Top Hat

Although the best of the Ginger and Fred movies, and a smash hit in its day don't let anyone tell you this is one of the best musicals of all time. Very much in the style of the previous year's The Gay Divorcee, Top Hat with its typical mistaken identity plot, has hoofer, Jerry Travers (Fred Astaire), fall for, Dale Tremont, a socialite  She returns the affection until she mistakes Jerry for the husband of her good friend Madge  and a carousel of revolving doors ensues. 

The script, which was custom-written for Astaire and Rogers is above average for this kind of fare but of course the key is the marvellous Irving Berlin score that includes stand-out numbers as 'Isn't This a Lovely Day?', 'Cheek to Cheek' and 'Top Hat, White Tie and Tails'. Ginger and Fred are in especially fine form whilst Edward Everret Horton, Eric Blore, Erik Rhodes and Helen Broderick adeptly pad out the time between the numbers.

 

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