Top Hat
by Lloyd French, Mark Sandrich
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DVD details
Actor: Arline Dinitz, Bob Hope, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Nell O'DayDirector: Lloyd French, Mark Sandrich
Writer: Aladar Laszlo
Writer: Allan Scott
Writer: Dolph Singer
Writer: Dwight Taylor
Writer: Jack Henley
Writer: K?roly N?ti
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Italian (Original Language); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD-Video, NTSC, Original recording remastered, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 100 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-08-16
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Turner Home Ent
DVD Reviews of Top Hat
DVD Review: Putting on the Ritz to Irving Berlin tunes
Summary: 4 Stars
To get the picture of why this movie was such a hit , you have to realize that 1935 was the height of the depression in America.
Here we have a picture of a life of extreme ( almost heaven like)
living by a beautiful couple who sing and dance.
Fred Astaire was one of the first musical superstars in the movies.
Some of his stomping steps are more Spanish than anything,
but he was popular for his singing as well.
Ginger Rogers was the perfectly beautiful blond bomb shell who could dance.
The acting wasn't really much, but we don't expect it to be.
Rich people hiring airplanes to fly down to the Italian Rivera
and staying in hotels
that remind one of Roman palaces?
The result is still fantastic 80 years later!
DVD Review: Top Notch
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a brilliant film. It starts right out of the blocks, with Fred's tap barrages disturbing Ginger's sleep...and logically moves into the great comedy of the buggy scene...and the thrill of the pavilion dance in the rain. The first 25 minutes are beyond the pale of criticism...It is PERFECT....and it's pretty rare to employ that word.
I think it drags just a little in the middle...until the climax of the great, evocative, and extremely graceful "Cheek to Cheek" song and dance. Punctuated by Fred getting slapped.
As their first original script for them, it's an example of the "integrated" musical. But what is interesting still today, is that it is not overly integrated. There's something lost, imho, when too much integration makes the numbers too flat with the plot...so there is no anticipation, and no high points, no low points...making the plot dominate over the brilliance, and often..as in the film...the incredible nuance of their dancing...supported by one of the greatest music scores of all time, by Irving Berlin.
The end of the film is also quite rightly capped by a brilliant dance of joy and celebration..."The Piccolino". It just doesn't get any better than this...at least until "Let's Face the Music and Dance"...and of course, the even greater...to many viewers..."Swing Time".
Generations of audiences, way into the far future, will be delighted with the sparkling intelligence that went into the creation of this timeless film.
DVD Review: One of the screen's all time great musicals.
Summary: 5 Stars
If you ever need to see a movie that picks you up when you are down, you can never go wrong with a movie starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The joyful "Top Hat" is one of their very best.
Fred is a famous American tap dancer, Jerry. At a hotel in London, his room is located above that of Dale(played by Ginger), an American fashion model. When he dances the song "No Strings" in the middle of the night, she goes upstairs to complain. He knows right away that he likes her.
When she goes back down to her room, he puts sand on the floor, and dances a soft shoe. This puts her to sleep, the first of many charming scenes.
Dale is interested in Jerry, too. But when Dale mistakes Jerry for the husband of her friend, Madge(Helen Broderick), she thinks he's a cheating playboy. Madge's husband Horace (Edward Everett Horton) just happens to be a friend of Jerry's.
Dale decides to run off with the fashion designer Alberto (Erik Rhodes) and marry him in Venice. When Jerry realizes the misunderstading, he must get to Venice to stop Dale from marrying a man she doesn't truly love. Fine support is provided by Eric Blore as Horace's right hand man, whose job it it is to follow Dale. Look fast for Lucille Ball as a flower shop clerk.
Director Mark Sandrich ("The Gay Divoree") keeps the witty script moving at a nice, fast pace. The whole look of the film, including an art deco Venice,is stunningly beautiful.
The best parts are, of course, the production numbers.They are choreographed by Hermes Pan, with the music by Irving Berlin.
