Lady Be Good

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Lady Be Good ★★½ 1941

Adapted from the 1924 Gershwin Broadway hit, the plot's been revamped, much to the critics' distaste (“Variety” called it “molasses paced”). Sothern and Young play a tunesmith duo who excel at musical harmony and marital strife. Applauded for its music (the critics loved Hammerstein's and the Gershwins' tunes), the show's Academy Award-winning song was, ironically, written by Jerome Kern. And if that's not enough, levity man Skelton and hoofer Powell are thrown in for good measure. ♫The Last Time I Saw Paris; So Am I; Oh Lady Be Good; Fascinating Rhythm; Hang On To Me; You'll Never Know; You're Words, My Music; Saudades. 111m/B VHS . Eleanor Powell, Ann Sothern, Robert Young, Lionel Barrymore, John Carroll, Red Skelton, Dan Dailey, Virginia O'Brien, Tom Conway, Phil Silvers, Doris Day; D: Norman Z. McLeod; C: George J. Folsey; M: Oscar Hammerstein, Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern, George Bassman. Oscars '41: Song (“The Last Time I Saw Paris”).