Easter Parade Reviews

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, even though I have never been a fan of such classic musicals, in fact, musicals in general must be the genre I care the least for, I have to admit that this one was actually not bad. Sure, the plot was just paper-thin and there was actually barely any link with Easter but I thought the damned thing was actually fairly entertaining. Indeed, the main attraction with this movie was obviously to see Judy Garland and Fred Astaire working together and it seems that they were at the top of their game back then. It had been a while since I saw Astaire delivering such cool dancing moves and, concerning Garland, even if she was maybe not the best dancer in the world, I think she was probably even more charismatic than Astaire was. It’s too bad they didn’t try to develop their relationship a little bit more though. Indeed, why did Hannah fall in love with Don? Only because he was such a great dancer or because he saw her potential when nobody else did? The second option might have some merit but, first, there was the fact that Don picked her up completely at random and not because he thought she had any talent but, above all, I never had the feeling that he actually really cared for her. The conflict with his former partner Nadine was also rather half-baked. Eventually, you can only wonder what would have been the end-result if they had spent slightly more time on the story and the characters instead of delivering so many elaborate dance sequences but, in my opinion, that’s something that could be said about most musicals. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it turned out to be a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Seventeen musical numbers in 103 minutes. No one can unfairly claim that Easter Parade doesn’t offer a lot of bang for its buck, but that doesn’t mean it was necessarily money well spent. There’s no real story or concept here, just a loose connection of scenes that ostensibly tell a story but really function to get Fred Astaire and Judy Garland, in the only film they made together, from one song/dance to the next.

Easter Parade is a bit of a non-event considering it’s the meeting of Astaire and Garland, two of the movie musicals towering artistes. What Garland could do with phrasing, delivering, and vocal power, both its withholding and unleashing, Astaire could do with his elegant, languid bodily movements and control. They get plenty of chances to shine, but the surrounding film never adds up to much in the end. Astaire’s a vaudeville performer whose former partner goes solo (Ann Miller, largely wasted apart from her kinetic “Shakin’ the Blues Away”), so he finds Garland’s chorus girl and trains her to be his new partner. Naturally, they eventually fall in love, and Peter Lawford’s around the edges as a best friend and would-be suitor.

That’s not enough material to justify its running time, so Easter Parade functions like the Macy’s Day Parade – all artifice and happy to be seen with nothing much going on. Sequences that don’t involve singing, dancing, or Jules Munshin hamming it up in an extended bit about… tossing a salad (?!) are basically color commentary from toothy hosts before they cut back to something more visually interesting. It’s a soundtrack with some visuals to go along with it.