Top Hat

Starring:Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton, Erik Rhodes, Eric Blore, Helen Broderick, Dennis O'Keefe, Lora Lane, Lucille Ball, Tom Costello, Gino Corrado, Donald Meek, John Impolito, Edgar Norton, Phyllis Coghlan, Genaro Spagnoli, Robert Adair, Florence Roberts, Peter Hobbes, Leonard Mudie
Director: Mark Sandrich, Lloyd French, Mervyn LeRoy
Studio: Turner Home Ent
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com essential video
Even the best Fred and Ginger musicals are merely lavish excuses for some of the most elegant dancing ever put on screen, and Top Hat is no exception. The story is a silly but timeless tale of mistaken identity that compounds itself to extremes. Fred Astaire is the famous American hoofer Jerry Travers, in London preparing for a new show with his befuddled producer Horace Hardwick (the always entertaining Edward Everett Horton) when he falls for Dale Tremont (Ginger Rogers), a lovely, wisecracking American girl as light on her feet as Jerry. Dale believes Jerry to be Horace, the husband of her best friend Madge (Helen Broderick) and rebuffs his advances by marrying her dressmaker Alberto (Erik Rhodes), but in the best tradition of musical comedy, true love finds its own way. Practically the entire cast of the 1934 hit The Gay Divorcee reunites for this frothy confection, along with director Mark Sandrich, designer Van Nest Polglase, and choreographer Hermes Pan. Irving Berlin provides a tuneful score, including "Cheek to Cheek," which provides a classic duet for Astaire and Rogers, and "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails," which remains one of Astaire's finest solo numbers. Polglase outdoes himself with sets both elegant and outrageous and Hermes Pan's choreography is as smooth as ever, but ultimately it's the grace and chemistry of the leads that makes Top Hat top entertainment. --Sean Axmaker
Description
Perhaps the best remembered of the 10 Astaire/Rogers musicals, Top Hat has it all: Art Deco elegance, a wonderfully addled storyline, loopy support from skilled farceurs and the incomparable chemistry of the two leads cheek-to-cheeking to Irving Berlin's finest film score. It's a wake-up call for romance when Fred's exuberant No Strings dance in his hotel suite disturbs the sleeping beauty (Ginger) in the room below. They meet cute, Fred decides he'd like a few strings (preferably a tied knot) after all and love beckons until Ginger mistakenly gets the idea that Fred is a married playboy. But mistakes can be wonderfully, wackily resolved. Among the highlights: Fred mows down the chorus line in his signature Top Hat, White Tie and Tails, the shimmeringly dreamy Isn't It a Lovely Day (to Be Caught in the Rain)? and the rhapsodically tender Cheek to Cheek. Nominated for 4 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Top Hat is top-drawer entertainment magic.

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:Commentary by Fred Astaire?s Daughter Ava Astaire McKenzie and Film Dance Historian Larry Billman
Featurette:On Top: Inside the Success of Top Hat
Other:Comedy Short Watch the Birdie with Bob Hope, Classic Cartoon Page Miss Glory

Astaire & Rogers Ultimate Collector's Edition (Flying Down to Rio / The Gay Divorcee / Roberta / Top Hat / Follow the Fleet / Swing Time / Shall We Dance / Carefree / The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle / The Barkleys of Broadway)

Average customer rating:

Dazzling and Beautiful
A set of classics
BEWARE!
a thesaurus of musicals in a package for musicals lovers
UNEXPECTED BONUS

Astaire & Rogers Ultimate Collector's Edition (Flying Down to Rio / The Gay Divorcee / Roberta / Top Hat / Follow the Fleet / Swing Time / Shall We Dance / Carefree / The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle / The Barkleys of Broadway)
Starring: Fred Astaire , and Ginger Rogers
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000H6SXME
Release Date: 2006-10-24

Amazon.com

2006 marks the arrival of five Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers films (Flying Down to Rio, The Gay Divorcee, Roberta, Carefree, and The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle) on DVD after the first five were released in 2005. The big package is this Astaire & Rogers Ultimate Collector's Edition, which contains all 10 films plus a CD, a bonus DVD with the documentary Astaire and Rogers: Partners in Rhythm, press-book replicas, and some other material. If you want the big package with the extra stuff but already bought the five films in 2005, you can get the Astaire & Rogers Partial Ultimate Collector's Edition, which includes everything except the actual discs of those first five films. Or, if you only want the five new films, pick up Astaire & Rogers Collection, Vol. 2 as a bookend to Astaire & Rogers Collection, Vol. 1.

