Second Chorus (1940)

Burgess Meredith and Fred Astaire play swindling trumpet players in Second Chorus, as they try to get Artie Shaw to hire them while they both attempt to romance Paulette Goddard. The trouble is that they fuck up so much and care so little about helping Goddard and so much about themselves and about competing with one another, that I found this film awkward in the extreme and not very much fun as a consequence.

There are lots of fun '40s Fred Astaire musicals. This ain't one of 'em.