Aptly named later Astaire and Rogers vehicle, directed as per by Mark Sandrich and featuring a clutch of songs by Irving Berlin. Fred plays a psychiatrist whose best pal Ralph Bellamy hires to straighten out the thinking of his reluctant fiancée, played by Ginger who just won't commit to marrying him. Also as per, Astaire and Rogers get off on the wrong foot, no pun intended but before long they've faced the music and danced themselves into each other's arms, even if you feel that Fred has more than slightly exceeded his brief to his chum.
Played more as a comedy than a musical, there are only four dance numbers in the film with Ginger getting most of the funny moments especially when put into a hypnotic trance by Fred. She's very good at it too, leaving Astaire and Bellamy to play straight men to her, but of course the main focus for fans is on those keenly anticipated dance routines by the duo and they don't disappoint.
Fred's customary solo turn sees him hit more good golf shots in five minutes than I have in my whole life, and to music, while the dream sequence to the song "Colour Blind", features some innovative for the time slow-motion camerawork which only accentuates the sheer poetry of their choreography. At the end of the number we also get to see that rarity, a screen kiss between the two stars. Apparently this sequence was planned to be filmed in Technicolour, as befits the song lyric but budget restraints sadly prevented it.
The final dance between them is to the best song here "Change Partners" and is a wonder of grace and lifts although the nagging doubt is that the great Irving Berlin didn't serve the movie as well as he might with a slightly sub-standard set of songs, including an oddity called "The Yam" so silly that Fred refused to sing it giving Ginger a rare outing as a solo vocalist and lead dancer.
"Carefree" suffers by comparison to its wonderful predecessors perhaps only due to the dip in musical quality but as a bright and breezy comedy with magical interludes it works just fine for me.