The Astaire-Rogers films mix light romantic comedy (usually centered around mistaken identities and ending, inevitably, in blissful wedding promises) with elegant dinner wear and surreal sets intended to transport '30s audiences away from the Depression to such locales as Rio, Paris, and Venice. The two stars are also aided by a recurring stable of RKO players such as Edward Everett Horton (master of the double-take), Eric Blore, and Helen Broderick. And then there's that sensational dancing set to great songs by the likes of Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, and Jerome Kern, numbers that are not merely entertaining but also innovative for their time in that they reveal character and advance the plot. Add it all up, and you have a recipe for an irrepressible joie de vivre that practically defines the movie musical.

Flying Down to Rio (1933) headlined Dolores Del Rio and Gene Raymond, but it was the fourth- and fifth-billed stars who would rewrite cinematic history. Astaire and Rogers had limited screen time, but were still able to establish many of the trademarks of their later films. The heart of the film is "The Carioca," a company dance extravaganza in which they take the floor together for the first time; their eyes meet and their foreheads touch. Their dance lasts only a few minutes, but it was the highlight of the film and audiences wanted more. The Gay Divorcee (1934) is their best early picture, a loose adaptation of Astaire's stage show, 'The Gay Divorce.' The only song retained for the movie is Cole Porter's smash hit "Night and Day," which is the setting for a sublime pas de deux between Fred and Ginger. The closer is the sprawling 17-minute ensemble number "The Continental." Roberta (1935) was a step backward, with too much time spent on 1930s Parisian fashion and the romance between top-billed Irene Dunne (who gets the best Jerome Kern ballads, "Yesterdays" and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes") and Randolph Scott. But as the second-banana couple Astaire and Rogers still get a tap battle, a romantic duet, and plenty of comic banter.

With a score by Irving Berlin, Top Hat (1935) is most famous for two numbers, Astaire's definitive tuxedo setting "Top Hat, White Tie, and Tails" and the feathery duet "Cheek to Cheek." But other joys include Astaire's "Fancy Free" declaration, "Isn't It a Lovely Day," and the grand finale "The Piccolino." Follow the Fleet (1936) changes the pace a bit, with Astaire playing a sailor, and it suffers from making him and Rogers the second-banana couple to the dull Randolph Scott and Harriet Hilliard. But it still has plenty of laughs and some classic Irving Berlin numbers, including "Let Yourself Go," which Rogers sings before she and Astaire compete in a dance contest; a Rogers solo tap number; "I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket," their best comic dance. The pièce de résistance is "Let's Face the Music and Dance," a show within a show in which the pair dons their customary evening formals. Effortlessly flowing from pantomime to song to dance, this sublime piece of storytelling is one of the series' defining moments. Maybe their most enjoyable picture, Swing Time (1936) features the set-piece "Pick Yourself Up," in which Rogers "teaches" Astaire to dance before they break into a spectacular number; the farewell ode "Never Gonna Dance," and the Oscar-winning "Just the Way You Look Tonight," from the team of Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields.

