaire: "Astaire really sweat and he toiled and was a humourless Teutonic man, the opposite of his debonair image in top hat and tails. I liked him because he was an entertainer and an artist. There's a distinction between them. An artist is concerned only with what is acceptable to himself, where an entertainer strives to please the public. Fred Astaire did both. Louis Armstrong was another one."
Cast: Fred Astaire, Paulette Goddard, Artie Shaw, Charles Butterworth, Burgess Meredith, Frank Melton, Jimmy Conlin, Don Brodie, Marjorie Kane, Joan Barclay, Willa Pearl Curtis, Artie Shaw and His Orchestra, Phil Arnold (uncredited), Bobby Barber (uncredited), Bus Bassey (Tenor Sax Player) (uncredited), William 'Billy' Benedict (uncredited), Vernon Brown (Trombone Player) (uncredited), Billy Butterfield (Trumpet Player) (uncredited), Romaine Callender (uncredited), Jack Cathcart (Trumpet Player) (uncredited), Heinie Conklin (uncredited), Gordon De Main (uncredited), Jud De Naut (Bass Player) (uncredited), Jay Eaton (uncredited), Nick Fatool (Drummer) (uncredited), Jack Gardner (uncredited), Jack Gordon (uncredited), Johnny Guarnieri (Piano Player) (uncredited), Ben Hall (uncredited), Alton Hendrickson (Guitar Player) (uncredited), Jack Jenney (Trombone Player) (uncredited), Jerry Jerome (Tenor Sax Player) (uncredited), Adia Kuznetzoff (uncredited), Lillian Lawrence (uncredited), Alexander Leftwich (uncredited), Ben Lessy (Artie Shaw's Second Manager) (uncredited), Joseph Marievsky (uncredited), Charles R. Moore (uncredited), Buddy Morrow (Musician) (uncredited), Spec O'Donnell (uncredited), Hermes Pan (College Clarinetist) (uncredited), Neely Plumb (Alto Sax Player) (uncredited), Albert Pollet (uncredited), June Preston (uncredited), Fred Rapport (uncredited), Les Robinson (Alto Sax Player) (uncredited), Ronald R. Rondell (uncredited), Charles Smith (uncredited), Mary Stewart (Dancer/Singer) (uncredited), Leonard Sues (Trumpet Player) (uncredited), Edward Thomas (uncredited), Michael Visaroff (uncredited), George Wendt (Trumpet Player) (uncredited), Poppy Wilde (uncredited) and Allen Wood (uncredited)
Director: H. C. Potter
Producers: Boris Morros, Fred Astaire (uncredited) and Robert Stillman
Screenplay: Ben Hecht (uncredited), Elaine Ryan, Frank Cavett (original story), Ian McLellan Hunter and Johnny Mercer (contributor to screenplay)
Composers: Artie Shaw
Cinematography: Theodor Sparkhul (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Black-and-White)
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Audio: English: 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio
Subtitles: Spanish
Running Time: 84 minutes
Region: Region A/1
Number of discs: 2
Studio: Paramount Pictures / Film Chest Inc.
Andrew's Blu-ray Review: ‘SECOND CHORUS’ [1940] was a notably lacklustre vehicle for Fred Astaire [Danny O'Neill], Paulette Goddard [Ellen Miller] and band leader Artie Shaw and the film was originally a Paramount Pictures release that has ended up into the public domain and released in this case by Hal Roach Studios.
Fred Astaire and pal/rival Burgess Meredith [Hank Taylor] are unusually grating and there's a surprising dearth of singing and especially dancing. Having spent nearly a decade making films with Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire in 1940 was ready to try something new. At this point he wrote, I decided that one picture a year was all I should make. With so much preparation necessary, it was really all I could do to get even that much done....It took seven to eight months and sometimes more to complete one of my films. Each one seemed to get increasingly difficult. More dances and musical sequences crept into them as we went along, mainly because the audiences wanted it that way. Next on the slate for me was ‘SECOND CHORUS’ [1940].
