Top Hat

To describe classic 1930’s cinema, one would have to include a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing number.  Top Hat is one of their iconic classics, the first created exclusively to feature this pair.  With catchy musical numbers, great use of Astaire’s fast feet and comedic plot based on mistaken identities, Top Hat is a film to relax to with a dopey grin spread across your face.  For me, it’s nearly a guilty pleasure.

In London, Jerry Travers (Fred Astaire) is the lead in the latest stage production by Horace Hardwick (Edward Everett Horton).  Late one night at the hotel, Jerry gets a fit of restless feet and his conversation with Horace turns into a tap number.  Just below him is Dale Tremont (Ginger Rogers), who complains about the noise going on.  Learning that the noise is coming from Mr. Hardwick’s room, she storms upstairs to confront the noise only to meet Jerry.  The two are instantly attracted to each other, but no introductions are made.  Though Dale does not immediately welcome Jerry’s advances, including filling her room with flowers, they do spark a bit of romance.  But when she incorrectly conceives that Jerry is Horace, and worse, he is married, she leaves with her dress maker Alberto (Erik Rhodes) to Venice.  There she meets up with Madge (Helen Broderick), Horace’s wife, and they talk about the advances Dale thinks Horace is making.  When the men, back in London, learn that Dale is in Venice, they fly after her and meet up with Madge as well.  As Jerry continues his pursuit, Horace feels the wrath of his wife, confusing the men even further and driving Dale into a quick marriage.

The set that is supposed to be Venice, with pristine canals and bridges, undoubtedly earned Top Hat its Art Direction nomination.  Of course, this is only a large sound stage and to believe that this is any part of Venice, one must a very strong suspension of disbelief.  It looks more like these clapboard gondolas are gliding through Disney Land’s It’s A Small World than any real canal.  However, that is not a bad thing.  Imagine how out of place Astaire and Rogers might look really dancing in Venice.  These iconic stars, in their tails and elegant feather dress, look their best in completely synthetic surroundings.  All those white structures were built just to help them pop off the screen more.  In fact, the canal water was dyed black to gain more contrast.

Honestly, the plot is a little silly, and the sets look really fake, but we are not supposed to mind.  As long as we are watching comedic mishaps based on Dale mistaking Jerry for Horace, we should be rolling with it, grinning and enjoying the musical numbers.  The point is to keep the men confused in their pursuit and the women conniving until things start to resolve to the ideal ending.  The film does just that while showing off Fred’s fast feet and pairing him up perfectly with Ginger.

“In dealing with a girl or horse, one just lets nature take its course.”

The Gay Divorcee

At first glance, I expected this film to just be an excuse for excessive song and dance numbers.  It is, but that’s not the point.   The point is, I was surprised to find the whole thing very delightful.

First, we meet Guy Holden (Fred Astaire), an American dancer with the capability to burst into song and dance at any moment.  Did dancers really wear tap-shoes out to dinner?  You know, just in case.  Anyway, in that first scene, Guy and his pal Egbert (Edward Everett Horton) are out to dinner in Paris and they’ve forgotten their wallets.  Egbert’s afraid they’ll have to work the meal off by doing dishes (the horror!) so he gets Guy to dance for their dinner.  When the tap number is nearly over, Egbert finds that his wallet was in his coat the entire time.  What a riot!

Alright, laugh it up.  That scene pretty much sets the tone for the whole film: a convoluted song and dance over a slight mix up.  But you know what’s funny?  It is funny!  Every line is delivered with perfect timing, perfect tone and facial expressions that never miss a beat.  The whole film (except for the Lets Knock Knees song) keeps this zany, mixed up comedy that can keep a beat.

So let’s get to the meat of the story.  Guy happens upon Mimi Glossop (Ginger Rogers) in a bit of a pickle, her dress is caught in a locked suitcase.  I guess it’s love at first sight and though Mimi is obviously not interested, Guy decides to comb the city for her.  Luckily, they get into a minor fender bender and she leads him on a little car chase out in the country.  Guy corners Mimi and confesses his love, but Mimi speeds off only leaving him with her name.  Sounds like he’s not getting anywhere, huh?

Mimi has her reasons for speeding off; she’s married.  But it’s an unhappy marriage where she hardly ever sees her husband.  So with the help of her Aunt Hortense (Alice Brady), they hatch a scheme to give the husband cause to divorce Mimi.  They hire an Italian correspondent to make it look like Mimi has been unfaithful, but with a little mix up, Mimi thinks the correspondent is Guy.