Shall We Dance (1937) has a complex plot that has Astaire and Rogers actually getting married before the final credits roll, and turns George and Ira Gershwin's brilliant "They Can't Take That Away from Me" into a heartbreaking ode. Other great songs include "Slap That Bass," "They All Laughed," and "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," unforgettably performed on roller skates. The eighth and ninth entries in the series tried some different approaches, with the underrated Carefree (1938) more of a comedy vehicle for Ginger (yet still including some fine dances and Irving Berlin songs as well as their first onscreen kiss) and The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939) portraying the pair as historical dancing stars and using a score of turn-of-the-century standards. The Barkleys of Broadway (1949) is the oddity, reuniting the stars 10 years after their last RKO picture when Judy Garland had to be replaced due to health problems. It's trademark MGM: splashy colors, Fred in a gimmicky solo number (playing sorcerer's apprentice to a line of unoccupied shoes), Oscar Levant providing his usual dynamic pianism and acerbic personality, and a score that is at its best when it borrows songs from a previous generation (including the big ballroom number set to "They Can't Take That Away from Me"). The film falls short of their best work, but serves as a fond remembrance of the most glorious partnership in film history. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews:

Dazzling and Beautiful.......2007-04-20

Ibelieve everything has been said already of Rogers and Astaire.The two together on the screen is magical and entertaining.Funny whitty beautiful.The music by some othe greatest composer such as Berlin costumes by the best of Hollywood is a treat for the eyes.You will not be dissapointed,when you are feeling low his will make you sore to the sky.Get it.

A set of classics.......2007-02-28

If you enjoy Fred & Ginger, you need their entire set of these classics. The dialogue can be a little corny at times, but so was yours when you were young. They practiced for hours, and it shows.

BEWARE!.......2007-02-19

Twice I ordered this set for my wife, and each time the package arrived with DVDs missing from the set! All the containers were there, but as many as five (5) DVDs were gone. What a joke. I gave up and purchased the set at Borders. Does Amazon care? Never heard from them.

a thesaurus of musicals in a package for musicals lovers.......2007-02-19

each movie starring Fred and Ginger can be considered as a jewel; so is this collector's edition with bonus of value ( many photographs "off screen", newspapers articles,...) certainly collected by a true lover who aimed to enjoy the buyer.

UNEXPECTED BONUS.......2007-02-10

A GIFT FOR MY WIFE-OUR CATS ARE NAMED FRED&GINGER-SHE WAS PLEASED TO FIND THE PRINTED ITEMS(MINI-POSTERS,ETC.)

Astaire & Rogers Collection, Vol. 1 (Top Hat / Swing Time / Follow the Fleet / Shall We Dance / The Barkleys of Broadway)

Average customer rating:

JAR
GREAT MOVIES!
the astaire collection volume 1
A Real Classic
Astaire & Rogers

Astaire & Rogers Collection, Vol. 1 (Top Hat / Swing Time / Follow the Fleet / Shall We Dance / The Barkleys of Broadway)
Starring: Fred Astaire , Ginger Rogers , Edward Everett Horton , Erik Rhodes , and Eric Blore
Director: Mark Sandrich , and George Stevens
Manufacturer: Turner Home Ent
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0009NSCR6
Release Date: 2005-08-16

Amazon.com

Fans of classic movie musicals will be in heaven with Astaire & Rogers Collection, Vol. 1, featuring the DVD debut of five films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, the quintessential dancing duo. The two gems of the set are Top Hat (1935), generally considered their definitive movie, and Swing Time (1936), which many consider their most enjoyable. Follow the Fleet (1936), Shall We Dance (1937), and The Barkleys of Broadway (1949) fill out the set, each with its own charms.

Follow the Fleet

With a score by Irving Berlin, Top Hat is most famous for two numbers, Astaire's definitive tuxedo setting "Top Hat, White Tie, and Tails" and the feathery duet "Cheek to Cheek." But other joys include Astaire's "Fancy Free" declaration, "Isn't It a Lovely Day," and the grand finale "The Piccolino." Favorite musical moments in Swing Time include the set-piece "Pick Yourself Up," in which Rogers "teaches" Astaire to dance before they break into a spectacular number; the farewell ode "Never Gonna Dance," and the Oscar-winning "Just the Way You Look Tonight," from the team of Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields.

