'' is a
Musical Comedy film, released by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in
1953 , which tells the story of an aging musical star who wants to star in a
Broadway play that will restart his career. But the play's director wants to make it a pretentious retelling of ''
Faust '', and brings in a
Prima Ballerina who clashes with the show's star. It stars
Fred Astaire ,
Cyd Charisse ,
Oscar Levant ,
Nanette Fabray and
Jack Buchanan .
The film was written by
Comden And Green and
Alan Jay Lerner (uncredited), directed by
Vincente Minnelli , and produced by
Arthur Freed . It was nominated for
Academy Awards for
Best Costume Design, Color ,
Best Music, Scoring Of A Musical Picture and
Best Writing, Story And Screenplay (for Comden and Green).
The film popularized the song "
That's Entertainment ", which became a standard. Other numbers in the film include "Dancing in the Dark," "
I Guess I'll Have To Change My Plan ," "
Shine On Your Shoes ," and "
Triplets ," which features Astaire, Fabray and Buchanan dancing on their knees, dressed in baby clothes. The film's most elaborate number is the "
Girl Hunt Ballet ," a spoof of
Mickey Spillane hard-boiled detective novels, featuring Astaire and Charisse.
Charisse's singing was dubbed by
India Adams .
One musical number shot for the film but dropped before release was a seductive dance routine featuring Charisse performing "Two-Faced Woman" (with vocal, as noted above, by India Adams). Adams' recording of the song was reused for the film ''
Torch Song '' for a musical number featuring
Joan Crawford . The retrospective ''
That's Entertainment III '' released the Charisse version to the public for the first time.
Many critics rank ''The Band Wagon'' (along with ''
Singin' In The Rain '', also released in 1953) as the finest of the MGM musicals. The film has been selected for preservation in the United States
National Film Registry . The song "Dancing iIn The Dark" is considered part of the
Great American Songbook .
