Swing Time 1936
I was happily surprised with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Top Hat and was looking forward to seeing them again in Swing Time which gets almost equal ratings. However, the writing in Swing Time pales compared to some of the sharp lines and better situational narrative of Top Hat. There are so many clumsy pieces of story at work, like they were pulled in from a separate movie. He’s a gambler, but you rarely see him gamble. He is poor and then suddenly he has a bunch of money. He falls in love with Rogers but for some reason puts her off because of the woman he is engaged to at the beginning of the movie. But we have no reason to think that relationship means anything and is obviously just a plot device anyway. In the end, Rogers is about to marry a guy she doesn’t even like, late to change her mind in favor of Astaire. None of that works very well. The dance numbers are supposed to be great, but I wasn’t that crazy about them (similar to Top Hat, I think Astaire’s flashiest work was solo). Astaire does a lot of tap, but the tap sounds are subdued here which hurts the effect. I did like the “Never Gonna Dance” number towards the end where Astaire wants to get back with Rogers, but she won’t have him (which, again, makes no sense). If you’re going to have a dance number that good, that should be enough to get Rogers back. Astaire does one unfortunate big number in black face using some kind of green screen (in a black and white movie, so I‘m not sure how that worked technically) where you can see through his hair. Maybe they didn’t have rear projection yet? The movie also features a great song written for this movie, the Oscar winning “The Way You Look Tonight,” but it is used a little too heavily as a theme, including for different songs.
Lastly, the version of the movie I saw on Movies Anywhere was supposedly in HD, but looked terrible with annoying grain, damage, missing frames, choppy editing, and a soundtrack with constant popping. There is a Criterion blu-ray that should have better results, but I can’t imagine I would ever get it and the movie was not available to stream on the Criterion Channel.
Written: 16 Jan 2022
Owned on: Digital