Swing Time

Follow the Fleet changes the pace a bit, with Astaire playing a sailor, and it suffers from making him and Rogers the second-banana couple to the dull Randolph Scott and Harriet Hilliard. But it still has plenty of laughs and some classic Irving Berlin numbers, including "Let Yourself Go," which Rogers sings before she and Astaire compete in a dance contest; a Rogers solo tap number; "I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket," their best comic dance. The pièce de résistance is "Let's Face the Music and Dance," a show within a show in which the pair dons their customary evening formals. Effortlessly flowing from pantomime to song to dance, this sublime piece of storytelling is one of the series' defining moments. Shall We Dance has a complex plot that has Astaire and Rogers actually getting married before the final credits roll, and turns George and Ira Gershwin's brilliant "They Can't Take That Away from Me" into a heartbreaking ode. Other great songs include "Slap That Bass," "They All Laughed," and "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," unforgettably performed on roller skates. The Barkleys of Broadway is the oddity, reuniting the stars 10 years after their last RKO picture when Judy Garland had to be replaced due to health problems. It's trademark MGM: splashy colors, Fred in a gimmicky solo number (playing sorcerer's apprentice to a line of unoccupied shoes), Oscar Levant providing his usual dynamic pianism and acerbic personality, and a score that is at its best when it borrows songs from a previous generation (including the big ballroom number set to "They Can't Take That Away from Me"). The film falls short of their best work, but serves as a fond remembrance of the most glorious partnership in film history. --David Horiuchi

Description

You'll Love The Way Fred and Ginger Look Tonight in the 5-film, 5-Disc Astaire and Rogers Collection Volume One, including the highly acclaimed Top Hat and Swing Time.

Customer Reviews:

JAR.......2007-05-15

I love Fred Astaire Movies, classic movies there's nothing like these type of movies. excellent....

GREAT MOVIES!.......2007-02-24

ARRIVED NEXT DAY I ORDERED THEM! VERY GOOD QUALITY OF MOVIES.

the astaire collection volume 1.......2007-02-20

Fred Astaire is unbeatable especially when paired with Ginger Rogers or Eleanor Powell. These are older films and of course not up to modern technical standards. However the charm and the eleghance and the excellence shine through- A must for a fan or collector.

A Real Classic.......2007-01-21

Very well done. A must have for anyone who loves the old films. Even my 10 year old son, enjoyed the dancing and singing. :-)

Astaire & Rogers.......2007-01-12

For those who are fans of this great dancing duo, here is pure heaven, five full movies of their music and dance. Granted, the stories are usually pretty thin, often silly, but well writtn and well acted. The supporting cast is uniformly great. I love "Top Hat' for the music, 'Follow the Fleet' for the wonderful dance routines, each film for something special in it. If you are not a fan, viewing these 5 will make you one.

Average customer rating:

Top Hat
The best of the Astaire & Rogers movies
Nearly Perfect...
Sublimely silly story: celestial dancing
Fred dances in an out of hearts

Top Hat
Starring: Fred Astaire , Ginger Rogers , Edward Everett Horton , Erik Rhodes , and Eric Blore
Director: Mark Sandrich , and Lloyd French
Manufacturer: Turner Home Ent
ProductGroup: DVD
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Follow the Fleet
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ASIN: B0009NSCQW
Release Date: 2005-08-16

Amazon.com essential video

Even the best Fred and Ginger musicals are merely lavish excuses for some of the most elegant dancing ever put on screen, and Top Hat is no exception. The story is a silly but timeless tale of mistaken identity that compounds itself to extremes. Fred Astaire is the famous American hoofer Jerry Travers, in London preparing for a new show with his befuddled producer Horace Hardwick (the always entertaining Edward Everett Horton) when he falls for Dale Tremont (Ginger Rogers), a lovely, wisecracking American girl as light on her feet as Jerry. Dale believes Jerry to be Horace, the husband of her best friend Madge (Helen Broderick) and rebuffs his advances by marrying her dressmaker Alberto (Erik Rhodes), but in the best tradition of musical comedy, true love finds its own way. Practically the entire cast of the 1934 hit The Gay Divorcee reunites for this frothy confection, along with director Mark Sandrich, designer Van Nest Polglase, and choreographer Hermes Pan. Irving Berlin provides a tuneful score, including "Cheek to Cheek," which provides a classic duet for Astaire and Rogers, and "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails," which remains one of Astaire's finest solo numbers. Polglase outdoes himself with sets both elegant and outrageous and Hermes Pan's choreography is as smooth as ever, but ultimately it's the grace and chemistry of the leads that makes Top Hat top entertainment. --Sean Axmaker