Fred Astaire and Burgess Meredith are overage college students and swing trumpeters Danny O'Neill and Hank Taylor, respectively, and that's the joke: they keep avoiding graduation so as to continue to rake in dough booking on-campus gigs. Still, it's a little hard to accept Fred Astaire was old enough in 1940 to be two college students.
When Danny O'Neill sees an old pal Stu [Frank Melton] turn up with pretty Ellen Miller [Paulette Goddard] under his arm, she instantly falls for Danny O'Neill, or so it seems. In one of the picture's few clever ideas, she passes under the table what he thinks is her phone number. Actually it's a summons to appear in court; she's a secretary for a collection agency.
With Hank Taylor equally enamoured of Ellen Miller, the troublesome pair instantly get her fired from her job so they can hire her on as their secretary manager. Later, when she's hired away by bandleader Artie Shaw, they create so many problems for her that she nearly loses that job, too. Part of the problem is that Danny O'Neill and Hank Taylor want a shot at joining Artie Shaw's band, but they're even more fiercely competitive over their careers than they are with Ellen Miller and only end up pissing off the bandleader. Ellen Miller eventually convinces rich and eccentric bottle cap magnate J. Lester Chisholm [Charles Butterworth] to finance a special concert headlined by Artie Shaw, but Danny O'Neill and Hank Taylor nearly wreck that, too.
In many of Fred Astaire's film musicals, he tries to win the girl by essentially pestering her to death, wearing her down to the point of stalking her until she finally gives in and sees what a swell guy he is. This is taken to the next level in ‘SECOND CHORUS.’ Danny O'Neill and Hank Taylor are so insufferably juvenile, that by the end you want to slug 'em. Oblivious to Ellen Miller's position, they single-mindedly sabotage the other with no consideration of the consequences. Hank scribbles some off-key notes onto Danny O'Neill's sheet music, ruining his audition with Artie Shaw, while Danny O'Neill knocks Hank Taylor right off the bandstand in the middle of his performance. If all the musicians in Artie Shaw's band were anything like these two jokers, it's no wonder Artie Shaw retired so suddenly at the peak of his powers, turning his back on show business forever. In truth, `Second Chorus' was indeed Artie Shaw's last Hollywood film, partly because of his frustrations with director H.C. Potter. Potter kept arguing that Artie Shaw was playing his character all wrong until Shaw, in utter frustration, reportedly stormed off the set yelling, “You idiot, I'm playing myself!”
Artie Shaw was riding high in 1940. He had had a huge hit in 1938 with “Begin the Beguine” and he and his band were in demand. His musical collaborator on the film was legendary lyricist Johnny Mercer. Among the songs Johnny Mercer and Artie Shaw would write for the film was `Love of My Life.' As John Mueller wrote in his book; Astaire Dancing: The Musical Films of Fred Astaire according to Artie Shaw, they had agreed to do a song called “Love of My Life.” They finished the song in about a day but waited three weeks to show it to the studio executives. As the experienced Johnny Mercer explained to the bewildered bandleader. If you bring a song right in, the movie people don't place any value on it.
The grating characterisations would be less an issue if Fred Astaire had been allotted the number and size of musical numbers with which he had become accustomed. Instead, there's hardly any significant singing and dancing in the film at all. Fred Astaire and Paulette Goddard do a pretty good duet of the Borne-Mercer “I Ain't Hep To That Step But I'll” and “Dig It” and that's about it. The film is really more of a vehicle for Artie Shaw, though in the film we see less of him than Fred Astaire and Burgess Meredith pretending to play the trumpet (who are dubbed by Bobby Hackett and Billy Butterfield). In one scene Fred Astaire pretends to be Russian while singing Artie Shaw's “Would You Like to Be the Love of My Life,” but even here his voice is mostly dubbed by musical director and, as it turned out, real-life Soviet spy, Boris Morros. I guess Fred Astaire should consider himself lucky that they didn't get someone else to do his dancing, too. Artie Shaw's okay in what amounts to the fourth lead; he's certainly a better actor than any of the other bandleaders of the time, including Glenn Miller who concurrently starred in several 20th Century Fox pictures. One should try to catch The Fabulous Dorseys, if only for the hysterically awful acting of both Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. Billy Butterworth gives the film it's only real charm.
