Saw the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers movie “Top Hat” the other
day. I’m not a big musicals fan, either
in movies or in theater (though a perverse part of me still wants to see the
Spider-Man musical, mainly because of all the controversy it generated), but I
like some of the classics. “Singing In
The Rain” is a great movie period, musical or not, and I love “West Side Story”
and, for something more recent, “All That Jazz,” so there are exceptions. I’ve probably seen “Top Hat” before but I
didn’t remember much about it, and it could be I’ve only ever seen excerpts of
some of the dances.
“Top Hat” is a fun movie.
It helps to remember this was released in 1935 in the middle of the
Great Depression. I think movies were
intended to be more escapist then to remove people from their troubles, and
this is a good example of that. All the
characters seem to be independently wealthy, and the sets and costumes are lush
and extravagant. The film creates a kind
of dream world you might wish for if you’re wondering how you’re going to pay
your rent and where your next meal is coming from. (These days I guess people escape into drugs
instead of movies.)
The plot is only slightly more fleshed out than the average thin
movie musical plot of the day. It’s a
classic mistaken-identity tale where Fred Astaire falls for Ginger Rogers but Rodgers
thinks he’s married. Astaire doesn’t know
this and the movie follows him trying to woo her and not understanding her
stand-off-ishness. What would 1930s
screwball comedies and musicals be without mistaken identities and characters
never thinking to say or ask the obvious, like, “But aren’t you married?” No, too easy, the movie would be over in five
minutes. The movie also has a great turn
by the character actor Edward Everett Horton who basically made a career out of
the double-take.
The film contains the famous dance sequence where Ginger Rogers
wears a dress covered in ostrich feathers.
It looks great and makes a memorable impression, but apparently Astaire
hated it. The feathers kept falling off
the dress and clinging to his black tuxedo.
If you watch the dance closely, you’ll occasionally see feathers flying
off the dress and falling to the dance floor.
I don’t know how hard it was to get usable takes of that number but the
end result is pretty impressive. Good
for you Ginger Rogers for sticking to your guns.
There’s not much else to say about the movie. It’s light and fluffy and fun, and filled
with the kind of stilted artificial acting I usually hate, especially from
Astaire. There isn’t a true or
believable moment in anything he does, but then again that was the style
then. I was surprised to see Rogers
giving the more natural, believable performance. I tend to think of her as a little flat and
less colorful than Astaire, but after seeing this movie, I realize she gives
the more grounded performance to Astaire’s more flamboyant but unconvincing effort. She’s earthier and less affected, almost
Method in her directness. She doesn’t
seem to cater to the camera but plays her scenes with a nice authenticity, even
if she does end up being overshadowed by Astaire’s hamming.
All in all, a fun diversion.
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