Description

Perhaps the best remembered of the 10 Astaire/Rogers musicals, Top Hat has it all: Art Deco elegance, a wonderfully addled storyline, loopy support from skilled farceurs and the incomparable chemistry of the two leads cheek-to-cheeking to Irving Berlin's finest film score. It's a wake-up call for romance when Fred's exuberant No Strings dance in his hotel suite disturbs the sleeping beauty (Ginger) in the room below. They meet cute, Fred decides he'd like a few strings (preferably a tied knot) after all and love beckons until Ginger mistakenly gets the idea that Fred is a married playboy. But mistakes can be wonderfully, wackily resolved. Among the highlights: Fred mows down the chorus line in his signature Top Hat, White Tie and Tails, the shimmeringly dreamy Isn't It a Lovely Day (to Be Caught in the Rain)? and the rhapsodically tender Cheek to Cheek. Nominated for 4 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Top Hat is top-drawer entertainment magic.

Customer Reviews:

Top Hat.......2007-06-21

Finally, the long-awaited Astaire-Rogers classics are being released on DVD, and "Top Hat" (arguably the best of the series, along with "Swing Time") has never looked or sounded better. The plot is soufflé-light, but runs on the divine hilarity of its ensemble players, in particular Eric Blore as persnickety butler Bates, and Erik Rhodes as Beddini, rival to Dale's affections. Beyond that ineffable Astaire-Rogers chemistry, the real stars are the buttery Berlin score (highlight: "Cheek to Cheek") and dancing sequences that define beauty and grace in motion. Heaven-I'm in heaven!

The best of the Astaire & Rogers movies.......2007-04-01

Of the ten films the duo made together, this is probably the best film in all categories of what made their movies great. First of all there is a wonderful supporting cast in the persons of four character actors, all of which had repeat performances in at least one other Astaire & Rogers movie. They all play essential roles in the film, and I can't imagine "Top Hat" with any one of them missing, yet none of them manages to get in the way. Also, the music of Irving Berlin adorns the film, and there is not one song that is less than five stars. Astaire & Rogers' movies tended to have fairly simple comedic plots, but this one is funnier than usual, with a series of misunderstandings that would have probably made this a good screwball comedy even without the musical numbers. The basic misunderstanding has to do with Ginger Rogers' character believing that Fred Astaire's character is actually the husband of one of her closest friends. Ginger is not only offended by the fact that she is being openly pursued by someone that she thinks is a married man, but she is confounded by her friend's seemingly casual attitude towards the entire situation. Last but not least, there is the enduring chemistry of Astaire and Rogers themselves and the beauty of their dance numbers. Ginger Rogers was a very good actress in her own right, and she knew that just because the music started the acting did not stop. She wasn't a great dancer, but she was good enough and got better as time went on. As for Astaire, he was probably the best individual dancer we'll ever see, plus he exuded pure class. Audiences flocked to these movies back in the 1930's for the music, for the chemistry of the lead duo, and for the pure escapism these films provided. I still recommend "Top Hat" for all of these same reasons today.

Nearly Perfect..........2007-02-19

Okay, stop arguing all you Astaire and Rogers purists out there! Many fans DO put this one at the top of their list and we will not quarrel, after all it has Fred's signature "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails" number complete with the shooting gallery choreography... But then there is SWING TIME and SHALL WE DANCE...

So let's just say it is "among the best" and let it rest there.

