Plenty of wonderfully entertaining movies have been made from an insider’s viewpoint, making fun of especially pretentious or inept filmmakers who try to tackle, and accidentally destroy, a new play, film or TV show. Writers Betty Comden and Adolph Green were the co-conspirators who wrote two of the very best of these. One was 1952’s Singin’ in the Rain, a perfect comedy about the transition from silent to sound movies – and the other, made the very next year, was this other musical, directed by Vincent Minnelli. Fred Astaire stars as a fading song-and-dance star who agrees to revive his career by starring in a new Broadway show – but it’s hijacked by a director with lofty ambitions and absurd artistic visions. The Band Wagon co-stars Cyd Charisse as Astaire’s awkwardly paired leading lady, a prima ballerina – but as a screen duo, Astaire and Charisse throw off nothing but sparks.