movie film review | chris tookey
 
     
     
 

Top Hat


© RKO Radio Pictures Inc. - all rights reserved
     
  Top Hat Review
Tookey's Rating
10 /10
 
Average Rating
9.68 /10
 
Starring
Fred Astaire , Ginger Rogers , Edward Everett Horton
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Directed by: Mark Sandrich
Written by: Dwight Taylor, Allan Scott from Taylor and Cole Porter's musical The Gay Divorcee and Alexander Farago and Aladar Laszlo's play The Girl Who Dared

 
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Trailer
Cast
 
 
Released: 1935
   
Genre: MUSICAL
ROMANCE
COMEDY
   
Origin: US
   
Colour: BW
   
Length: 100
 
 


 

An American dancer (Fred Astaire) falls for a young woman (Ginger Rogers), but their romance does not run smoothly.

Reviewed by Chris Tookey


Astaire and Rogers had already made three films together, but this is the first to be designed around them. She supplies a Broadway-style drive which perfectly balances his more English diffidence. Despite a corny, far-fetched plot, there's a good deal of humour which can still raise a smile; the sets are classics of Art Deco design; and Irving Berlin's songs combine lyrical simplicity, melodic beauty and structural ingenuity (Cheek To Cheek has one of the longest verses in the history of popular music). Above all, Astaire's dancing, acting and singing reveal a grace, originality and charm which - decades later - still make him look a performer of unique, miraculous talent. Oscar-nominated for Best Art Direction (Carroll Clark, Van Nest Polglase), Best Choreography (Hermes Pan), and Best Song for Cheek to Cheek.

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