Fred Astaire wouldn't place any value on ‘SECOND CHORUS’ and although he had kind words for the film in his autobiography, and again mentions that it was the worst film he ever made. Part of the problem lay in the story, which was being rewritten even as it was being shot. The story of two battling trumpet players, played by Fred Astaire and Burgess Meredith was flimsy and only served to hold the film together in between musical numbers. Another problem, as Fred Astaire would discover, was that Paulette Goddard was not an experienced dancer. Paulette Goddard was a swell sport about the dance we did together. She had not done any dancing to speak of up to that point, except in the chorus some few years previously, as she told me. We worked hard on that little thing called “Dig It” and I thought it turned out fine. After the number was finished and she had seen it on film, she remarked, I know one thing, I loved it!
Privately, he would say, “She's a lovely girl, with a breath-taking figure, who couldn't dance and somehow resisted every attempt to break down her handicap.” Paulette Goddard later remembered the number was shot all in one take; just once, one Saturday morning...I'm glad it was all right for I couldn't have done it again!
Paulette Goddard may not have enjoyed dancing with Fred Astaire, but she obviously enjoyed working with Burgess Meredith. While filming ‘SECOND CHORUS’ in 1940, Paulette Goddard was separated from her husband Charlie Chaplin. After her divorce she would then go onto marry Burgess Meredith in 1944.
SECOND CHORUS MUSIC TRACK LIST
SUGAR (uncredited) (Music by Maceo Pinkard) [Played at the university dance by Danny O'Neill's Perennials Fred Astaire (dubbed by Bobby Hackett) and Burgess Meredith (dubbed by Billy Butterfield) on trumpet]
EVERYTHING’S JUMPING (uncredited) (Music by Artie Shaw) [Played by Artie Shaw and his band]
SWEET SUE JUST YOU (uncredited) (Music by Victor Young) (Lyrics by Will J. Harris) [Played by the Perennials by Fred Astaire (dubbed by Bobby Hackett) and Burgess Meredith (dubbed by Billy Butterfield) on trumpet]
WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE THE LOVE OF MY LIFE (Music by Artie Shaw) (Lyrics Johnny Mercer) [Played by Artie Shaw and his band and Sung by Fred Astaire] (uncredited)
I’M YOURS (uncredited) (Music by Johnny Green) (Lyrics by E.Y. Harburg) [Played by Artie Shaw and his band and Fred Astaire (dubbed by Bobby Hackett) on trumpet]
DOUBLE MELLOW (uncredited) (Music by Artie Shaw) [Played by Artie Shaw and his band and Burgess Meredith (dubbed by Billy Butterfield) on trumpet]
THE NEW MOON IS SHINING (uncredited) (Traditional ballad) [Played at the Russian cafe and danced by Fred Astaire]
WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE THE LOVE OF MY LIFE (Reprise) (Music by Artie Shaw) [Russian gibberish lyric partly by Boris Morros] and sung at the Russian cafe by Fred Astaire] (uncredited)
BEAUTIFUL DREAMER (uncredited) (Music by Stephen Foster) [Played on piano by Paulette Goddard and on the mandolin by Charles Butterworth and sung by Charles Butterworth]
POOR MR. CHISHOLM (Music by Bernard Hanighen) (Lyrics Johnny Mercer) [Played on piano by Fred Astaire and sung by Fred Astaire and Burgess Meredith] (uncredited)
POOR MR. CHISHOLM (Reprise) (Music by Bernard Hanighen) (Lyrics Johnny Mercer) [Played on piano by Fred Astaire] (uncredited)
CONCERTO FOR CLARINET (uncredited) (Music by Artie Shaw) [Played by Artie Shaw and his band with Artie Shaw on clarinet]
POOR MR. CHISHOLM (Music by Bernard Hanighen) [Played Played by Artie Shaw's band with Fred Astaire conducting and dancing] (uncredited)
DIG IT (Music by Hal Borne) (Lyrics Johnny Mercer) [Played by the Perennials and sung by Fred Astaire and danced by Fred Astaire and Paulette Goddard] (uncredited)
