Fred Astaire is the king of cinematic dance. No one is even close. Iāve loved watching him dance all my life, though the movies he danced in didnāt always live up to his talents. But his finest are the cream of film musicals. Astaire is best known for his paring with Ginger Rogers. They made ten films together and changed the nature of dance on film. The top Astaire/Rogers films sparkled on three fronts: musical numbers, comedy, and a fantastical world. All three were very important to depression era audiences. Great dancing was always present in any Astaire film, but the comedy could be uneven. Strangely, it was neither of those, but the world building that split off the early films. In those, the two danced not in our world, but in an art deco paradise, beautiful and immaculate far beyond the dreams of reality. The lesser of the ten, such as The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939) and The Barkleys of Broadway (1949) still had a Hollywood version of reality, but it wasnāt the marble dream of Top Hat and Shall We Dance.
Outside of the paring, Astaire had numerous great film dances, but few of the total films worked (and a few were horrible, such as the miserable Finian’s Rainbow–shocking not only because Astaire couldnāt save it, but because the Broadway show is quite good with several excellent songs). In later life he had a few non-dancing rolesāsome worked; some didnāt.
Honorable mentions go to The Towering Inferno (1974) for being exactly what one would hope it would be, The Band Wagon (1953), which fails as a film but succeeds as a series of fantastic dance numbers, and the magnificent āLet’s Face the Music and Danceā that ends the weak Follow the Fleet.
Starting at #8:
8 – Flying Down to Rio (1933) – The first pairing of Astaire and Rogers, though not as the leads. It was intended as a vehicle for breathtaking Mexican actress Dolores del Rio and sheās good, but the pair steal the film. Beyond the music, thereās the exquisite and totally unreal world. Brazil never looked like this but I wish it did. This is a pre-code film; jokes about rounded heels (look it up) and what South American women have thatās better below the equator would have been censored a few years later. Likewise the transparent tops of the female wing-walkers.
7 – Silk Stockings (1957) – An unnecessary musical remake of Ninotchka, with a weak Cole Porter score (of note: a weak Cold Porter score is better than most composer’s best score). Cyd Charisse is wonderful in the dances and the sidekicks are all amusing.
6 – Swing Time (1936) – The 6th Astaire/Rogers film, it has some of the best dance numbers, but with a weaker script than their earlier films. The humor fails and the world is not as magical, none of which matters when Astaire sings āThe Way You Look Tonight.ā
5 – On the Beach (1959) – A fable of the best in humanity after the results of the worst, this post-apocalyptic anti-nuke story is moving and engrossing. Gregory Peck is the star with Astaire taking on a non-dancing role as a doctor and race car driver as the world dies. (Full Review)
4 – Shall We Dance (1937) – Another Astaire/Rogers, with another assist from the always good Edward Everett Horton and Eric Blore. I find this to be the funniest Astaire film with Astaire playing a jazz dancer whose made it in ballet so must put on a persona of an arrogant Russian. The songs are solid, with āThey Can’t Take That Away from Meā the standout.
3 – Holiday Inn (1942) – Astaire gets to play the bad guy, messing up Bing Crosbyās love life. This is a perfect holiday movie for pretty much every holiday as it has songs for New Years, Valentineās Day, Easter, the 4th of July, and Washingtonās Birthday, though the black face Lincolnās Birthday number might be a hard sell. It also includes the song āWhite Christmasā and it was from this filmās re-recorded sound track that it became a hit. (Full Review) [Also on theĀ Bing Crosby list]
2 – The Gay Divorcee (1934) – The 2nd Astaire/Rogers film, and the first with them as leads, this one has Rogers attempting to get a divorce from her absent husband and mistaking Astaire as the gigolo she planned to use for cause. Horton and Blore appear again.
1 – Top Hat (1935) – The 4th Astaire/Rogers picture and theyād perfected the routine. The jokes are solid and the fantasy world of shining marble is wondrous and where I want to live (much less depression era audiences). And of course the dance numbers are fantastic. Rogers falls for a very forward Astaire until she incorrectly deduces that heās the husband of her good friend. Horton, Blore, and Helen Broderick add to the comedy.