Oblivious to the approach of a discarded chunk of a failed, rogue American satellite on a deadly course, he was knocked off into space, where he drifted away while the space station itself began to tumble off-course.It can also be seen as a powerful, allegorical indictment of the Hollywood blacklist, created during the climate of suspicion and fear of the 1950s McCarthy era.He literally lies prone on the belt and is dragged, swallowed and eaten up by the whizzing wheels, gears, and cogs of the monstrous machine.As in all Rogers/Astaire films, the non-sensical romantic plot was rather contrived and unbalanced, and was built mostly around a series of wonderfully-choreographed dance numbers, duets, Art Deco sets and songs.