It all begins with a top hat at the Thackeray Club, where Fred--who plays, what else, an American dancer--has been waiting over long for his friend and impresario, Edward Everett Horton. The members of the Club keep the place silent and stuffy, but irrepressible Fred gives them a sample of his tap dancing as they depart and that sets the tone for the rest of the film.

The two go to Horton's residential hotel, where Horton prevails upon Fred to stay as he is having a tiff with his manservant Bates, played with droll comic panache by Eric Blore. Horton advises Fred that he needs a wife but Fred relishes the fact that he has "No Strings, No Connections" and sings and dances to prove it. This is one of two outstanding solo numbers for Fred in this film, and in it he ranges from brilliant staccato tapping to...later...a sand dance to end all sand dances.

It is however much too late in the day, and his tap-dancing in the de luxe Deco apartment (someday I want a room like that!) awakens poor Ginger who is downstairs recumbent on a none too shabby satin swathed bed. She complains to the management, they call Horton, he leaves to speak with them and since the dancing has not yet subsided, Ginger takes matters into her own hands by going up to confront the culprit who turns out to be Fred.

Fred falls in love with her immediately and she thinks he is rather cute if a tad impish and their relationship moves into its next phase when he commandeers the hansom cab she is taking to the riding stables and ends up dancing with her in a gazebo to "Isn't It a Lovely Day to be Caught in the Rain?" (The set by the way was the inspiration for the "Sixteen Going On Seventeen" gazebo number from "The Sound of Music").

This is a good place to talk about Fred's concept of the marks of a successful film dance number. First, he believed that the camera should be stationary, viewing the dance from one position (it is okay to pan). Then, he also felt that there should be three different tempos in a dance routine. Third, if possible, the routine should move the action of the plot forward. All three of these are aptly demonstrated in this number. Here, as always, pay attention to the way Ginger looks at Fred while they are dancing. It is one of the secrets of their chemestry as a dance partnership. (And to my way of thinking one of the major flaws in the way that today's ballroom dancers dance, scarcely looking at each other. In contrast to Fred and Ginger's spark and liveliness, it makes them look like they are nothing more than very accomplished dance zombies). This is one of the few numbers in which Ginger's feet are not partially obscured by a long hemline--so the viewer gets to see just how deft she was on the dancefloor.

This is also one of those numbers for which the team became famous in which we were asked to believe that Fred was making it up on the spot and that Ginger was such a quick study that she followed his every move as if by mental telepathy. And yes, the premise workes splendidly. There is an "anything you can do I can do better" character to this number that makes it as fresh today as it was when it was in first run movie houses.

Fred has a strange power over horses (horsepower) and seems to be winning over Ginger, too, but that only lasts till she gets mixed up and thinks that Fred is Horton who is married to her dear friend Madge (Helen Broderick) who is off in Venice but has wired to Ginger to come and visit her, in a telegram worded as if penned by Gertrude Stein. Are you still with me?

By the way, Ginger is a professional model, hired by Eric Rhodes in another of his pseudo-Italian comedic roles (this time, as a dressmaker), whose professional arrangement is that as Ginger wears his creations among the "smart people", the commissions will come rolling in. Not everyone sees the arrangement as quite so innocent including the hotel lobby florist and his assistant, played by Lucille Ball - look quick or you will miss her. After all, Rhodes is paying for all of Ginger's niceties, and as the florist says, "Her niceties are very nice!"

Phew! Fred finally gets to the theater and does the Top Hat number. This is one of the best solo dances ever filmed and has style and wit throughout. We could say it is Fred's signature dance, just as "Singin' in the Rain" is Gene Kelly's. Here, Fred shows us both his classy and his clever side as he finds himself beset by wanna-be lookalikes who he bests by turning his taps into 'amunition'. Stage designers take note, a simple backdrop and a hidden set of stairs can do wonders. And unlike the Warner musicals, where it would have been impossible to fit the sets on a stage even if it was the size of the airship hanger at Lakehurst, we BELIEVE that this is really happening on a real stage in a real London theatre.

