Swing Time (1936)
Lucky is tricked into missing his own wedding again and has to make $25,000 so her father allows him to marry Margaret. He and business partner Pop go to New York where they run into dancing instructor Penny. She and Lucky form a successful dance partnership, but romance is blighted by his old attachment to Margaret and hers for Ricky Romero.
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Powerful
A Major Disappointment
Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.
A story that's too fascinating to pass by...
No need to recap the plot or echo the excellence of the dance numbers. Several side aspects also impressed me about the movie. Catch the great art and set decoration that complement the dance step artistry. True, later "pig pen" musicals like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" (1954) showed that choreography can be great whatever the background. But here the majestically spacious sets showcase the stylish numbers and costuming. And how the heck did they do the three big shadows that Lucky (Astaire) supposedly casts in his blackface number. I'm thinking they must have been special effects since the steps are so perfectly synchronized. Anyway, it's like nothing else I've seen. Then too, Astaire really is a fine actor as well as dancer. He's lively without stretching it. Too often his talent in that regard is overlooked. Frankly, I could have used more "tripping the light fantastic" and less storyline, but the result remains a classic for eyes and ears, even 8-decades later.
As a movie, this is a real stinker. The plot premise (the rapid movement from dislike to romance) is bad enough, but not uncommon, but the pairing of 60 year old (and looking every day of it) Victor Moore as best bud of Fred is laughable. No wait, the pairing of Helen Broderick as best bud of Ginger now that's laughable. Both of these actors have the presence of a block of wood on the screen.So why watch it? People who know dance (I'm not one of them), say that 3 of the 10 greatest dances ever filmed appear here. I wouldn't know but the dancing is spectacular, for me, particularly the dance to "Pick Yourself Up".Also, arguably, the movie introduces 3 songs that are solid members of the Great American Songbook. Great Jerome Kern / Dorothy Fields collaborations of "The Way You Look Tonight" (the Oscar winner and only award of this stiff), the aforementioned "Pick Yourself Up" and "A Fine Romance". 3!!!! So watch. The dance is great; the music is great. Watching the plot and the clunky sidekicks bumble through this film is like watching a train wreck. Three great songs and three great dances deserved a better vehicle.
An inexplicable addition to the American Film Institute's Top 100 list in 2007, Swing Time is a mystifyingly stupid movie. If you're compelled to see a Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musical, go watch Top Hat. Watch it twice. Then rent it. Buy the DVD. You should do all that before you endure the movie that's a terrible representation of George Stevens' talents. I mean, this is the guy who directed Shane!At least the dancing scenes are beautiful choreographed and performed by Astaire & Rogers. You can find those on YouTube though. If you spend 103 minutes with Swing Time, you're going to have to figure out how gullible Lucky Garnett (Astaire) is that he lets his stage "friends" distract him from his wedding. You'll get to "enjoy" Astaire doing a racist number in blackface. You'll be "treated" to a woefully horrible performance by a dopey Victor Moore.You'll also have to go through an entire movie's worth of "will they or won't they" with your "I don't care if they" goggles on. Many (most?) rom-coms put up roadblocks to 2 lovers from becoming lovers, but they've got to create a story worth suspending that disbelief. This movie doesn't make that work very well, although what's worse is how Astaire and Rogers' intendeds handle their respective break-ups. They take it waaaaay better than a real human being ever would.In short, this movie is no good.My wife and I do a podcast about the AFI's 1998 and 2007 Top lists. If you want a better account of our disdain, go to www.top100project.com and check out the "Podcasts" section for 29-minute tear-down of Swing Time. Bev's epic rant at the beginning of the podcast makes this review sound like a recommendation!
The story, like with most Fred and Ginger films, is not Swing Time's best asset, it does come across as contrived, though it also has a charming and cute edge to it. That however doesn't matter so much, when so much in fact everything else is done so well. Swing Time is another Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers classic, and a very close second best to Top Hat. The sets and photography are very lavish and beautiful to look at(Ginger's wardrobe likewise), the most audacious and sophisticated of all the Fred and Ginger films. Jerome Kern's score and songs are also outstanding, The Way You Look Tonight, A Fine Romance, Pick Yourself Up and especially Never Gonna Dance are all classics, and while it is understandable why some won't like it and find it jarring Bojangles of Harlem is at least catchy. There's nothing to complain about in the dancing either, the standout is easily Never Gonna Dance, just perfection in every meaning of the word and Fred and Ginger probably haven't done a dance more beautiful or emotionally moving. It in particular shows off Astaire's effortless grace and style perfectly. The choreography has a lot of spirit and pizazz, done with an appropriately light touch as well as touches of the dramatic. The script is good-natured and amusing, with some sweet parts too. Special mention should also go to the dialogue scene preceding Never Gonna Dance which is very poignant, maybe the most poignant dialogue scene of any of their films. Fred and Ginger are delightful together, and play their characters with great charm. Victor Moore acts with energy and enthusiasm, but one does wish there was much more of Eric Blore. In conclusion, once you get past the story Swing Time is a wonderful film. 9.5/10 Bethany Cox