The film was a long-time pet project of Freed's to promote his lover Bremer's career, but fared disastrously at the box office. An attempt to create a whimsical fantasy, it ended up, in the words of critic John Mueller, as "egg-nog instead of the usual champagne".[3] Despite admirable production values, it ruined Bremer's career and discouraged Astaire, who decided to retire after his next film, Blue Skies.
Perhaps it also vindicated Astaire's own horror of "inventing up to the arty"[4]—his phrase for the approach of those who would set out to create art, whereas he believed artistic value could only emerge as an accidental and unpremeditated by-product of a tireless search for perfection. In his autobiography, Astaire approvingly quotes Los Angeles Times critic Edwin Schallert: "'Not for realists' is a label that may be appropriately affixed to Yolanda and the Thief. It is a question, too, whether this picture has the basic material to satisfy the general audience, although in texture and trimmings it might be termed an event."[4] Astaire himself concluded, "This verified my feeling that doing fantasy on the screen is an extra risk."
Plot
In the pastoral country of Patria, young Yolanda Acquaviva celebrates her birthday in a convent among her fellow students. She has turned 18, and must now take over management of her family fortune, formerly overseen by her Aunt Amarilla. Yolanda feels unprepared, but the mother superior assures Yolanda that her guardian angel will watch over her.
Meanwhile two American con men, Johnny Riggs and Victor Trout, have come to Patria because it has no extradition laws. On the train ride through the Patrian countryside, they learn of the vast Acquaviva fortune from a waiter. They are shown a newspaper reporting on the young heiress, Yolanda. They speculate on how they might take advantage of this opportunity.
Yolanda is greeted at her estate by Aunt Amarilla and many servants. Later, alone in the garden, Yolanda says a prayer to her guardian angel asking for guidance. Unseen by her, Johnny overhears.
Johnny telephones Yolanda, claiming to be her guardian angel. He tells her that he will help her but cannot appear in angelic form. He will meet her in human disguise. The naive girl agrees. At their meeting he tells her to call him Mr. Brown. He claims that he will take away the burden of her wealth. She is easily deceived and agrees to his plans.
Johnny dreams about Yolanda and it unsettles him. Nonetheless, Johnny sticks to the plan with his partner to steal valuable bonds from the accommodating Yolanda. They succeed but run into difficulty in escaping. The situation throws Johnny and Victor together with a third gentleman, Mr. Candle. Candle claims to want what is best for Yolanda. Johnny realizes that he wants this too and returns the bonds. Yolanda has become enamored with Johnny. Believing himself undeserving, Johnny tries to leave the country. Mr. Candle stops Johnny and reveals himself to be Yolanda’s true guardian angel. He wants Johnny to return to Yolanda as a reformed man. In the end Johnny marries Yolanda.
Filming began on January 15, 1945. It was first previewed on July 11, 1945 in Glendale, California. It cost $2,443,322.31 to make and suffered a net loss of $1,644,000.[1]
Key songs/dance routines
Eugene Loring was responsible for most of the choreography, with Astaire for once taking a back seat and contributing only in parts. Tactfully, Astaire claimed he wanted to see what it would be like dancing to other choreographers' ideas, a move some critics have attributed to a putative temporary decline in Astaire's creative powers around this time,[3] but it is equally possible that he found the artistic pretensions of the project somewhat off-putting.
The film features possibly the first example on film of the deliberate integration of color and visual pattern with dance—a theme which Minnelli explored on a larger scale and to such celebrated effect six years later with Gene Kelly in the dream ballet finale of An American in Paris. Astaire had already created an early dream dance on film with "I Used To Be Color Blind" in Carefree (1938), and had worked with Minnelli on a dream ballet insert for the "Limehouse Blues" number from Ziegfeld Follies (1945). The dream ballet genre achieved popularity when Agnes de Mille choreographed a celebrated sequence for the 1943 stage hit Oklahoma!.
"This Is a Day for Love": Bemelmans conducts the school pupils in their national anthem.
"Angel": Conned into believing that Astaire is her guardian angel, Bremer sings this song of anticipation.
