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TURN-ONS AND TURN-OFFS IN CURRENT HOME ENTERTAINMENT RELEASES : ****Excellent ***Good **Fair *Poor : VIDEOCASSETTES

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<i> Compiled by Terry Atkinson</i>

“Roberta.” MGM/UA. $29.95. Fans of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers (and who isn’t?) will be delighted to hear that this long-unavailable 1935 film (withdrawn for a 1952 remake) can be seen again. But what a disappointment! As a Broadway musical-comedy, “Roberta” made Bob Hope a star; as a movie, it’s Hope-less in more ways than one. The great dance team is wasted in support to a stiff romance between two Americans in Paris (Randolph Scott and Irene Dunne). The dress-shop setting provides several looks at mid-’30s fashions, and there are three typically stunning dance numbers (no big productions a la “The Continental,” though). Otherwise this is a bore--arch and unfunny 80% of the way. It badly needed the touch of regular A&R; director Mark Sandrich, but got the leaden hand of William A. Seiter instead. Even the superb Kern-Harbach songs are performed poorly when Astaire and Rogers don’t do them. Information: (212) 408-0600. **

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