Edgar Allan Pooh
. . . during SWING TIME, he knocks her down three times. Later, during Fred's infamous White Men Can't Dance number, a trio of Black Shadows behind a scrim seem to be Out-Hoofing him. But during a week in which a couple of America's Most Beloved 90-something gentlemen have passed away, seeing a guy Born Old--such as Fred--taking so many falls in SWING TIME sort of puts a lump in your throat. (Specifically, the USA's original "Help, I've fallen in my bathtub and can't get up!" role model--John Glenn--and the Heimlich maneuver dude, who choked to death a few days after Mr. Glenn expired.) One of the Housewives of New Jersey--Arlene--just turned 114, and she's been a widow for 54 years. Another widow, an Italian named Emma, had 117 candles on her birthday cake last summer, and is the only person still alive on Earth who was born in the 1800s (just think of the pressure on HER!). It's kind of sad to think of ladies such as Arlene, Emma and Ginger being left alone for so long, which helps to make SWING TIME so poignant despite all of Fred's pratfalls. Oscar Hammerstein once wrote "What's the Use of Wond'ring If the Ending Will Be Sad?" because it always is.
dougdoepke
No need to recap the plot or echo the excellence of the dance numbers. Several side aspects also impressed me about the movie. Catch the great art and set decoration that complement the dance step artistry. True, later "pig pen" musicals like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" (1954) showed that choreography can be great whatever the background. But here the majestically spacious sets showcase the stylish numbers and costuming. And how the heck did they do the three big shadows that Lucky (Astaire) supposedly casts in his blackface number. I'm thinking they must have been special effects since the steps are so perfectly synchronized. Anyway, it's like nothing else I've seen. Then too, Astaire really is a fine actor as well as dancer. He's lively without stretching it. Too often his talent in that regard is overlooked. Frankly, I could have used more "tripping the light fantastic" and less storyline, but the result remains a classic for eyes and ears, even 8-decades later.
jc-osms
Absolutely delightful Astaire and Rogers musical, which finds them at their peak both commercially and artistically . Snappily and often cleverly directed by George Stevens, it additionally benefits from its characterful supporting cast and excellent set design, from the exquisite ballroom interiors to the "exterior" snowbound scenes.The music too is first rate with lovely Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields songs like "Pick Yourself Up", "Never Gonna Dance" and especially "The Way You Look Tonight", this latter, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful love songs ever.The plot is the usual Fred meets Ginger, Fred chases Ginger, Fred loses Ginger before Fred gets Ginger again just in time for the end, Fred this time cast as a professional gambler who's a hoofer on the side while Ginger's a young dance instructor whom he first meets when they squabble over a quarter. Their dance numbers together are fantastic, such beautiful story-telling in each choreography. While I get and appreciate Fred's sincere solo tribute to the great black dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, with Astaire dancing along spectacularly to three inflated silhouettes of himself, the staging now seems very anachronistic, compounded by his doing so in "black-face".There's plenty of humour around too, which has dated surprisingly well even if some of the plot devices centring on of all things trouser-cuffs (or turn-ups as we call them here) and a stereotypical Latino love rival for Rogers' affections are a bit hackneyed. Nevertheless, it's still a vibrant and vivacious, indeed, classic Astaire-Rogers vehicle, a pleasure to watch.
Michael Thompson
Where would we be without them ? No I'm not talking about Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. I'm not even talking about the Hollywood musical.What I'm talking about are the Great American Songwriters, Composers, and Lyricists in the 30's and 40's who created the Hollywood musical and who in turn gave jobs to musicians, dancers, orchestra leaders, and singers.Yet how little these creative men and woman are known, or even mentioned today, ?, rarely if at all is the answer to that question.We can thank Composer Jerome Kern for writing not only the music in Swing Time, but also for writing countless melodies that we know today, and with various lyricists.On Swing Time, Mr Kern's lyricist was Dorothy Fields. Miss Fields wrote, "pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again, Mr Kern wrote the bouncy playful melody.I have been an enthusiast of American's great songwriters of the 20's 30's and 40's all my life, their creative genius has given me an interest and much joy.So when people go to see a musical written in the past, they should remember that the musical they have just enjoyed the songs of, had to be composed first, then words had to be written.Swing Time had music Jerome Kern and lyrics by Dorothy Fields.And the other writers for Astaire and Rodgers musicals were Cole Porter music and lyrics. Irving Berlin music and lyrics. And George Gershwin music, with brother Ira writing the lyrics.So, in this review I am paying not only a tribute to Mr Astaire and Miss Rogers, I am also paying a tribute to Mr Jerome Kern who penned thousand of songs with different lyric writers during his life, including Swing Time.And I'm paying an equally tribute to Miss Dorothy Fields who also wrote her streetwise lyrics with various composers through her lifetime, including Swing Time.It all boils down to this.The audiences of the 30's and 40's were more mature and sophisticated than today's audiences because they had to be having just come through the second World War.Todays audience is largely immature and childish because they do not have the same struggles, and today's so-called music reflects this.
AD
