Swing Time

While most of the films Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made together contained light humor, "Swing Time" is the only one that is outright hilarious. Of course it features sublime dancing and for my money, some of the greatest songs the duo (both able, but by no means great singers) ever got to sing. Just try and listen to "The Way You Look Tonight" and not fall in love with the melody, lyrics and mood it sets. The plot is typical nonsense, but the set pieces are incredible, the supporting cast is impeccable (I truly believe that is what sets this film and "Top Hat" apart from the duo's other films) and again, that music! Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields both had very nice careers, but never reached the level of stardom acheived by George Gershwin, Irving Berlin or Cole Porter, each of whom also contributed songs to an Astaire/Rogers film, but they simply cannot match the score Kern and Fields put together for this film. But getting back to the comedy; many of their movies featured humor revolving around a mistaken identity plot (the go-to comedic trope of 1930's comedies) and Astaire and Rogers each had decent comedic timing and banter (probably the result of their vaudevillian backgrounds which would have accounted for a well rounded theatrical education), but the jokes in this film are actually laugh out loud funny, mostly thanks to the strong supporting work of Victor Moore, Helen Broderick and Eric Blore. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers would ultimately make ten films together, but their absolute best work (not just my opinion, Rogers is on the record too) is "Swing Time".

As the film opens, Lucky Garnett is running very late to his wedding. While Astaire usually plays a confident hoofer in his movies, Lucky is fun because he is positively cocky. A born winner who gambles for a living and dances to pay the bills (an interesting twist, which the film employs several times throughout), he gets caught up in a game of craps and misses his wedding to rich socialite Margaret, whose father strongly disapproves of the union. When Lucky strolls in hours late, her father sees this as his opportunity to chew the young man out, and he does, along with the cat who hisses at him, the dog who barks, and the portrait on the wall that scowls. Ever the smooth talker, Lucky convinces the father and his fiancee that he was simply seeing to his latest business endeavor, and that he is going to New York to make $25,000, after which time he will return to marry Margaret. Ably dodging that bullet, Lucky and his good friend Pop sneak onto a train bound for New York, Lucky bringing nothing with him except the tuxedo he is wearing. For two con men like Lucky and Pop, that is hardly a problem. No sooner are they in New York, then Lucky has gotten himself and a pretty young lady an audition at a hot night spot. The pretty young lady is of course Ginger Rogers, playing the exasperated Penny, who in tow with her cynical friend Mabel, get caught up in the smooth charm of Lucky and the improbable charm of Pop.

After nearly costing Penny her job as dance instructor (Lucky bombs the lesson to keep talking to her, then turns it on when her imperious boss fires her, to the tune of "Pick Yourself Up"), he and Penny get the chance to audition at the club where Ricardo Romero and his orchestra are playing. "Ricky" is in love with Penny though and refuses to play for them, so Lucky and Pop take matters into their own hands and in a high stakes game of high card, win Romero's contract from shady nightclub owner Dice Raymond. Lucky and Penny are a huge success and are given top billing, but Lucky knows when he makes $25,000 he will be expected to go home and marry Margaret, so he keeps drawing out their engagements, as well as the blossoming romance between he and Penny. Penny perfectly sums up her frustration with the hot and cold Lucky in the song "A Fine Romance", which offers Rogers a rare opportunity to get some laughs at Astaire's expense. Everything falls apart though when Dice Raymond strong arms Pop into giving up the contract to Romero's orchestra, followed immediately by Margaret suddenly showing up in New York and walking in on him and Penny. This being a silly musical though, everything gets worked out: the contract ends up back in the hands of its original owner, who insists that Lucky and Penny dance together, and Margaret tells him she only came to New York to call the wedding off. The foursome now finally together, with no secrets between them, "Swing Time" ends, and the career of Astaire and Rogers, while still in tact for several more years, would only be going down from this point on. But remember "Swing Time" as the way they looked "that" night.