To me, one of the best Astaire and Rogers musicals has to be Shall We Dance, and it's right there in the title - it's mostly down to the dancing. Astaire plays Petrov, star of the ballet, but in his heart of hearts, he's just Pete Peters from Philly, and his passion is for tap. He falls for Ginger's Linda Keene from a photograph and endeavors to meet her, Ginger always amusing hard to impress in these things, and there's some fun to be had with misunderstandings caused by the two's managers trying to start rumors that the couple has been secretly married even though they've just now met one another. That's key. Instead of having Astaire play an insufferable cad as is usual (though he's still on the manipulative side), the plot's objectionable machinations are carried out by clowns in the background. That lets us root for the couple more. And while both Edward Everett Horton and Eric Blore are on-brand, which is to say they overplay everything, they get some pretty funny bits to play in this one. But back to the dancing. While the Gershwins' music is quite strong, and they come up with some songs that have stood the test of time ("Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" and "They Can't Take That Away From Me" in particular), it's the inventing dance sequences that really put this one over the top. Dancing to a broken record, in a ship's engine room, on rollerskates, and then it dares go into creepy and surreal territory with its big contortionist ballet finale where Astaire dances with dozens of Gingers. No, no, you can't take that away from me...
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Siskoid
To me, one of the best Astaire and Rogers musicals has to be Shall We Dance, and it's right there in the title - it's mostly down to the dancing. Astaire plays Petrov, star of the ballet, but in his heart of hearts, he's just Pete Peters from Philly, and his passion is for tap. He falls for Ginger's Linda Keene from a photograph and endeavors to meet her, Ginger always amusing hard to impress in these things, and there's some fun to be had with misunderstandings caused by the two's managers trying to start rumors that the couple has been secretly married even though they've just now met one another. That's key. Instead of having Astaire play an insufferable cad as is usual (though he's still on the manipulative side), the plot's objectionable machinations are carried out by clowns in the background. That lets us root for the couple more. And while both Edward Everett Horton and Eric Blore are on-brand, which is to say they overplay everything, they get some pretty funny bits to play in this one. But back to the dancing. While the Gershwins' music is quite strong, and they come up with some songs that have stood the test of time ("Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" and "They Can't Take That Away From Me" in particular), it's the inventing dance sequences that really put this one over the top. Dancing to a broken record, in a ship's engine room, on rollerskates, and then it dares go into creepy and surreal territory with its big contortionist ballet finale where Astaire dances with dozens of Gingers. No, no, you can't take that away from me...duchin6
some great dancing yet again from Fred and Ginger.karic
Love all of the songs, so catchy! And it's always such a pleasure to watch Fred & Ginger doing their thing.DerekFME
Some good dance routines but felt overlong and underdirected. Top hat was better.BillieDove
Really, no list? I thought it was great!allisoncm
Nothing! vvvbrowniemcfi
Nothing beats a bit of Fred and Ginger!