The score is Berlin's best. "Cheek to Cheek" is one of Fred and Ginger's most romantic dances. "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails", with Fred mowing down his male backing chorus with his cane, is a delight. "Isn't It A Lovely Day To Be Caught In The Rain", a Fred and Ginger dance at a gazebo, is sweet. "The Piccolino",is sung by Ginger and she dances with Fred to it. This song was the last time Fred allowed a large scale production number in one of his movies. In the future, the focus would be on Fred and his partner, not dozens of dancers.
"Top Hat" was nominated for four Oscars, inclding Best Picture. It also turns up on many lists of great musicals.
The print of the film for this DVD is top notch. There is also an okay Bob Hope short and a cute cartoon called "Paging Miss Glory".
A new "making of" short about the movie is included. There is also a commentary track by Fred's daughter Ava and film historian Larry Billman, that is worth a listen ,if only once.
This DVD is worth the price.
DVD Review: Sophistication and gaiety in the Depression made us feel better. Might be time to watch this one again
Summary: 5 Stars
With the nation in the midst of economic ruin, who were better at lifting our spirits and making us smile? Why, Fred and Ginger, of course. I've got a feeling we'd better start watching their old movies again.
Is Top Hat better than Swing Time? People have been staking out their positions for years. Me, I think both represent the height of the Astaire-Rogers magic, all wrapped up in some of the greatest songs ever written for Hollywood movies and with incomparable choreography and dancing. So I just flip a coin to decide...but I make sure I always use the coin with a head on each side.
The story in Top Hat is inconsequential. It's all about Jerry Travers (Fred Astaire) an American dancing star in London who meets Dale Tremont (Ginger Rogers), the girl who charms him. It's love at first sight for Jerry, but not for Dale. There are misunderstandings, reconciliation, comedy relief and...well, who cares? The point is that in Top Hat both Astaire and Rogers have classic Astaire and Rogers characters to play, he classy and without a major worry in the world, she down to earth and a little hard to get. The plot is light, sophisticated and moves quickly. The comedy relief, provided by Eric Blore, Edward Everett Horton, Erik Rhodes and Helen Broderick, often is genuinely amusing ("We are Bates!") ("I will never allow women to wear my dresses again!") and doesn't become tiresome. The songs by Irving Berlin are among the best he ever wrote, and are so spotted within the movie that it seems we keep moving from exhilaration to exhilaration. That said, the point of an Astaire-Rogers film is the dancing, and then the way things happen through the dances and the songs...
"No Strings" introduces us to Jerry in one of those wonderful all white art deco hotel suites where sophisticated people hang out. He tells us in song just the kind of free-spirited guy he is..."no strings and no connections, no ties to my affections..." and then moves into a fast and complicated tap dance all over the room. Just watch how Astaire perfectly picks out a counter rhythm with hand slaps against a shelf while he taps.
"Isn't This a Lovely Day to Be Caught in the Rain" is a total charmer. In a gazebo, Jerry tries to woo Dale. After singing the song, he does a few steps and she, hands in her pockets in her riding breeches, surprises him by taking him on. A little challenge dance starts...and then we're off into one of those great wooing dances that only Astaire could create. The longer they dance the more we see how taken with each other they're becoming. They move from an easy-going beginning into a mutual and happy recognition that something serious may be happening. Then the rain and the thunder start and we're off again. When the dance is over we all know something seriously happy really has taken place. I think this number also is a fine example of how Berlin could craft a great song where the lyrics are so conversational it's too easy to overlook the skill he had in placing them into the music.
Isn't this a lovely day to be caught in the rain?
You were going on your way,
Now you've got to remain.
Just as you were going,
Leaving me all at sea,
The clouds broke, they broke,
And oh what a break for me.
I can see the sun up high,
Though we're caught in a storm.
I can see where you and I could be cozy and warm.
Let the rain pitter patter,
But it really doesn't matter
If the skies are grey.
