Movie Review: Swing Time (1936)
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Co-Star in Perhaps Their Finest Film
Aug 13, 2009
Younger audiences may only vaguely recognize the names today. But by the mid-1930s, RKO's Fred and Ginger were superstars as universally loved as any dance (or romantic) pairing the movies ever produced.
Fred and Ginger: Boy Meets Girl
Fred was the elegantly-dressed, upbeat go-getter, usually a dancer, who's instantly charmed by the slim, sweet-faced, street-smart redhead Ginger. Boy meets girl. Boy dances with girl. Boy chases girl until she catches him.
By the time of this, their sixth movie together, that formula was getting predictable. (Overall, they appeared in nine RKO films together, but only seven are considered genuine co-starring vehicles.) But nobody in the audience really cared, because they were so winning. Audiences adored this escapist fare during the Great Depression. It helped that the leads were impeccably dressed -- often beyond their characters' stations in life -- and pretty wholesome.
Women could project Fred onto their partners' faces, hoping to be swept off their feet on the dance floor. Men could imagine their mates to be as gorgeous, feminine and disarmingly confident as Ginger.
Katharine Hepburn often is credited with the perfect summary of their appeal: "She gives him sex. He gives her class."
Swing Time is the ultimate example of the Fred and Ginger paradigm.
Swing Time's All-Star Production Team
RKO's veteran producer Pandro S. Berman oversaw production, as he did on many of the Astaire-Rogers pictures. The versatile George Stevens directed the film, taking over from Mark Sandrich, who'd helmed the three immediately preceding entries and established the basic structure and tone. Stevens exhibited just the light touch the duo required, working from a script by the prolific Howard Lindsay, this time partnered with Allan Scott.
In Swing Time, Fred is John "Lucky" Garnett, the featured performer in a men's traveling dance troupe. When the other troupers sabotage Lucky on his wedding day, the nuptials are cancelled. The enraged would-be father-in-law agrees to forgive Lucky if the dancer (and proud gambler) will go to New York and make $25,000, presumably to prove he'd be a dependable breadwinner.
The broke Lucky and his pal/sidekick Pop (the bumbling Victor Moore, in a role usually reserved for master sidekick Edward Everett Horton) hop a freight to the Big Apple -- still wearing formal wedding attire.
On arrival, Lucky inadvertently finds romance in the form of dance school instructress Penny Carroll (Ginger). After a few silly twists and turns, they form a dance partnership.
But, alas, there are complications. Most involve Latin bandleader Ricky Romero (Georges Metaxa), who is Lucky's rival for Penny's affections.
Who has the upper hand for Ginger's hand? What, you need a road map?
Dance Sequences Sparkle
The story only serves as filler for the dance sequences. But the beauty of this film is how perfectly these shared moments of choreographed desire are integrated seamlessly within the story. When Fred and Ginger break first into song, then dance, they are behaving wholly within the context of the scene and their characters' emotions.
The superior supporting cast includes British character actor Eric Blore, who finally gets to play something other than a sarcastic butler. Here, he's Ginger's boss at the dance studio. Helen Broderick -- tough-guy actor Broderick Crawford's real-life mom -- picks up where she left off in Top Hat, again playing a hilarious second banana to Ginger.
The superb score, by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields, includes the light-hearted Pick Yourself Up, a moody A Fine Romance, the celebratory title song and the sublimely romantic The Way You Look Tonight.
Controversial Use of Blackface in Homage to Bill "Bojangles" Robinson
Two other dance numbers deserve elaboration:
With Bojangles of Harlem, Fred and choreographer Hermes Pan worked out a purely cinematic expression of Astaire's respect for tap master Bill Robinson. Fred taps before a trio of silhouettes of himself. The trick photography was Fred's first use of movie magic involving dance. Many decry Astaire's use of blackface in the number. But he meant no disrespect to blacks; the blackface convention was still common in the 1930s and the number actually is Astaire's salute to one of his own dance heroes.
Then, there's Never Gonna Dance. One of the great numbers ever committed to film, it's a remarkable expression, in dance, of longing and loss. The leads come together and part several times while climbing twin curving staircases of black lacquered Art Deco elegance, the work of master RKO art director Van Nest Polglase and his longtime associate, Carroll Clark. When Ginger glides offstage at the end, and the forlorn Fred bows sadly at her departure, we've seen something exceptional.
Ginger Rogers: Bleeding For Her Art
There are few cuts in the elaborate sequence and much of it was filmed within one shot. The perfectionist Astaire insisted on retake after retake, deep into the night. On take 47, they finally got it just right. The crew reportedly erupted in applause -- and maybe relief.
Perhaps most relieved was the uncomplaining Ginger, who bled through her shoes but wouldn't quit until everything was right.
And just about everything is right in Swing Time. All the elements of comedy, song, dance and good-hearted romance blend together in a timeless take on American dreams, ambition and desire.
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