"Dream Ballet": An extended (approximately 15 minute) routine for Astaire, Bremer, and various others, which Minnelli has described as, "the first surrealistic ballet in film".[3] The Dali-esque scenery and the main characters (Astaire and Bremer) are dressed in pastel shades as are characters in harmony with them - such as the three handmaidens near the end. Most of the other characters - who have an aggressive, disruptive quality, and bring spiky dance rhythms into play - wear vivid primary colors making them stand out from the background scenery and from the main characters, adding to the powerful illusion of space - a quality remarked upon by New York Times dance critic James Martin at the time. In the middle of the ballet, Astaire inserts a romantic duet for himself and Bremer to "Will You Marry Me", performed by Bremer and the dubbed-in voice of Trudy Erwin, and much of the choreography of this section has been said to bear the signature of Astaire himself.[3]
"Yolanda": Astaire serenades Bremer with this attractive melody while playing the harp (dubbed by jazz harpist Bobby Maxwell). He follows the song with a very brief solo dance routine around the harp.
"Coffee Time": A jazzy and exuberant dance routine for Astaire, Bremer, and chorus, blending complex repeated syncopated rhythms (inspired by Loring's idea of setting a five-count dance phrase against a four-count musical phrase) in a visually elaborate setting incorporating a wavy black and white dance floor (designed by Irene Sharaff) and chorus dancers dressed in brightly colored costumes. The costumes, evocative singing, and twirling dance style of the chorus are evocative of whirling dervishes.
Reception
Bosley Crowther of The New York Times gave the film a mixed review:
Taste and imagination are so rare these days in musical films that a good bit of both is sufficient to offset a pack of obvious faults. So that's why this corner is cheering for Metro's Yolanda and the Thief ... a pleasing compound of sparkling mummery and glistening allures for eyes and ears ... the terpsichorean cavorting of Lucille Bremer and Fred Astaire is simply grand. ... Mr. Astaire and Miss Bremer are plainly thrown considerably out of stride when they are called upon to ramble through some of the talkative scenes. The humor, to put it bluntly, is obvious and dull ... However, the visual felicities and the wackiness of the main idea hold the show together ...[5]
The review in Variety was not complimentary:
There's an idea in this yarn, but it only suggests itself. It becomes too immersed in its musical background, and the story is too leisurely in pace. ... And the story itself, the way it's done, strains credibility.[6]
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Yolanda and the Thief holds an approval rating of 80%, based on 5 reviews, and an average rating of 6.6/10.[7]
Box office
According to MGM records, the film earned $1,221,000 in the US and Canada and $570,000 elsewhere resulting in a loss of $1,644,000.[2]
Radio adaptation
Yolanda and the Thief was presented on Musical Comedy Theater on November 26, 1952. The one-hour adaptation starred Boris Karloff, Lisa Kirk, and John Conte.[8]
Notes
1 2 Billman, Larry (1997). Fred Astaire - A Bio-bibliography. Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp.115–118. ISBN0-313-29010-5.
1 2 3 The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
1 2 3 4 Mueller, John (1986). Astaire Dancing - The Musical Films. London: Hamish Hamilton. pp.252–261. ISBN0-241-11749-6.
Fred Astaire was an American dancer, actor, singer, musician, choreographer, and presenter, whose career in stage, film, and television spanned 76 years. Widely regarded as the "greatest popular-music dancer of all time," he received numerous accolades, including an Honorary Academy Award, three Primetime Emmy Awards, a BAFTA Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Grammy Award.
Arthur Freed was an American lyricist and a Hollywood film producer. He won the Academy Award for Best Picture twice, in 1951 for An American in Paris and in 1958 for Gigi. Both films were musicals, and both were directed by Vincente Minnelli. In addition, he produced the film Singin' in the Rain, the soundtrack for which primarily consisted of songs he co-wrote earlier in his career.
Vincente Minnelli was an American stage director and film director. For a career spanning over half a century, he is best known for his sophisticated innovation and artistry in musical films. As of 2024, six of his films have been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
Michael Kidd was an American film and stage choreographer, dancer and actor, whose career spanned five decades, and who staged some of the leading Broadway and film musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. Kidd, strongly influenced by Charlie Chaplin and Léonide Massine, was an innovator in what came to be known as the "integrated musical", in which dance movements are integral to the plot.
Cyd Charisse was an American dancer and actress.
Lucille Bremer was an American film actress and dancer.
Blue Skies is a 1946 American musical comedy film directed by Stuart Heisler and starring Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, and Joan Caulfield. Based on a story by Irving Berlin, the film is about a dancer who loves a showgirl who loves a compulsive nightclub-opener who can't stay committed to anything in life for very long. Produced by Sol C. Siegel, Blue Skies was filmed in Technicolor and released by Paramount Pictures. The music, lyrics, and story were written by Irving Berlin, with most of the songs recycled from earlier works.
