The synopsis-American football star inherits fashion house in a Paris populated by grand dukes working as waiters and duchesses from Hoboken-doesn't begin to describe this treasure of a film with something for everyone: one of the very best Rogers-Astaire pairings, a gorgeous and lively Jerome Kern score, both nostalgic and satiric treatments of exiled aristocracy, romance, comedy, Irene Dunne's ineffably beautiful "Yesterdays" (we should all take our leave so gracefully), and stunning clothes. The title character was inspired by Lucile, a.k.a. Lady Duff Gordon, trendsetting couturier, extravagant showwoman, and Titanic survivor. The sentimental doyenne portrayed here only hints at Lucile's history, but the lavish fashion show that climaxes the film was a Lucile invention (and wildly popular for nearly two decades). Bernard Newman, a New York designer whose film assignments ranged from Top Hat to Sylvia Scarlet, concocts apparel from the sublime to the outrageous to the prophetic.-Lee Amazonas