"Let's Dance" must have been an uneasy routine for Fred Astaire, as it certainly will be for a good many audiences. Astaire, of course, is his incomparable self, graceful, debonair, amusing. But he has been teamed with Betty Hutton who, unfortunately, is neither a dancer nor a lady. Astaire deserves a partner who is both.

This muscular young miss grimaces and screams; indeed, it is a tribute to Astaire's sure and quick footing that she does not step on his toes. She is as out of place as would be a haggard Navaho dancing tom-tom circles in the Easter Parade. If one could only blot out her image, the film would be vastly improved, as it is during three brief dance sequences when Astaire is alone and unmolested.

To add to the picture's difficulties, Allan Scott has written a scenario remarkable for its triteness and absurdity. It is a clumsy variation on the love-success story, told without any success at all. It drags miserably, revived only occasionally when Astaire dominates a scene.

Frank Loesser has written six tunes, only one of which--"Why Fight the Feeling?"--is memorable. Unfortunately, Miss Hutton sings it. Astaire dances and sings another number, "Jack and the Beanstalk," and his rendition is superb. He is still the artist which he has always been, and it is an insult to him and to Hollywood that no better vehicle could be found.

If glimpses of Astaire tempt you, under no circumstances arrive in time for the co-feature,"the Young Lovers." For this film is so awful that even "Let's Dance" is good in comparison.