Roberta è un Musical prodotto dalla RKO Radio Pictures, diretto da William A. Seiter e interpretato da Irene Dunne, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, e Randolph Scott, Il film adatta per lo schermo il grande successo di Broadway del 1933, basato sul romanzo “Gowns by Roberta”, scritto da Alice Duer Miller.
Nel film (e nel brano che presentiamo) Irene Dunne canta splendidamente “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” di Jerome Kern:
“They asked me how I knew my true love was true
I of course replied
Something here inside cannot be denied
They said someday you’ll find all who love are blind
When your heart’s on fire
You must realize smoke gets in your eyes
So I chaffed them and I gaily laughed
To think they could doubt my love
Yet today, my love has flown away
I am without my love
Now laughing friends deride, tears I cannot hide
So I smile and say
When a lovely flame dies, smoke gets in your eyes…”
La sequenza che presentiamo si apre col numero cantato e danzato da Fred Astaire: “I Won’t Dance” (musica di Jerome Kern):
“I won’t dance, don’t ask me
I won’t dance, don’t ask me
I won’t dance, madame, with you
My heart won’t let my feet do things they should do
You know what? You’re lovely
But oh, what you do to me
I’m like an ocean wave that’s bumped on the shore”
Ginger Rogers: “I feel so absolutely stumped on the floor
Ah, but when you dance you’re charming and you’re gentle
Especially when you do The Continental”
Fred: “But this feeling isn’t purely mental
For heaven rest us
I’m not asbestos
And that’s why
I won’t dance, why should I?
I won’t dance, how could I?
I won’t dance, merci beaucoup
I know that music leads the way to romance
So if I hold you in my arms, I won’t dance
Oh, when you dance, you’re charming
And you’re gentle
Especially when you do that Continental
But this feeling isn’t purely mental
For heaven rest us
I’m not asbesdos
And that’s why
I won’t dance, why should I?
I won’t dance, how could I?
I won’t dance, merci beaucoup
I know that music leads the way to romance
So if I hold you in my arms
I won’t dance”
