TOP HAT

RKO, 1935 | BLACK AND WHITE, 101 MINUTES

DIRECTOR: MARK SANDRICH PRODUCER: PANDRO S. BERMAN SCREENPLAY: DWIGHT TAYLOR AND ALLAN SCOTT SONGS: IRVING BERLIN CHOREOGRAPHERS: FRED ASTAIRE (UNCREDITED) AND HERMES PAN STARRING: FRED ASTAIRE (JERRY TRAVERS), GINGER ROGERS (DALE TREMONT), EDWARD EVERETT HORTON (HORACE HARDWICK), ALBERTO BEDDINI (ERIK RHODES), HELEN BRODERICK (MADGE HARDWICK), ERIC BLORE (BATES), LUCILLE BALL (FLOWER CLERK [UNCREDITED])

A dancer pursues a model who mistakes him for his none-too-bright producer.

Call him a founding father of the movie musical. Call her one of its most blithe spirits. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are the premiere couple in all of musical film. He was an artist and innovator, she an ideal partner, and their work together couldn’t be touched then, let alone now. Top Hat finds them at the apex of their art, and if that isn’t enough, there’s the glorious music of Irving Berlin as well.

They both had ambitious mothers and were in show business from early on. He danced with his sister Adele, she won Charleston contests, and both made it to Broadway. When Adele retired to get married, Fred went out as a single, by which time Ginger was in movies. By 1933, both were under contract to RKO and teamed as the second leads in Flying Down to Rio—his second film and her twenty-second. They clicked immediately and were promptly starred in The Gay Divorcée (1934), which cemented their partnership and established all its parameters. They would meet, he would chase her, and though not especially interested she would consent to dance with him. While comic supporting players ran interference, the roundelay—and the songs and dances—continued until, finally, they were together for good. This would be the template that saw them through nine films in seven years, plus a coda one decade later. Their off screen dynamics are well known: he was tightly focused on dance while she was an all-around talent; he was a driven perfectionist and she sought validation outside the musical realm; they were both strong-willed and resisted the notion that they were “paired,” yet were so good together that their partnership had to continue.