(107 mins.) Released 1934-10-12
Director: Mark Sandrich
Stars: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Alice Brady, Edward Everett Horton
Dave Gould ... dance ensembles staged by
Hermes Pan ... assistant dance director (uncredited) / choreographer (uncredited)
Frank Warde ... doll dance director (uncredited)
originally posted 21 Oct 2017 16:16
First starring vehicle for F&G.
Erik Rhodes as GR's paid co-respondent. Alice Brady (mother in My Man Godfrey (1936)), EE Horton and Eric Blore to fill the comedy card. Choreography by FA (no credit in IMDb) and Hermes Pan (except ensembles).
The plot is good, the characters are good, the dancing is great, the end satisfies. Definitely a desert island movie for me.
The scene menu of the dvd makes these easy to access:
- Don't Let It Bother You: song (scene 2), dance (scene 3) Fred solo dances for supper with EEH when wallets are absent. Saw a closeup of his dancing feet!
- A Needle In a Haystack: scene 5, Fred solo, sings and dances off his frustration of wanting to find GR. Is this the first time I've seen a dance, ALONE in a living room with no intended audience (valet is in and out)?
- Let's K-nock K-nees: scene 10, B Grable and EE Horton; she's SO disappointed when her attempted pickup fails!
- Night and Day: scene 15, Fred sings, F&G dance. He is seducing her, and she succumbs little by little. Wonderful!
- The Continental: song (scene 21) by F,G+2, dance (scene 22) F&G, ensemble (scene 23; I still don't like how they cut sequences and tack different ensembles together), finale (scene 24). Glorious.
- dancing departure (scene 28), F&G dance around her hotel room, including twice atop the breakfast table and chairs. This was replicated in the cartoon September in the Rain (1937), included as extra feature on Carefree (1938).
Really, this feels like the first of my musicals to express emotion and advance the story through dance.
RKO, dir. Sandrich; 8+