A dream ballet, in musical theater, is an all-dance, no-singing production number that reflects the themes of the production. The plot, themes, and characters are typically the same—although the people playing the characters may be different, as the roles of the dream ballet are usually filled by well-trained dancers rather than actual actors.
A Damsel in Distress is a 1937 American English-themed Hollywood musical comedy film starring Fred Astaire, George Burns, Gracie Allen and Joan Fontaine. Loosely based upon P.G. Wodehouse's 1919 novel of the same name and the 1928 stage play written by Wodehouse and Ian Hay, it has music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin. The film was directed by George Stevens, who had also directed Astaire in Swing Time (1936).
Ziegfeld Follies is a 1945 American musical comedy film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, primarily directed by Vincente Minnelli, with segments directed by Lemuel Ayers, Roy Del Ruth, Robert Lewis, and George Sidney, the film's original director before Minnelli took over. Other directors that are claimed to have made uncredited contributions to the film are Merrill Pye, Norman Taurog, and Charles Walters. It stars many MGM leading talents, including Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball, Lucille Bremer, Fanny Brice, Judy Garland, Kathryn Grayson, Lena Horne, Gene Kelly, James Melton, Victor Moore, William Powell, Red Skelton, and Esther Williams.
You Were Never Lovelier is a 1942 American musical romantic comedy film directed by William A. Seiter and starring Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth. The supporting cast also features Adolphe Menjou, Xavier Cugat and Adele Mara. The music was composed by Jerome Kern and the lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The picture was released by Columbia Pictures and includes the elaborate "Shorty George" and romantic "I'm Old Fashioned" song and dance sequences.
The Belle of New York is a 1952 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Hollywood musical comedy film set in New York City circa 1900 and stars Fred Astaire, Vera-Ellen, Alice Pearce, Marjorie Main, Gale Robbins, and Keenan Wynn, with music by Harry Warren and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The film was directed by Charles Walters.
Daddy Long Legs (1955) is a musical comedy film set in France, New York City, and the fictional college town of Walston, Massachusetts. The film was directed by Jean Negulesco, and stars Fred Astaire, Leslie Caron, Terry Moore, Fred Clark, and Thelma Ritter, with music and lyrics by Johnny Mercer. The screenplay was written by Phoebe Ephron and Henry Ephron, loosely based on the 1912 novel Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster.
This is a comprehensive guide to over one hundred and fifty of Fred Astaire's solo and partnered dances compiled from his thirty-one Hollywood musical comedy films produced between 1933 and 1968, his four television specials and his television appearances on The Hollywood Palace and Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre which cover the period from 1958 to 1968. Further information on the dance routines may be obtained, where available, by clicking on the film links.
Carefree is a 1938 American musical comedy film directed by Mark Sandrich and starring Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and Ralph Bellamy. With a plot similar to screwball comedies of the period, Carefree is the shortest of the Astaire-Rogers films, featuring only four musical numbers. Carefree is often remembered as the film in which Astaire and Rogers shared a long on-screen kiss at the conclusion of their dance to "I Used to Be Color Blind," all previous kisses having been either quick pecks or simply implied.
Shall We Dance is a 1937 American musical comedy film directed by Mark Sandrich. It is the seventh of the ten Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers films. The story follows an American ballet dancer (Astaire) who falls in love with a tap dancer (Rogers); the tabloid press concocts a story of their marriage, after which life imitates art. George Gershwin wrote the symphonic underscore and Ira Gershwin the lyrics, for their second Hollywood musical.
"My Shining Hour" is a song composed by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Johnny Mercer for the film The Sky's the Limit (1943). In the film, the song is sung by Fred Astaire and Sally Sweetland, who dubbed it for actress Joan Leslie. The orchestra was led by Freddie Slack. "My Shining Hour" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song but lost to "You'll Never Know".
"I'm Old Fashioned" is a 1942 song composed by Jerome Kern, with lyrics written by Johnny Mercer.
"This Heart of Mine" is a 1944 song written by composer Harry Warren and lyricist Arthur Freed, and featured in the musical score of the film, Ziegfeld Follies. The song is introduced by Fred Astaire, who dances with Lucille Bremer in a lavish and romantic dance sequence. In the same film, Esther Williams performs a water ballet to a softer, instrumental version of the song.
"Limehouse Blues" is a popular British song written by the London-based duo of Douglas Furber (lyrics) and Philip Braham (music).
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