Long as I can be with you,
It's a lovely day
"Top Hat, White Tie and Tails" is a classic Astaire stage number, a marvelous song impeccably delivered. Watch how he gives his head a little shake of sheer joi de vivre as he gives us that inimitable Astaire walk. Then it's on to all those 20 chorus boys in tuxes being mowed down by Astaire and his cane. The dance shifts from light to dark to light again. And watch how Astaire slows down the dancing and, unexpectedly, strikes several poses in silhouette. Great stuff.
"Cheek to Cheek" is simply, in my opinion, one of the finest love sequences set on film. Astaire sings the song, then the two of them launch into one of the great dance duets where the song, the dancers and the choreography come as close to romantic perfection as you're likely to see. Even the feathers on Rogers' gown cooperate.
"The Piccolino" is the big production closer, an attempt to match the craze the Carioca, in Flying Down to Rio, set off. For sheer Hollywood sound stage spectacle -- a Berlin hit song, at least 30 dancing couples, a singing chorus, gondolas on canals, a dish of veal that rhymes with piccolino, and everyone in gowns and tuxes -- it's hard to beat.
The Top Hat DVD looks first rate. There are several extras, including a commentary by Ava Astaire McKenzie, Astaire's daughter, and Larry Billman, identified as a film historian. Fans of Astaire will find invaluable Arlene Croce's The Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers Book and John Mueller's Astaire Dancing: The Musical Films.
DVD Review: Simply Wonderful
Summary: 4 Stars
I truly enjoyed this movie! I was utterly amazed by the dancing numbers. Brought back wonderful childhood memories. Great numbers! Thanks for all the reviews when I chose this movie. It was amazing!
Description of Top Hat
Perhaps the best remembered of the 10 Astaire/Rogers musicals, Top Hat has it all: Art Deco elegance, a wonderfully addled storyline, loopy support from skilled farceurs and the incomparable chemistry of the two leads cheek-to-cheeking to Irving Berlin's finest film score. It's a wake-up call for romance when Fred's exuberant No Strings dance in his hotel suite disturbs the sleeping beauty (Ginger) in the room below. They meet cute, Fred decides he'd like a few strings (preferably a tied knot) after all and love beckons until Ginger mistakenly gets the idea that Fred is a married playboy. But mistakes can be wonderfully, wackily resolved. Among the highlights: Fred mows down the chorus line in his signature Top Hat, White Tie and Tails, the shimmeringly dreamy Isn't It a Lovely Day (to Be Caught in the Rain)? and the rhapsodically tender Cheek to Cheek. Nominated for 4 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Top Hat is top-drawer entertainment magic.DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:Commentary by Fred Astaire?s Daughter Ava Astaire McKenzie and Film Dance Historian Larry Billman
Featurette:On Top: Inside the Success of Top Hat
Other:Comedy Short Watch the Birdie with Bob Hope, Classic Cartoon Page Miss Glory
Even the best Fred and Ginger musicals are merely lavish excuses for some of the most elegant dancing ever put on screen, and Top Hat is no exception. The story is a silly but timeless tale of mistaken identity that compounds itself to extremes. Fred Astaire is the famous American hoofer Jerry Travers, in London preparing for a new show with his befuddled producer Horace Hardwick (the always entertaining Edward Everett Horton) when he falls for Dale Tremont (Ginger Rogers), a lovely, wisecracking American girl as light on her feet as Jerry. Dale believes Jerry to be Horace, the husband of her best friend Madge (Helen Broderick) and rebuffs his advances by marrying her dressmaker Alberto (Erik Rhodes), but in the best tradition of musical comedy, true love finds its own way. Practically the entire cast of the 1934 hit The Gay Divorcee reunites for this frothy confection, along with director Mark Sandrich, designer Van Nest Polglase, and choreographer Hermes Pan. Irving Berlin provides a tuneful score, including "Cheek to Cheek," which provides a classic duet for Astaire and Rogers, and "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails," which remains one of Astaire's finest solo numbers. Polglase outdoes himself with sets both elegant and outrageous and Hermes Pan's choreography is as smooth as ever, but ultimately it's the grace and chemistry of the leads that makes Top Hat top entertainment. --Sean Axmaker
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