In Your Easter Bonnet
March 31, 2024
Dog-1
"EASTER PARADE" (1948)
Other than the title song (which was really just a paper-thin pretext for the ending), "Easter Parade" (1948) doesn't have a whole lot to do with actual Easter, but it's a seminal Irving Berlin chestnut (a Jewish American super-patriot who wrote fabulous Americana tunes including "White Christmas") and the association always keeps it in the yearly line-up as a holiday favorite. And anyway, it's a mighty fine excuse for some of the most exalted musical performers of the twentieth century to showcase a bunch of Berlin's greatest tunes woven throughout an A++ MGM classic. Don Hewes (Astaire) believes he can transform any dancer into a star performer and he chooses the improbably clunky Garland to prove it. A love triangle emerges in glorious technicolor while some of the finest musical numbers ever filmed at MGM are on display. Astaire came out of retirement for "Easter Parade" and it was the pinnacle of the dazzling MGM Freed Unit musicals.
“EASTER PARADE” (1948)
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