While dressing for this dance, Fred finds out via Horton that Ginger is off to Venice and so has Horton order up a plane for the weekend. And off to Venice they go.

Walt Disney must have spent way too much time looking at the Hollywood version of Venice set; he stole it for his ride "It's a Small World".

No, Venice was never this white and never this moderne and the canals were never so pristine that you could put on a pair of water wings and go splashing about in them. Even so, is is an eye-popper.

Enough said. We aren't looking at the scenery so much as Ginger when she and Fred dance their romantic number "Cheek to Cheek" and the feathers literally fly from her fabulous gown. But as with Lucy, you have to keep a sharp eye to see them. This is a good routine to watch what Fred does with his hands--every bit as poetic as what they are doing with their feet. He thought his hands overly large and you can see how he holds his fingers in order to try to minimize their apparent size, throughout this dance.

Plot-wise... Ginger still thinks that Fred is married to Helen Broderick and so more mix ups and madcap mayhem ensue, with Fred thinking Ginger is a scheming woman and telling her she is a certain (fictitious) Madeline whom he met in Paris and who he called "Mad for short" and then adds comedic insult to injury by saying, "You've put on a little weight!"

About this same time, Horton hears more than a who as he confesses a slight indiscretion involving the bird house and a little chickadee, and more witty bon mots are tossed about.

Yet, it all comes out right in the end.

Oh, wait... There is still the big dance number--this time called the "Piccolino". Oh dear, it is a snappy tune with cute lyrics but it is filmed at a multitude of wrong angles and with ill chosen cuts, to boot (which is why this film does not get my top pick of their series). This is a major gaffe and something which no other reviewer mentions, here. Yes, Astaire and Rogers look swell and do some fancy footwork and we get to see it up close, but the movements of the other dancers are waisted -- spliced together so piecemeal that we miss what a good job they are doing. It would have been nice to see the number in its entirety without this choppy cutting--and given his ideas about how numbers should be photographed, Fred must have cringed. My guess, and I have never read anything to prove this, is that the number went on much longer a la "The Continental" in THE GAY DIVORCEE, but the front office insisted on a shorter running time. The end result is that one longs for the smoothly sophisticated photo work of "The Continental" or, if you prefer creative camera angles and cutting, just about anything by Busby Berkeley.

No wonder, for years afterward, couples across the USA were still dancing the Carioca (Flying Down to Rio) and the Continental (The Gay Divorce) but, pray tell, who but Ginger and Fred ever danced the Piccolino?

Even so, the happy pair concludes by dancing over the stairway of a canal bridge instead of their usual furniture, with Fred once more in a top hat, so all ends well.

It is an RKO Radio Picture--so of course it goes without saying--marvelous!

Sublimely silly story: celestial dancing.......2007-02-01

The story is so astoundingly idiotic, while at the same time very funny and wildly unpredictable, that it actually provides a perfect vehicle for the magical miracle of the dancing of Rogers and Astaire. The viewer's mind gets attuned the idea that almost anything may happen, and the truth is that in the dancing, especially the Cheek-to-Cheek number, quite supernatural events are seen to occur. Watching the couple perform that number, with Rogers in that incredible gown, I felt that they were so incomparably matched that something beyond normal belief was happening. Floating on air doesn't begin to describe it. The dizzying zaniness of the plot, riddled with holes and insanity at every turn, and the quite impossible deco design of the sets, merely added to the general sense of visual intoxication. Astaire's features and physical skills were quite unlike those of any other human being, as though he were some sort of otherworld elf; and Rogers was a comedienne to die for. She was a wonderful, delightful actress, with an extraordinarily mobile and expressive face, as well as a marvellous dancing partner. The other very striking number was Top Hat, with its parody of the St Valentine's Day massacre, injecting a sinister undercurrent of violence below all the surface froth and the fluff. There was a strong feel of Busby in some of the numbers. Berlin easily beats the Gershwins, in my book. Some of the ludicrous scenes and dialogue are laugh out loud hilarious. A masterpiece, that positively reeks of class.

