Directed by Stuart Heisler, Blue Skies is a thinly plotted but enjoyable musical, due to the charisma of the two leading men, Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, then at the height of their popularity.
Astaire and Crosby play–what else–entertainers, who are both smitten with the same woman– Joan Caulfield.
Both go on to marry and divorce her, until she ends up with Crosby with the blessing of Astaire.
Among the two dozen numbers or so, there’s Astaire’s song and dance, “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” and the couple’s duet, “A Couple of Song and Dance Men.”
Extremely popular at the box-office, “Blue Skies,” which was released on October 17, was the fifth top-grossing picture of the year.
Oscar Nominations: 2
Score (Musical): Robert Emmett Dolan
Best Song: “You Keep Coming Back Like a Song,” music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin
Oscar Awards: None
Oscar Context:
The Scoring Oscar went to Morris Slotoff for the biopic, “The Jolson Story.”
Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer’s “On the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe,“ from the musical “The Harvey Girls,” won Best Song.
Produced by Sol C. Siegel
Running time: 104 Minutes
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