AllMovie

Originally produced for the late-night TV anthology ABC Wide World of Entertainment, this fascinating documentary guides the viewer through four decades' worth of 20th Century Fox musicals. Host Fred Astaire is amply represented via clips from his 1955 Fox starrer Daddy Long Legs. Also highlighted are such Fox box-office champs as Shirley Temple, Betty Grable, and Carmen Miranda, who is featured in the outrageous "Lady in a Tutti-Frutti Hat" number from The Gang's All Here (1943). In addition, the film offers glimpses from such rarely seen early-talkie Fox releases as Sunny Side Up (1929) and Just Imagine (1930). Technically, the clip from Maurice Chevalier's Folies Bergere (1934) doesn't belong here, because the film was produced by 20th Century Pictures before its merger with Fox. But this is a minor cavil. In sum total, Fred Astaire Salutes the Fox Musicals is a worthy companion piece for such theatrical-film pastiches as MGM's That's Entertainment.