Norman Taurog’s Broadway Melody of 1940 is so much better than a film with such a generic title has any right to be. Sure, the plot is thin and the characters only sketches of real people, but when you have Fred Astaire singing, dancing, and playing the piano (at the same time no less!), who need a plot or characters? It continues to be refreshing to find classic musicals in which the plot doesn’t revolve around a pushy or stalker-y romantic pursuit. Here, the plot revolves around a misunderstanding and everyone’s genuinely good-natured attempts to do the right thing. There’s nothing revolutionary here, but it’s charming, delightful, and incredibly winsome.