So much has already been written about the famous Astaire / Rogers movie couplings that I'll be brief and limit this review to notes which I can edit later to a more rounded overview at a later time. However, having just re-watched the picture after a gap of around ten years does help to make certain features stand out quite clearly, so here goes.
This is a formula picture; an unashamed vehicle for Astaire and Rogers. It is fluffy, lighthearted and short on characterisation. In-between the dance numbers, the pacing is slow and the storyline is trivial, with many of the gags coming across as bad high school pranks to modern audiences. But that is only half the story, because the film celebrates its 70th birthday this year, so we can forgive an awful lot -- indeed, while there is still a massive audience for mindless TV soaps around the world, we can forgive this RKO hit for literally everything, because its strengths far outweigh any of its weaknesses. Besides, along with the other eight Astaire/Rogers 1930s formula musicals, this is a vitally important film for the study of the musical film genre.
What is interesting is the use of cross cutting to single (or at least minimal) shot scenes that advance the story for each character - this is most evident on the sequences in the middle of the picture when they are all on board the ship crossing from Paris to New York. This pre-curses the style that soaps are shot in today, and is worth showing to film and drama students as an early development of the soap genre.
It has to be said that Ginger Rogers really does look bored during this picture, (legend has it that she really WAS bored by this time) except when she's dancing - and it has always been said that Ginger was a far lesser dancer than Fred. The difference in ability is very clear to see in this picture, and interestingly, Fred does a whole lot more hoofing than Ginger on this picture.
On the dance angle, there's an interesting mix of ballet and jazz - and this is the feature that perhaps makes this movie stand out from the other Astaire Rogers combos. It is also a feature that makes this film interesting for students of media history.
This is a backstage musical, and the "show within a show" theme here is strong, even if we do see more action on board the liner than behind the flats. The plot structure is very well crafted - structure being a very different issue from both pacing and story-line. So when we get the "Shall We Dance" show, (where all those Ginger look-a-likes appear), we do actually get to see some ballet. This pre-dates Powell and Pressburger's British post war picture, "The Red Shoes", (photographed in Technicolor by Jack Cardiff) by over ten years. This is more important than it may at first appear:
"The Red Shoes" was a surprise hit, in that the conventional wisdom of the time (aka the Moguls of Hollywood) said that a filmed 22 minute ballet sequence on film sans dialogue would send audiences to sleep and kill the box office. But the audiences loved it! So MGM responded with Gene Kelly dancing his way through "Singin' in the Rain" in 1952. And without THAT motion picture, we would be missing one of the Top Ten Movies of all time.
Ginger really comes to life toward the end of the movie, with a tantalisingly-short, yet superb, dance sequence, where she literally throws herself at Fred. Of special note here is the remarkable dolly-in shot that pre-shaddows "Singin' in the Rain" by around 15 years. Which again shows that motion picture making, like any activity in life, builds upon prior experience - it is not just down to genius. It is for that very reason that I encourage students to take history seriously.
Right then; we've not mentioned the George Gershwin score, which is right up there, as you would expect on an Astaire/Rogers vehicle. These, remember are the two BIG musical stars of the period. which brings us to wardrobe -- Ginger's wardrobe, since that was the only one that remotely mattered -- to Ginger and her mother, at any rate! Ginger is ALWAYS the star, and "Shall We Dance" reveals at least two of Ginger's best ever costumes -- two bold black and white florals -- watch her dress, not her feet in the roller-skate sequence -- and that black dress for "Shall We Dance" is just, well, a way-out classic!
Modern audiences might be a bit confused over the "shocking" bedroom talk - just remember the Hayes Code was in full force, and hard as it may be to believe, the film flies right on the edge of the Code right as it is! One of the rules was the 5-second limit on screen snoggs. Astaire and Rogers didn't have anything to worry about there, however: despite the audiences of the '30s desperately waiting for that magic moment, it never was to come: in all their movies together, Fred and Ginger never did kiss on screen!
This is a formula picture; an unashamed vehicle for Astaire and Rogers. It is fluffy, lighthearted and short on characterisation. In-between the dance numbers, the pacing is slow and the storyline is trivial, with many of the gags coming across as bad high school pranks to modern audiences. But that is only half the story, because the film celebrates its 70th birthday this year, so we can forgive an awful lot -- indeed, while there is still a massive audience for mindless TV soaps around the world, we can forgive this RKO hit for literally everything, because its strengths far outweigh any of its weaknesses. Besides, along with the other eight Astaire/Rogers 1930s formula musicals, this is a vitally important film for the study of the musical film genre.
What is interesting is the use of cross cutting to single (or at least minimal) shot scenes that advance the story for each character - this is most evident on the sequences in the middle of the picture when they are all on board the ship crossing from Paris to New York. This pre-curses the style that soaps are shot in today, and is worth showing to film and drama students as an early development of the soap genre.
It has to be said that Ginger Rogers really does look bored during this picture, (legend has it that she really WAS bored by this time) except when she's dancing - and it has always been said that Ginger was a far lesser dancer than Fred. The difference in ability is very clear to see in this picture, and interestingly, Fred does a whole lot more hoofing than Ginger on this picture.
On the dance angle, there's an interesting mix of ballet and jazz - and this is the feature that perhaps makes this movie stand out from the other Astaire Rogers combos. It is also a feature that makes this film interesting for students of media history.
This is a backstage musical, and the "show within a show" theme here is strong, even if we do see more action on board the liner than behind the flats. The plot structure is very well crafted - structure being a very different issue from both pacing and story-line. So when we get the "Shall We Dance" show, (where all those Ginger look-a-likes appear), we do actually get to see some ballet. This pre-dates Powell and Pressburger's British post war picture, "The Red Shoes", (photographed in Technicolor by Jack Cardiff) by over ten years. This is more important than it may at first appear:
"The Red Shoes" was a surprise hit, in that the conventional wisdom of the time (aka the Moguls of Hollywood) said that a filmed 22 minute ballet sequence on film sans dialogue would send audiences to sleep and kill the box office. But the audiences loved it! So MGM responded with Gene Kelly dancing his way through "Singin' in the Rain" in 1952. And without THAT motion picture, we would be missing one of the Top Ten Movies of all time.
Ginger really comes to life toward the end of the movie, with a tantalisingly-short, yet superb, dance sequence, where she literally throws herself at Fred. Of special note here is the remarkable dolly-in shot that pre-shaddows "Singin' in the Rain" by around 15 years. Which again shows that motion picture making, like any activity in life, builds upon prior experience - it is not just down to genius. It is for that very reason that I encourage students to take history seriously.
Right then; we've not mentioned the George Gershwin score, which is right up there, as you would expect on an Astaire/Rogers vehicle. These, remember are the two BIG musical stars of the period. which brings us to wardrobe -- Ginger's wardrobe, since that was the only one that remotely mattered -- to Ginger and her mother, at any rate! Ginger is ALWAYS the star, and "Shall We Dance" reveals at least two of Ginger's best ever costumes -- two bold black and white florals -- watch her dress, not her feet in the roller-skate sequence -- and that black dress for "Shall We Dance" is just, well, a way-out classic!
Modern audiences might be a bit confused over the "shocking" bedroom talk - just remember the Hayes Code was in full force, and hard as it may be to believe, the film flies right on the edge of the Code right as it is! One of the rules was the 5-second limit on screen snoggs. Astaire and Rogers didn't have anything to worry about there, however: despite the audiences of the '30s desperately waiting for that magic moment, it never was to come: in all their movies together, Fred and Ginger never did kiss on screen!