Let’s Dance is an appropriate title for a Fred Astaire picture, and when Mr. Astaire turns his legs to dancing the new musical in Technicolor at the Paramount Theatre whirls as gracefully as a fast spinning top. But when Mr. Astaire steps back into the role of actor and the story takes over, the momentum slackens noticeably and Let’s Dance becomes a wobbly entertainment (…) A curious mixture of comedy, farce and sentimentality that is stretched beyond the point of comfortable endurance. Ninety minutes plus can seem almost endless when the joke becomes repetitious and everybody knows that the principals are bound to end their romantic quarreling and live happily ever after (…) However, there is a wonderful stretch in Let’s Dance when Miss Hutton is thoroughly enjoyable. As a pair of rough Western hombres she and Astaire do a vastly amusing dance pantomime in a frontier saloon setting to the melody of Oh Them Dudes. This is a top notch blending of harmony and dance, ideally suited to Miss Hutton’s vigorous talent. Mr. Astaire, who is the greatest dancer on the screen, does a solo exhibition of terpsichorean gymnastics in a night club sequence that is just incredible. With effortless grace he glides all over a piano and over the backs of chairs, and he does another attractive song and dance bedtime story number based on Jack and the Beanstalk. Altogether Mr. Astaire is a fascinating artist. The trouble with “Let’s Dance” is that it is freighted with too much plot, and most of it wallows in cheap sentiment that is not smartly enough burlesqued to add up to hearty laughter. — Bosley Crowther, 1950.