The Astaire-Rogers Musicals!

[Nathan Dodge]

My wife and I have been making it a Sunday tradition to watch a Fred & Ginger movie and while we love all the films, we both agree that TOP HAT is the duo's finest hour. Whether it be the marvelous Irving Berlin songs, ("The Piccolino"; "Isn't It a Lovely Day"; "Cheek To Cheek") the witty banter, the Deco sets, the dance numbers, or the supporting cast (Edward Everett Horton, Eric Blore, Erik Rhodes, Helen Broderick) TOP HAT remains, for me at least, their finest film. Disagree? Agree? Let's discuss the films and everything we like about them...Plus, there's that all-knowing, unscientific poll I'm conducting...

 

[LizzieMaine]

Love 'em all, but my favorite is Swing Time -- perhaps the best score of the lot, and some really spectacular dance numbers. My ambition is to talk the theatre director into programming a season of these someday -- they're at their best on the big screen!

 

[Doctor Strange]

I have to agree on Swing Time. Coming at just the right moment in the series, it's really firing on all cylinders, but not yet getting too cliched and familiar.

Great songs, great dances, great supporting characters... And while the plot features some of the required misunderstandings between Fred and Ginger, it's not as grating as it often is: they seem to be somehow less adversarial.

Swing Time is a better-natured film, with a more playful, fun aspect to it than most of the others. It also has a touch more emotional truth than the other films in the series, where Fred and Ginger's characters seem to go through the motions mostly to satisfy the plot's machinations. In this one, they seem to genuinely connect.

Anyway, it's my favorite by a wide margin.

 

[Miss 1929]

I adore them all

but Swing Time definitely grabs me the most.
And I named my band after it too...
But I have to admit a certain fondness for Flying Down to Rio, if only for the like "What do those girls have down south of the equator that we don't have?"

 

[Nathan Dodge]

But I have to admit a certain fondness for Flying Down to Rio, if only for the like "What do those girls have down south of the equator that we don't have?"

Gotta love that pre-Code naughtiness!

Wow! SWING TIME has a ton of followers! I may have to watch it this week and really look and listen. I enjoy the film, but maybe I was missing something?

 

[Fletch]

I chose Gay Divorcee mostly because of the snappy extended performance of "The Continental" that goes on and on. When this runs on TCM, I typically get out my clarinet and a couple saxes and play right along.

They're all fun, though. Even with nearly the same candy-floss plots and white plaster set designs, they all have their moments, mostly dance oriented of course, but the music and scoring are tops - and a big thank you to Max Steiner for the latter.

 

[jake_fink]

I like most of them too, but I chose the Gay Divorcee. It makes me laugh (knowingly), and it's got the best meet cute. Oh porter!

 

[HadleyH]

Roberta.

(music + fashion)

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Love 'em all and there's no way to select "the best one" in my book.

But slightly fftopic: - if you ever have a chance to see Ginger Rogers in Vivacious Lady, you must. Ginger, Jimmy Stewart, Charles Coburn, Beulah Bondi...how can you go wrong?

The highlight is Beualah Bondi getting talked into doing a Charleston-like dance with Rogers (her daughter-in-law) and her gadabot nephew...and she gets caught doing this little jig when her stuffed-shirt college president husband Coburn walks in...hilarious.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

...but, I have not really delved into these all that much.

I do not care for Ginger Rogers. Her eyebrows just make her look perpetually on the verge of tears. I know it's not her fault, but sometimes it can ruin a scene for me. I wonder sometimes at the studio image decisions (such as why did Joan's eyebrows get made up so much heavier in later years).

The only movie I have with her in it is Bachelor Mother and I did like that, and I want to check out Kitty Foyle, but generally I'm very...bleh about her.

That's not to say that someday I won't get around to it and really discover I enjoy her (it's happened before), but I'm spending too much time seeking out everything done by my 'favorites' first.

Can't help you with the eyebrow issues, but once upon a time, Ginger was someone I didn't care for, either. It's only been in the last three years or so that she's become one of my favorites. I was won over by STAGE DOOR (1937) and WEEKEND AT THE WALDORF (1946). I'm still impressed that her KITTY FOYLE role won her the Oscar over the likes of Katharine Hepburn, Joan Fontaine, and Bette Davis.

