Charles Herold (cherold) I wasn't sure what to expect after reading some IMDb user reviews. Many were disappointed that this wasn't an Astaire-Rogers vehicle, as they played second fiddle to Irene Dunn, while others said it was delightful. I fall into the second camp.Regardless of the billing, this is very much in the style of Astaire musicals, with a silly story, romance fueled by misunderstandings and second-character manipulations, and wacky characters. While Dunne has top billing, there is a lot of Astaire and Rogers, showing off their chemistry on and off the dance floor. The songs are first-rate and the dancing is excellent.The Dunne/Scott seems fine to me. It's dumb, like most musical romances of the time, but the pair is fairly likable. I could do without Dunne's operatic-ish version of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, but that opera-ish thing is something fans of 30s musicals either like or have learned to live with. It's glossy, there are some surprisingly witty lines for this genre, and I was happy to discover an Astaire movie I had somehow never seen before. Recommended.

NJeagle I am a great fan of Irene Dunne, and Astaire & Rogers, but even so I can't help but think that the three star rating this movie gets on AllRovi is nothing short of inept.The cast are all terrific, and wonderful songs by Jerome Kern, beautiful dancing from Astaire & Rogers, and stylish sets and clothes combine to make this gem great fun from beginning to end. The three big dance numbers from Astaire & Rogers deserve all the usual superlatives, but just as delightful were two singing numbers from Ms. Dunne, "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and "Lovely to Look At". (The latter winning the Oscar for Best Original Song, by the way.)For me, the 106 minutes flew by. Highly recommended.

Claudio Carvalho Huckleberry Haines (Fred Astaire) and his band, the Wabash Indianians, arrive at Le Havre, in France, for a season in a Russian nightclub. However, the owner Alexander Petrovitch Moskovich Voyda (Luis Alberni) expects the arrival of an Indian band and he calls off their contract.Haines and the band head to Paris, and his friend John Kent (Randolph Scott) decides to visit his Aunt Minnie (Helen Westley), who owns the fashion house Roberta, to use her influence to find a work for the band. John meets the manager Stephanie (Irene Dunne) and they immediately feel attracted for each other. Huck Haines meets in the Roberta's salon his old friend Liz with the artistic identity of Comtesse Scharwenka (Ginger Rogers) and she helps him to get a job with Voyda. When Aunt Minnie passes away, John Kent is the heir of her fortune and also Roberta. However he decides to give the fashion house for Stephanie, but she proposes a partnership between them two. But when John's old passion, the gold digger Sophie Teale (Claire Dodd) seeks out John, the infatuated Stephanie decides to leave the business and travel abroad with the Russian Prince Ladislaw (Victor Varconi)."Roberta" is an adorable musical with one of the most beautiful songs of the cinema ever. With music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Otto A. Harbach, "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" is performed by Irene Dunne. The plot is naive, but the musical numbers, the dances and the fashion parade are delightful. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Roberta"

rajah524-3 I'm not sure I get the lower-than-usual IMDb voter rating for "Roberta" vs. "Shall We Dance" (1937) and some of the other weaker Astaire & Rogers films. The script and dialog are =far= better than "SWD" and "The Story of Vernon & Irene Castle" (1939) even if the musical numbers are not quite up to say, "A Damsel in Distress" (1937), "Follow the Fleet" (1936), or the remarkable, if somewhat technically inferior, "Flying Down to Rio" (1933).I imagine that R&A fans might have wanted more dancing and less Irene Dunne and Randolph Scott ("Randolph Scott!"), but the lead love story featured two of the =very= hottest stars of the day, much as Gene Raymond and Delores Del Rio (in "FDTR") were in '33. Question: Did Dunne insist on singing in the old "bel canto" style to try to keep up with Rogers? She shouldn't have. Ginger's waaaaay out front here, and no one's going to catch her. In fact, this =is= the best of Rogers's acting performances in the entire series. Dancer, glib wisecracker, foreign accents and comedic timing galore. That, and boy, did Bernie Newman put her in some utterly =breathtaking= art deco outfits.Speaking of fashions, if you're into =that=, Roberta's a film about a fashion designer, and the fashion show scenes are black & white mind blowers.Musically, the memorable tunes include "Lovely to Look At," "I'll be Hard to Handle" and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes," respectively by Eddie Duchin, Gerry Kern and Gerry Kern; not exactly a couple of lightweights... and Al Newman handles them superbly.The digitally restored print they've been showing on TCM is terrific, btw.