31 MAY 1935, Page 14

"Roberta." At the Tivoli As may be expected when Mr.

Fred Astaire and Miss Ginger Rogers appear in leading parts, the mainspring of Roberta is its dancing, and dancing which is not- only wonderfully skilful but graceful and expressive. The story is about' the efforts of a band leader and a star footballer to run a Paris dress shop in the intervals of their difficult love affairs. It is not a strong story, but good enough by musical comedy standards, and the dialogue is often unusually neat and enter- taining. Roberta, like most films of its type, is uneven, with moments of dullness and patches of sentimentality, but it is a creditable attempt to get away from lavish staging and massed chorus numbers and to rely on a more intimate exercise