Swing Time

Starring: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Victor Moore, Helen Broderick, Eric Blore, Betty Furness
Directed by: George Stevens
Rating: Not rated
Genre: Comedy Musical, Romance
1936

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A gambler (Fred Astaire) comes to New York City to win enough money to marry his fiancee. However, he soon connects with a beautiful dancer (Ginger Rogers)

Review:

Tim: Swing Time is the first Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers movie I'd ever seen. It's one of the most classic films, having 1 Academy Award and earned a place on the American Film Institute's 100 Movies list (the 10 year anniversary list). I thought the movie was... good. That's a bit of a letdown, but it's how I felt. I enjoyed the movie, it was solidly made. However, I didn't see what was so special about it. It felt similar to many other movies from this era. I liked it, but I was underwhelmed.

My biggest problem with the film is the script. The plot is uninspired. It felt so generic, so expected. There isn't a single moment that is surprising. The plot follows a color-by-number scheme. That's the thing that I cannot get over. I'll talk about the dancing in a minute, but I need to criticize the plot. We have a gambler and talented dancer named Lucky. He and his buddy are in New York City because he needs to make $25 grand so he can marry his fiancee. Almost immediately upon entering the city, he meets Penny and falls for her. Through a fairly absurd coincidence, they become dance partners. They experience a series of ups and downs, do some dancing, and blah blah blah. It felt like such a basic plot. There's not much character exploration. There doesn't seem to be any deeper elements to the film. It's a musical romance that never drops below the surface level. The plot and the characters and utterly forgettable. There's nothing broken with this movie, but I have a hard time seeing how this could be considered a great film, let alone one of the all-time classics. I just didn't see it.

Now, while the plot is fairly basic, the dance numbers are certainly superb. Despite being a bit of an illogical sequence, the dance class scene with Astaire and Rogers was the highlight of the film for me. It's a fantastic showcase of their talent and chemistry. It's funny and physically impressive. It was great fun to watch. That scene was excellent- it's just too bad the rest of the film isn't as good. The other dances are excellent as well. I'm no expert in dance (can't do it myself, of course), but they are impressive sequences. Some of the steps build from the earlier scene, which adds to the richness of the film. It's funny, this film is regarded as perhaps the greatest dance musical of all time, yet it didn't win the Academy Award for Best Dance Direction (a category I just learned about). It just seems odd.

In addition to the great dance numbers, the music is strong, too. The film did win the Academy Award for Best Original Song, for "The Way You Look Tonight". It's a solid song and definitely award worthy. While I was critical about the plot, this movie is definitely a cut above when it comes to music and dance. From a technical standpoint, this movie is quite good. It's not enough to overcome the plot issues, but it helps elevate this movie.

I have to say, I wasn't wowed by Fred Astaire in this film. Admittedly, this is only the third film of his I've seen. I really enjoyed him in Holiday Inn (although that movie felt overrated to me) and his Oscar-nominated latter career turn in The Towering Inferno. So, I'm no Astaire expert. However, I just didn't enjoy his performance here. His role of Lucky felt too smarmy to me. He was a selfish character, which is fine- but it requires the actor to find another way to connect with the audience, to give them a reason to care. Astaire never did that here. I didn't care about his character, I wasn't invested in how his story would turn out. That's a direct result of his performance. Don't get me wrong, he's not bad in the role. But, it's not a performance that did anything for me. Ginger Rogers fared slightly better. While I don't think her performance was especially memorable, she was able to connect with the audience. You liked her fire, her spirit. She's an incredible dancer and came across as more relatable. I definitely preferred Rogers to Astaire in this film.

Victor Moore added a great supporting performance. He played the "best friend" so well and elicited a number of laughs throughout the film. He came across as genuine and someone you could like. He was quite strong her. Helen Broderick was very strong in a similar role to Moore's. She played "the friend" well and it was fun seeing her and Moore get to act together.

Look, I liked Swing Time. The music and the dance sequences are impressive. This is a good movie. However, based on the little I've read, I think it's an overrated movie. I've been stunned by dance musicals before (I loved Singin' in the Rain), but I couldn't get too excited about this one.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



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