Carefree (film)

Carefree
theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mark Sandrich
Produced by	Pandro S. Berman
Written by	Original idea: Marian Ainslee Guy Endore Story & adaptation: Dudley Nichols Hagar Wilde Screenplay: Allan Scott Ernest Pagano
Starring	Fred Astaire Ginger Rogers
Music by	Irving Berlin (songs) Victor Baravalle (score)
Cinematography	Robert De Grasse
Edited by	William Hamilton
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures
Release date	September 2, 1938
Running time	83 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1,253,000
Box office	$1,731,000

Carefree is a 1938 musical film starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. 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.

Carefree was a reunion for the Astaire and Rogers after a brief hiatus following Shall We Dance and six other previous RKO pictures. The next film in the series, The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939), would be their final RKO film together, although they would reunite in 1949 for MGM's The Barkleys of Broadway.

Psychiatrist Dr. Tony Flagg (Fred Astaire) does his friend Stephen Arden (Ralph Bellamy) a favor by taking on his fiancee, Amanda Cooper (Ginger Rogers), as a patient. Amanda, a singer on the radio, can't seem to make a decision about Stephen's many proposals of marriage, so Tony probes her subconscious, but in the process Amanda falls in love with him. He brings her interest back to Stephen with hypnosis, but then realizes that he also loves her and tries to hypnotize her again, leading to conflict with Stephen. Five minutes away from the wedding, he breaks into her dressing room with his assistant Connors (Jack Carson) and gets the chance to talk to her subconscious again when Stephen accidentally hits her instead of Tony. In the end, the two marry, much to the surprise of the guests.

Carefree was in production from 14–15 April 1938 (the golf-ball number) and from 9 May to 21 July. Location filming was done at Busch Gardens in Pasadena, California, and at the Columbia Ranch.