Getting back to the Astaire-Rogers musicals, I'm smitten with the world created by the amazing sets. Mention of an "Astaire-Rogers World" is made on the TOP HAT commentary track, and I agree with it completely. 1930s-era movies create their own world with those set-bound environments.

 

[imoldfashioned]

Swing Time is my favorite--I think Pick Yourself Up is at the top of my list of all their numbers (Ginger's "Listen, no one could teach you to dance in a million years!" to Fred is one of my favorite movie moments) and then you have Never Gonna Dance, A Fine Romance and The Way You Look Tonight as well.

But I have a real fondness for The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle too. It's much different than their other films together but there's something about their chemistry, the costumes and the dance numbers I've always really liked. Their last dance at the end seems a fitting coda to their RKO period.

 

[Doctor Strange]

A nice set of pages on these films:

http://www.reelclassics.com/Teams/Fred&Ginger/fred&ginger.htm

I'd also highly recommend Arlene Croce's classic The Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Book... although there's so much information out on the Web these days that it's not quite as essential as it used to be.

 

[pennycarrol]

Oh I love them all, and Swing Time is one of my favourite!! That's why I choose pennycarrol!!! But I also loved Top Hat, and Amanda and also The gay divorcee!!

 

[CherryRed]

I am a huge Ginger Rogers fan.
I have to pick The Gay Divorcee as my favorite of the pairs films.

My all time favorite Ginger movie is The Major and the Minor with Ray Milland, Diana Lynn, Robert Benchley and Rita Jonson. It is new to DVD this month too.

 

[jtcarrey]

because you tell of your love while you dance!

I bought the 10 disc DVD set of the Astaire-Rogers films and LOVEEEEEEEE them, I still have 3 more to go, but so far, they're all very special in their own ways. My favorites out of the ones I've seen so far are definately Swing Time and Top Hat. Swing Time hits something in me that I can't explain, but it feels very close to me. Top Hat is just beautiful, it's always been one of my favorites since I was maybe 10, and I've never seen the full movie until now, but I've always loved the song Cheek to Cheek... I wish I could dance like them, someday! Follow The Fleet is cute too, but who doesn't like sailors? They're all wonderful musicals, and I'm a huge musical enthusiast! So I definately had to have all of these.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

Watched Shall We Dance last night and this one has climbed towards the top of my list. Fred's (or "Pete P. Peters"; Love those Astaire character names) dance in the Deco-looking engine room ("Slap That Bass") is probably the highlight of the whole film. Eric Blore's performance and on-screen rapport with Edward Everett Horton was outstanding. Especially their tetlephone conversation and "Shhh!" showdown with the audience. Lots of fun, this one. With enough comedy spread around for all the supporting players to keep things interesting. One quibble: Fred should have sung "They All Laughed", not Ginger. He's done wonders with that song.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

So far SWING TIME leads TOP HAT 7 votes to 4. Keep those votes coming, folks, and be sure to mention your favorite scenes/songs/lines etc.

I'm also impressed at the votes for THE GAY DIVORCEE...must be the "Needle In a Haystack" number with the neckties!

 

[jtcarrey]

ha cool! I watched Shall We Dance last night too I loved when they were dancing on skates, that's gotta be kinda hard!

 

[CherryRed]

So far SWING TIME leads TOP HAT 7 votes to 4. Keep those votes coming, folks, and be sure to mention your favorite scenes/songs/lines etc.

I'm also impressed at the votes for THE GAY DIVORCEE...must be the "Needle In a Haystack" number with the neckties!

Gay Divorcee was my vote but I forgot to mention my favorite #'s are Isn't it A Lovely Day and The Continental.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

ha cool! I watched Shall We Dance last night too I loved when they were dancing on skates, that's gotta be kinda hard!

Have you watched Shall We Dance with the audio commentary track? It's one of the better ones of the set. Composer Hugh Martin is on it.