Gene Kelly movies." "Anchors Aweigh" became one of the most successful films of 1945 and Kelly was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. In "Ziegfeld Follies" (1946)—which was produced in 1944 but not released until 1946—Kelly collaborated with Fred Astaire, for whom he had the greatest admiration, in the famous "The Babbitt and the Bromide" challenge dance routine. After Kelly returned to Hollywood in 1946, MGM had nothing planned and used him in a routine, black-and-white movie: "Living in a Big Way". The film was considered so weak that the studio asked Kelly to design and insert a series of
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers This movie feature an Irving Berlin musical score with only four songs, the fewest in any Astaire and Rogers film. While the film was well-received by critics, with Motion Picture Herald's William R. Weaver calling it "the greatest Astaire-Rogers picture", it was their most expensive film to date costing $1.3 million and ultimately lost money for the studio despite earning worldwide rentals of $1.7 million. In 1939, Astaire and Rogers made "The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle". It was the end of their partnership for ten years, until they reunited for "The Barkleys of Broadway". Although their relationship was