Blu-ray Image Quality – ‘SECOND CHORUS’ is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Film Chest Inc. with an encoded 1080p transfer in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1. Film Chest continues to use some odd, potentially ambiguous, phrasing with regard to its Blu-ray releases. Emblazoned across the cover of ‘SECOND CHORUS’ is the statement the film was transferred from an original fine grain 35mm print. Surely, they mean a master positive? Then on the back cover we are offered another clue: scanned and restored from a 35mm fine grain into 2K which was transferred and sourced from nitrate, which would seem to point to a relatively lowly print and not any intermediate element (despite the emphasis on the fine grain), as should probably be expected of a public domain title. Film Chest has come in for some considerable vitriol from its fans. The clean-up work done here is quite remarkable, with only a few transitory scratches and a couple of hairs in the gate (some on stock establishing footage) remaining. This is a nice (maybe even a big) step in the right direction for Film Chest Inc. It can't be easy to source these titles very well, and often these niche labels are in a lose-lose situation. If they do nothing, the transfer ends up looking too shoddy for high definition consumers. If they do too much, they're accused of wiping the slate clean, so to speak. Making matters worse is the transfer, allegedly re-mastered from the original 35mm nitrate camera negative; but so soft and with such weak blacks as to suggest that the 25-year-old transfer looks like it is dating back to the early days of VHS.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Yikes! Two steps forward, one pretty big step backward. What have they done to Fred Astaire's song? The ‘SECOND CHORUS’ original mono track is presented via 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio experience and while it's commendable that Film Chest Inc. has gone the mono track route with this release, some aspiring audio engineer has processed this track to within an inch of its life. This is of course is ironic, considering the criticism this label has come in for with regard to its processing of the visuals. But I am wondering if some of this is due to an attempt to create a fake stereo mix, with phasing between the channels, though I personally detected absolutely no stereo separation here. This same problem makes a lot of the dialogue sound overly boxy and over reverbed. The high end fares best here, which is at least good news for some of Artie Shaw's stratospheric clarinet work, but this is a real shame, especially since ‘SECOND CHORUS’ contains such fabulous music.
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Audio Commentary: Commentary with Tom Santopietro: This is a generally interesting and informative audio commentary, though Tom Santopietro has the odd habit of repeatedly introducing someone or something and then telling us I'll talk more about that later, very strange. So it is entirely up to you, whether you want endure this strange audio commentary?
Theatrical Trailer [1940] [480i] [1.37:1] [2:06] This is yet another faux trailer, something that Film Chest Inc. inexplicably does on a lot of their releases. What makes these so very odd trailers, unlike most films, are almost always in the public domain, so using the real trailer, even if it weren't restored? Would in my mind seem to be pretty easy.
Special Feature: Before and After Restoration Demonstration of the film ‘SECOND CHORUS’ [1940] [480i and 1080p] [1.37:1] [00:54].
BONUS: Original Movie Art Postcard.
Finally, ‘SECOND CHORUS’ may not be top tier and a good vehicle for Fred Astaire, but even second tier is usually head and shoulders and not to mention dancing feet, above the bulk of an all singing, all dancing films that were such regular offerings back in the thirties and forties. Sadly, though, ‘SECOND CHORUS’ fell into the public domain and then into very bad disrepair, something even a lesser Fred Astaire effort like this didn't deserve. Film Chest, Inc. has done a best effort visual restoration, and one that artfully balances a fairly aggressive scrubbing with an effort not to totally wipe the film of grain. Unfortunately, someone also tried to improve the audio and failed pretty miserably. The result is a mixed bag. Fred Astaire lovers may well want to check this out; as it's certainly the nicest ‘SECOND CHORUS’ has looked for decades and despite it not being one of Fred Astaire's best musical escapades. Again, Fred Astaire regarded ‘SECOND CHORUS’ as the worst film of his career; and he may just be right. It's not awful, but terribly misguided. Fred Astaire and Burgess Meredith play irritating musicians that don't engender much sympathy, and Fred Astaire hardly gets to dance at all. Despite this I am still glad I have this in my Blu-ray Collection. Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
