Carefree

1938
Approved
1h 23m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Carefree (1938)

Romantic Comedy Screwball Comedy Comedy Musical Romance

A psychiatrist falls in love with the woman he's supposed to be nudging into marriage with someone else.A psychiatrist falls in love with the woman he's supposed to be nudging into marriage with someone else.A psychiatrist falls in love with the woman he's supposed to be nudging into marriage with someone else.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

4.4K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 3 Oscars
- 4 nominations total

Photos101

+ 93

Top cast57

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Fred Astaire

Tony Flagg

Ginger Rogers

Amanda Cooper

Ralph Bellamy

Stephen Arden

Luella Gear

Aunt Cora

Jack Carson

Connors

Clarence Kolb

Judge Travers

Franklin Pangborn

Roland Hunter

Walter Kingsford

Dr. Powers

Kay Sutton

Miss Adams

The Robert Mitchell Boy Choir

Vocal Ensemble
(scenes deleted)
(as Robert B. Mitchell and his St. Brendan's Boys)

Harry A. Bailey

Sponsor
(uncredited)

Bobby Barber

Minor Role
(uncredited)

Cliff Bergere

Minor Role
(uncredited)

Ralph Brooks

Country Club Guest
(uncredited)

James P. Burtis

Glass Truck Driver
(uncredited)

Harry Campbell

Minor Role
(uncredited)

James Carlisle

Country Club Guest
(uncredited)

Charles Coleman

Doorman
(uncredited)

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
This was the first Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers film to lose money on its initial release. It lost $68,000 (~ $1.48M in 2024) for RKO according to studio records.

Goofs
In the golf sequence, one of the five golf balls thrown on the solid base has rolled off onto the grass. After Fred has hit the first four balls, the camera cuts to a new angle and the last ball has moved from the grass to the solid base.

Quotes
Stephen Arden: [drunkenly] Oh, uh, could you give me a little information?
Doorman: Yes sir.
Stephen Arden: Thank you.
[walks away]

Crazy credits
During opening credits, a pair of hands finger-paints names, pauses, wipes them out, and writes the next set of names several times.

Connections
Featured in Fred Astaire: Puttin' on His Top Hat (1980)

Soundtracks
Since They Turned Loch Lomond into Swing
(1938) (uncredited)
Music by Irving Berlin
Danced by Fred Astaire

User reviews71

Review

Featured review

It's The Yam for me.

Hilarious and very stylish, this spellbinding art moderne musical is a real experiment in RKO craftsmanship. Did you know the dream sequences to the song "I used to be color blind" were originally filmed in color but the release abandoned because RKO couldn't get the tech specs right and the cost was going to be too high for the budget already set. It was a great idea and today might have made CAREFREE a more enduring success as there is no color footage of them as a dancing pair until 1949 at MGM.. Apart from the snazzy look of the art direction, Ginger's fantastic 'hearts and arrows' outfit and big black bewitching hat and the RKO world of the stone and timber country club, the music here is just terrific. The swing antics of the golf club bagpipe sequence had one audience I saw it with in rapturous applause. But I defy anyone to stay seated during THE YAM as they wing and swing their way all over the BIG SET Country club. CAREFREE is just great.