smoke gets in your eyes

uh, Irene Dunne was a huge star in the 30s, as big or bigger than Fred and Ginger, especially in 1935. This was only the third film those two did together. From reading about her, she was friends with most every one she worked with and was greatly respected. You may not like her voice, it's not my favorite style of singing either, but they don't make movies up as they go along, especially not when they're redoing a stage play so I think you are projecting your feelings onto the cast and crew of the film.
And believe it, in 1935 just as many or more people went to this flick to see Dunne as went to see Fred and Ginger. She was a great comedienne as well as a popular singer at the time.

cyninbene-149-610489

I don't often disagree this much with another poster, but I think you are very far off.

"This is box office clout demanding a rewritten expanded part to upstage the others"

No. Dunne's songs were in the original Broadway production. It is very possible the musical was bought for her and it was Astaire and Rogers who were fitted into expanded supporting roles.

"is way out-of-place in a movie with tap dancing and 1930's pop tunes."

But the clash of cultures is the underlying theme of the story. Stephanie is a Russian. Hers is the land of Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky. Of Swan Lake and Boris Godunov. Where the most famous singers of the era were Chaliapin and Nezhdanova. It would really have been out of place if she sang with a jazzy modern style.

It seems to me the point is that Scott and Dunne are both fish out of water who come from different worlds and meet in a city where they are both alien--Paris. Scott has to learn French from scratch. It is Stephanie's third language.

Yes, Dunne's songs are very different in style and feel from the lively American songs Astaire and Rogers dance to, but they should be. "Yesterdays" and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" have a somber, soulful sound. (and don't laugh at soulful--note that "Smoke" was an international #1 hit for the Platters a generation later) They are meant to evoke an old world melancholy contrasting to the optimistic, upbeat American songs.

My take is that both Scott and Astaire come from backwater America--what we call today flyover country. Note their reactions to the "revealing" gown. Dunne is a sophisticate, but is still from a country outside the mainstream of the modern world. She is not exactly what we would today call a jet-setter. Claire Dodd is. Despite losing her social position to a political upheaval, Stephanie has managed to carve out a life for herself as a working woman. There is the nostalgic pull of her vanished past, but she has adapted. (aside--she seems much like Scarlett O'Hara in this regard, but has her romantic head screwed on better)

Dunne's singing--I didn't have the problem you had. It is certainly old-fashioned, but should be, and she does a decent job with the songs.

"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes"--note this is Stephanie's big number, but it also is used as a lovely dancing duet with Astaire and Rogers. Music making the thematic point of the joining of the opposites, with Scott and Dunne also getting together in the end.

It is interesting that this mismatched Russian-American couple get together in the end as Russia and America would for the coming war.