The Sky's The Limit (1943)

Set during WWII, a pilot hero (Fred Astaire) with the Flying Tigers squad has an eight day furlough. He dons civilian clothes and meets a magazine photographer (Joan Leslie). He sets out to woo her without revealing his military role. Directed by Edward H. Griffith (NEXT TIME WE LOVE), this is a candidate for Astaire's worst movie musical. Following the termination of the Astaire and Rogers partnership in 1939, Astaire tried out several partners from Paulette Goddard to Marjorie Reynolds but with the exception of the two movies he did with Rita Hayworth (which were wonderful), he didn't have much success. Here his partner is Joan Leslie. As a dancer, she's not bad at all but she and Astaire have no chemistry together. Worst of all, Astaire's character is what we today would call a stalker. He forces his attention on Joan Leslie but we're supposed to find it "cute" rather than creepy. The songs are by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer which with one exception isn't among their best work. The exception is the terrific One For My Baby (And One More For The Road) but that isn't performed until the film's last ten minutes. But wartime audiences liked it enough to put it in RKO's profit column. With Robert Ryan,  Robert Benchley, Eric Blore and Marjorie Gateson.