Easter Parade

Easter Parade (1948) is an MGM musical romance you can watch online on iFILM. Dancer Don Hewes loses his partner and bets he can make a star out of the next girl he sees — and that girl turns out to be Hannah Brown.

Fred Astaire plays Hewes and Judy Garland plays Hannah, and the picture rides entirely on that pairing — from fumbling early rehearsals to a number good enough to get them summoned by Ziegfeld himself. The past keeps intruding: his old partner Nadine (Ann Miller) and his friend Jonathan (Peter Lawford) tangle the romance into knots. Irving Berlin wrote the songs, including "Steppin' Out with My Baby" and the title tune.

This is the only film Garland and Astaire ever made together, and it earns the occasion: it took the Oscar for scoring and ranked among the year's biggest musical hits. Light on its feet, sumptuously dressed, with tap routines that don't miss — easy to recommend to anyone who wants old Hollywood at full sparkle. Stream Easter Parade online on iFILM.