Fred dances in an out of hearts.......2006-12-18

A romantic relationship begins, ends, and resumes based on mistaken identity. During some late-night tap dancing in a London hotel room of a friend, Jerry Travers (Fred Astaire) spoils the sleep of Dale Tremont (Ginger Rogers), a fashion showpiece for Alberto (Erik Rhodes), in the room below. Her complaints lead to Jerry's immediate attempts to nurture mutual attraction. Resistant Dale eventually accedes, cleverly depicted by her tapping in step with Jerry, whose name she never bothers to obtain. She later learns that a married man named Horace Hardwick (Edward Everett Horton) occupies the room above hers. Assuming Jerry is Horace, Dale wants nothing else to do with him. Bewildered Jerry chases Dale to Venice, Italy in an attempt to rekindle her affection before she succumbs to the advances of Alberto. The plot becomes even zanier after Dale confronts Horace's wife (who turns out to be Alberto's financial sponsor) about her husband's misconduct.

The plot is so far fetched that it only provides a vehicle for opportunities to watch the stars dance. Expect some clever improvisational tap dancing by the master during the grand opening of a stage performance by Fred Astaire. The story is a bit obtuse for my tastes but I longed to see a classic Fred-and-Ginger movie to experience the chemistry so often spoken of. This likely wasn't the best example to me though hailed by Astaire fans. If you enjoy slapstick comedy with tallented dance and lavish stage shows, go to town with TOP HAT.

Movie quote: Dale Tremont: "Madge, have you any objections if I scare your husband so that he'll never look at another woman?" Madge Hardwick: "Dale, no husband is ever too scared to look."

Average customer rating:

Top Hat
The best of the Astaire & Rogers movies
Nearly Perfect...
Sublimely silly story: celestial dancing
Fred dances in an out of hearts

Top Hat [Region 2]
Starring: Fred Astaire , Ginger Rogers , Edward Everett Horton , Erik Rhodes , and Eric Blore
Director: Mark Sandrich , and Thornton Freeland
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Musicals & Performing Arts | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B00005LJBT

Amazon.com essential video

Customer Reviews:

Top Hat.......2007-06-21

The best of the Astaire & Rogers movies.......2007-04-01

Nearly Perfect..........2007-02-19

Sublimely silly story: celestial dancing.......2007-02-01

Fred dances in an out of hearts.......2006-12-18

Top Hat DVD Authentic Region 1 Starring Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers 1935

Average customer rating:

Top Hat DVD Authentic Region 1 Starring Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers 1935

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Starring: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers
Director: Mark Sandrich
Genre: Classics
Format: Full Screen
Awards: Academy Award® Nominee

ASIN: B000KYV140

Product Description

This joyous Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical features an Irving Berlin score and the classic duet "Cheek to Cheek." Astaire stars as Jerry Travers, a singer-dancer who auditions some new moves for producer Horace Hardwick at his hotel. The beautiful Dale Tremont (Rogers) is staying downstairs and the wackiness begins when she mistakes Jerry for Horace in this romantic comedy that received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture.

Average customer rating:

Cornstock 2006
Director: Joey G
Manufacturer: Smashed Productions
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

2006 Cornstock concert
2006 Hall of Fame ceremony
Cornstock: a Visual Journey
Picture Show
Dolby Digital Stereo Mix

ASIN: B000KH0TFO

Product Description

Smashed Productions exclusive DVD of Cornstock 2006 filmed live August 20th 2006 near Indianapolis Indiana. Great midwest bands perform on this DVD plus lots of cool extras. Check it out.

Average customer rating:

Top Hat
The best of the Astaire & Rogers movies
Nearly Perfect...
Sublimely silly story: celestial dancing
Fred dances in an out of hearts

Top Hat [Region 2]
Starring: Fred Astaire , Ginger Rogers , Edward Everett Horton , Erik Rhodes , and Eric Blore
Director: Mark Sandrich
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Musicals & Performing Arts | Genres | DVD | Video