Claire Luce was a favorite of Fred Astaire, playing across from him onstage in 'The Gay Divorcee.' Tragically she suffered a terrible accident in the famous table routine at the end of that play and never danced again. Legend has it that Astaire pushed hard to get Claire to play the movie with him, but this is difficult to believe since it was widely known she could no longer dance at all. Pandro Berman, RKO's producer, had seen that play and bought the book to make into a film and regardless of Fred's memory of events, Berman placed Ginger Rogers in the famous role (Rogers, too, had a bad fall in that same routine). Watching Claire in films like 'Vintage Wine' makes it obvious that Berman made the right choice; she doesn't have the ability to take over scenes, and her glamor shots simply aren't glamorous. Had RKO had made this film in Hollywood instead of in England, there would have been at least 10 actresses who would have gotten this role before Claire. She could act, but she had a slight screen presence and a heavy tread. Eva Moore completely outshines her. Regardless of Astaire's views, it's easy to see why she had a very, very short film career.
There are some of good ideas in 'Vintage Wine' but they're often wasted - like the guardian, assigned by the court, who simply disappears and is never heard from again.
These kinds of films were made to meet British regulatory environment - RKO had to make a certain number of films in England in order to sell their movies in England. This movie is very slow, very English, and quite likely it played the late night run in theaters and promptly vanished. And yet it is full of interesting ideas, worth watching once, although not for any of the acting.
One truly wishes for one of the great Hollywood actresses of that day - Harlow, Loy, Rogers, Dunne, Hopkins or one of the Bennetts - across from say, Francis X. Bushman.
