Swing Time

A decent enough musical but other than the appeal of the leads there's nothing much holding this together. The musical numbers are sparse and uneven and the story in between is enjoyable but very formulaic fluff.

This isn't my first Fred Astaire movie, but it is the first time I've seen him with Ginger Rogers. And they truly are magical together. Watching these two magnificent dancers glide around the floor is an ecstatic experience. And the songs ain't bad, either. As for the story, well, it's nothing you haven't seen before and predictable as hell. But it's done in a charming, light fashion... mostly good gags, and terrific chemistry.

Pretty dumb plot but because of Astaire it just works brilliantly. Fred Astaire's blackface dance was golden.

A totally delightful combination of whimsy and technique. More films should be like this, in many ways it's the essence of cinema.

fairly few instances of great dancing that impress, but nothing really detrimental either. has a couple great songs and some lackluster ones too, good thing the great ones are standards now. the plot and writing here are better...well at least more interesting that some of the other astaire movies i've seen.

The dance numbers and musical bits are entertaining and fun. The stuff in between ranges from funny to simply mediocre though. That's not saying the movie's bad, just that it's not flawless. It's certainly entertaining and worth seeing if you enjoy musical and dance movies.

I could grumble about the lack of plot and the fact that this hasn't really aged well -- oh, look, Fred and Ginger are dancing, and all is well with the world.

Very delightful. Rogers is adorable. She and Astaire are very cute together and their dancing, captured in long unbroken takes, astonish. A marvellous thing of grace and beauty.

The dances are outstanding and the chemistry between Astaire and Rogers is great, but large parts of the rest of the movie feel a little airless and mumbly. Some of the humor also didn't quite stand the test of time.

Even aside from all the more, ahem, problematic elements, i'm not sure how anyone could like this more than Top Hat. Apart from the dancing and the songs (which are very good), the rest feels altogether lazier and more thrown-together than it's predecessor (if Top Hat felt like it could have been written in an afternoon, this felt like it was written in an hour), with monotonous, draggy pacing between the dance numbers and humor that mostly falls completely flat. Maybe just not screwball enough?

A pair of dancing magicians on the silver screen.

Astaire and Rogers are charming as hell. The song & dance numbers are technically incredible yet seem so unforced and natural. It's also very funny, Victor Moore especially so. I didn't really appreciate getting smacked with a blackface scene halfway through, but the movie's good enough that I can overlook that.

The best Astair-Rogers dance-wise, if not plot wise.

The story is quite silly, but there are some good gags, like how the pets change their behavior when Lucky is in favor again. I wonder if the plot made more sense in 1936; were people so much different back then? Anyway, it's really all about the dancing, and that is just top notch. Also extremely stylish, most of the all the scene with the big shadows; even today it looks amazing.

The scenes in the snow made me want to love this movie, but it's got a heavy dose of corny humor, even for this period.

Dudes knows how to dance

There's poor acting, unfunny jokes, awkward pacing and a runtime that's 20 minutes too long. They ruined an otherwise phenomenal dance number with a repugnant use of blackface, not to mention that the only Latino character in the film is traded and bartered around by the other characters like common property. Fred and Ginger are magical and beautiful together and they deserve far more than to be stuck in a racist, horrible wreck of a film like this.

The dances are marvellous and on their own are enough to make the film worth watching, added to this the songs are quite lovely and the film is rather charming. But oh, the plotting! I know it's considered missing the point to complain about the story in a F+G musical but the film devotes so much time just to story and character development, instead of giving us another dance number, that I can't help but find it a bit frustrating when the story and character development is quite bad.

I loved the shit out of this. It was such a pleasant surprise to hear The Way You Look Tonight, which is probably my favourite song ever.

It's the origin of one of the greatest American standards. Nothing else about it is really relevant to me.

If you don't dance, no romance. Fred just became my hero.

If you watch this film, don't judge it by modern standards as you'll entirely miss the point. This is a charming piece showcasing the chemistry between Astaire and Rogers. The dancing is amazing (a tap danced waltz in hold standing out). However, the film is of its time and some may object to the black faced routine and lack of substantive plot. However, despite this there is a style and truth that still manages to shine through - well worth a watch.

541

Victor Moore's character is almost intolerable. Everything else is great.

My personal favorite George Stevens film. Then again, who could possibly screw up a Fred and Ginger musical?

The plot has shitloads of naive charm, if you can stomach that sort of thing. (Dorothy Parker wrote something about "naive" and "annoying" being forever synonyms to her, and I agree). Great dancing, and okay singing. Every flick like this should have a blackface sequence.

One of the nicer musicals, but nothing out of ordinary.

Charming film. I'm not fond of the long dance number in the middle, but the music is great. "The Way You Look Tonight" is a classic. Astaire and Rogers have a great chemistry although Astaires performance is quite flamboyant. Though Top Hat has a greater scale, this, in my oppinion, is the greater film.

Delightful movie, loses points for blackface and some dated humor.

The plot is horrible, but the dancing is delightful.

It's difficult to watch a film with an extended blackface sequence but it's pretty high quality stuff.

Fred Astaire's dancing pals take the phrase "bros before hoes" SO seriously that they ACTUALLY stop him from getting married. Just so they can have him to themselves.

Some pretty sweet dance numbers, but everything inbetween is nothing more than average. The number with Astaire dancing with four silhouettes ("Bojangles in Harlem," I had to look it up admittedly) behind him is amazing.

Just lovely, but for the unfortunate instance of Astaire in blackface during an otherwise awesome song and dance sequence.

watched: 2013, 2019

Unfortunately the greatest scene is also a blackface routine, although it is a heartfelt tribute to the legendary Bill Robinson, however misguided it seems in 2022. The falling asbestos-snow scenes are wonderful as well and it’s hard not to be won over by Fred and Ginger’s palpable chemistry.

Every frame of this film exudes more charm than most films could only ever dream of attaining. The plot is paper-thin and the jokes are generally pretty corny, and the ending is a little grating after a few minutes, but the shadow dance ALONE more than makes up for any of these slight flaws.

It's a frothy, fun little film with justifiably famous music. But oof, that blackface sequence.

One of the team's best efforts.

A fun and breezy romantic comedy that's mostly enjoyable, although some poor supporting performances and pointless vocal numbers take it down a peg. Your mileage will depend a lot on your affection for this period of Hollywood, but at the very least the dancing is great.

This one really hit me wrong on a story level, particularly the misguided conclusion that smacks of racism (dumb foreigner gets taken)--and that's not even counting the blackface number. That said, Astaire's rendition of The Way You Look is beautifully done, while the dance numbers are, without a doubt, outstanding.

The "Bojangles of Harlem" blackface number was easily the most awesome thing about this movie! My eyes was glued to that scene! Full of cool. An excellent dance number by Fred Astaire! But naturally he had some swinging numbers with the lovely Ginger Rogers too! We all know the two can move and especially Astaire shows once more he is the king of the dance floor! Victor Moore as his sidekick had a career boosting performance as the man with slow facial expressions but quick gambling hands!