Suggested by the making of "Gone With The Wind", this one promises to be a very pleasant Irving Berlin musical. It certainly opens with all flags flying, and features a very inventively staged rendition of "An Old-Fashioned Tune". With the introduction of Miss Henie, however, the story settles down into the usual romantic complications. These are a little hard to take, since Ty Power is hardly God's gift to young women. With this fact staring everyone in the face, it seems incredible that such disappointingly little use is made of Harry Losee's shooting ensembles. Instead, Leon Shamroy's camera keeps on tracking back to Ty Power. This undoubtedly worked back in 1939, but it makes the movie of little interest to today's audiences. Fortunately, Berlin's pleasant melodies do save the day and, as noted above, I was particularly pleased by the staging of "An Old-Fashioned Tune".
Review of Second Fiddle
