Swing Time (1936)
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close  Swing Time (1936)  (AFI: 90)
 (currently for information only)
Rated:  NR 
Starring: Georges Metaxa, Ginger Rogers, Betty Furness, Helen Broderick, Fred Astaire, Eric Blore, Victor Moore.
Director: George Stevens
Genre: Comedy | Musical | Romance
DVD Release Date: 08/16/2005

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers headline Swing Time, the romantic spirit-lifter buoyed by a sublime Jerome Kern / Dorothy Fields score, nimble direction by Academy Award® winner George Stevens and the leads' effortless (after 350 hours of rehearsing!) dancing. The blithe Pick Up Yourself, the Oscar®-winning The Way You Look Tonight, the undeniably moving Never Gonna Dance ode to love and loss, Fred's Bojangles of Harlem tap tribute - they stand out among the standouts in a film widely acknowledged as one of the team's very best.

Cast Notes: Fred Astaire (John 'Lucky' Garnett), Ginger Rogers (Penelope 'Penny' Carroll), Victor Moore (Everett 'Pop' Cardetti), Helen Broderick (Mabel Anderson), Eric Blore (Gordon, Dance Studio Manager), Betty Furness (Margaret Watson), Georges Metaxa (Ricardo 'Ricky' Romero).

User Comment: Amanda from Grand Rapids, MI, 8 October 2004 • If you only watch one Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers musical this should be the one. There has long been a debate over which film is their best: Swing Time or Top Hat. In my opinion, Swing Time definitely takes this honor, number two being Top Hat, followed by The Gay Divorcée. All of their films together are excellent, but Swing Time is set apart because it takes a much more realistic look at love and life. This film handles the love affair between Astaire and Rogers' characters in a way that none of the other films did. The romance is touching, sweet, charming - and believable!

The songs are amazing, including "Pick Yourself Up", "The Waltz In Swing Time", "A Fine Romance", "Never Gonna Dance", and "The Way You Look Tonight", which is the greatest love song ever written. The scene where Astaire sings this to Rogers is not to be missed. His reaction to her touch - in this scene, as well as in the "Fine Romance" scene - is priceless. Watch for another not-to-be-missed moment, also in the "Fine Romance" scene, as Rogers uses every feminine trick in the book to try to get Astaire to respond.

Although this goes without saying, the dancing in "Swing Time" is superb. I hardly know words that are sufficient to describe the beauty that is the bittersweet dance number "Never Gonna Dance". The emotion in this scene is phenomenal. It is absolutely exquisite. If Fred & Ginger had, indeed, never danced - before or after - to any other number, this alone would have made them famous. It is the most beautiful dance ever recorded in motion picture history. Every time I re-watch this film, I'm always caught off guard by the sheer beauty of this one scene. For this reason alone, "Swing Time" is definitely a "must see" film.

Summary: A Fine Romance!.

User Comment: movibuf1962 from Washington, DC, 8 December 2004 • This was, in many ways, the zenith of the Astaire-Rogers 10-film saga. And it manages to reveal a perfectly cohesive story (as well as a marvelous musical score) without one frame of mistaken identity or a misunderstanding which takes an hour-and-a-half to resolve. (Spoiler-ish) Astaire is initially betrothed to society girl Furness, but goes out into the world to raise a wedding dowry and ends up meeting, dancing with, and falling in love with Rogers instead. (If it reads like it all happens too fast, by all means acquaint yourself with the rest of the A-R film series.) The plots ultimately didn't matter- only the duo's ravishing dance duets, which were their love scenes. Probably no more thrilling dances have ever been presented on film: the tap routine "Pick Yourself Up" which first introduces the couple to each other; the 'lovely Waltz in Swing Time' (a happy duet which sort of marks the Act 1 finale); and the dramatic "Never Gonna Dance." This number is stunning for two reasons: it's a dance of a break-up, and it's the dance which may have been their most difficult to film. Because Astaire's mantra was uncut (or nearly uncut) dance numbers, his duets with Rogers were usually all done in one unbroken camera shot. In "Never Gonna Dance," the action travels from one dance floor up two curved staircases to another, cutting only one time, to a final 2-shot showing Rogers gloriously spinning in and out of Astaire's arms several times before making a dramatic exit. The shoot, history says, lasted from mid-morning until about 4 a.m. THE NEXT DAY, as take after take of the dance was spoiled with one problem after another (cameras bumping into walls, lights crashing, Astaire's toupee flying off his head!). Eventually, Rogers' feet bled into her high heels, but neither she nor Astaire wanted to stop until they got it right- and they finally did on take number FORTY-EIGHT. Now that's entertainment.

Summary: 48 takes?!! Jeez!!.

IMDb Rating (08/16/07): 7.6/10 from 2,152 users

Additional information
Copyright:  1936,  Warner Bros.
Features:  • Commentary by John Mueller, Author of Astaire Dancing
• New Featurette The Swing of Things: Swing Time Step by Step
• Musical Short Hotel a la Swing
• Classic Cartoon Bingo Crosbyana
• Theatrical Trailer
Subtitles:  English, Spanish, French
Video:  Standard 1.33:1 [4:3] B&W
Audio:  ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Mono [CC]
Time:  1:44
DVD:  # Discs: 1 -- # Shows: 1
D-Box:  No
Other:  Producers: Pandro S Berman; Directors: George Stevens; Writers: Allan Scott, Howard Lindsay; running time of 104 minutes; Packaging: Keep Case; [CC].
One of the American Film Institute's Top 100 American Films (AFI: n/a-90).

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