Along the way there’s plenty of singing, dancing, jokes and quirky lines that just roll off the actors with ease.  The waiter (Eric Blore) is the best kooky side character I’ve ever seen, I smiled every time he did and laughed at half his lines.  Now, I realize this film may seem like a stretch for most modern viewers, but it’s a lot more fun than you’d expect.  And if I had to be brutally honest, It Happened One Night didn’t live up to my expectations, whereas The Gay Divorcee exceeded them by miles.

“I wonder why he preferred to hunt elephants when he could have married me!”

Stage Door

A boarding house is full of young actresses hoping to be discovered on Broadway.  Daily they talk of the rehearsals they were in, the parts they lost and nearly got not with jaded pessimism, but sarcastic hope.  When Terry Randall (Katharine Hepburn) walks in looking very high class with too much luggage and seeking accommodations, the girls push her away as an outsider and a threat.  What’s a rich girl with such a big wardrobe doing in a dump like this?  It seems that Terry wants to break into the business on her own, not with her family’s high class influence.

Among the countless girls in the boarding house are Jean (Ginger Rogers) and Kay (Andrea Leeds).  Jean, a smart mouthed blond, gets Terry as a new roommate and through her meets Powell, am important producer of plays.  Kay is desperate for a part, she’s behind on her rent and on the edge of being kicked out of the boarding house.  When Terry lands the leading role in Powell’s newest play, it tears Kay up inside and drives her to desperate measures.

The thing about Terry is she is not a good actress until tragedy strikes and she finds herself to blame.  Only until then is she able to pull from her own raw emotions and bring beauty to the stage.  That concept makes the film all the more enjoyable.

In the boarding house, there is safety in numbers and confidence knowing you’re not alone.  Together these girls can confide in each other, share their disappointments and build each other up.  They find courage and a shield from their failures in sarcasm; nearly every girl in that house is a fluent in it.  All that is wonderful, but it creates a lot of talk and not much action.  In some scenes, the girls all talk back and forth so fast with hidden jokes in the conversation it feels like an episode of Gilmore Girls, only with purpose and classic style.

Really, Stage Door is just an alright film about the odds against becoming a successful performer uplifted by the way the girls pull together.  The massive amounts of chatter start to drone towards the middle, suddenly everyone is upset and there’s a teary end.  Maybe if you enjoy girlpower/girltalk chick flicks this could really appeal to you, otherwise all those hens clucking could give you a headache.

“When I get back to my room, you’re the only thing I want to find missing.”

Kitty Foyle

Stand back everyone, here comes the chick flick for 1940.  Ever known a girl who believed in fairy tales, dreamed of going to fancy balls and couldn’t decide on one guy?  Well that’s Kitty Foyle.

You see, she’s just been proposed to by two men on the same night.  One, a doctor she’s been dating for a while, the other, her ex-husband from Philadelphia who she hasn’t talked to in years.  She has to decide, which man she will meet at midnight.  As she’s packing, her reflection tells the story of her life and we’re transported there with the shake of an old snow globe.

We meet Kitty (Ginger Rogers) as just a teenager, gawking at the high class in their fancy gowns going into the Assembly.  We watch her grow, meet Wyn, and foolish love is gushed all over the black and white.  Things go off and on with Wyn, and Kitty meets a doctor too.  But his dates are boring, they just stay in and play cards all night.  Why would a girl be with such a boring doctor?  In fact, she stands him up for a date when she arrives to her apartment filled with flowers and Wyn brings her a shiny dress so they can have their own private ball.  Isn’t that what a girl’s dreams are made of?

The Cinderella motif is taken so strongly, Wyn takes her out on the town in a shiny gown with their personal orchestra in tow.  How can anyone with a trace of estrogen turn down a proposal after that?  So they’re married, only for Kitty to realize that there are certain expectations that come with marrying a “prince.”

The modern woman in this film had just earned her right to vote.  She slips into speakeasies with her guy and has a good job at a typewriter like a good little girl.   It feels like Kitty is single handedly destroying all this wonderful progress!  I’m sorry, this plot sounds like the puke dripping out of a trashy romance novel.  But some chicks eat it up like chocolate, and they’ll probably love it.

I’ve just made a new rule: If at any point in any film (or real life for that matter) anyone says, “I’m a big girl now,” they cannot be taken seriously as an adult.  Kitty is not a big girl now and won’t be unless she makes a wise decision for once.

If you love romance and fairy tales and tales of women being so overly ….womanish, watch Kitty Foyle.  I don’t mean to make fun of it, but this could be the best girls-night-in movie ever.  It’s just not my style, though.  So really, get some chocolate, paint each other’s toe nails and watch Kitty Foyle and let me know how girls’ night went.  I need to go watch some football or punch something…