George Gershwin is considered to be one of the greatest American composers of all time. Much of his fame was earned by successful blend of classical and popular music, namely jazz. The most common medium for doing so were Broadway musical, but Gershwin also worked on Hollywood musical films. One of his last works, finished shortly before his death, was the score for Shall We Dance, 1937 film directed by Mark Sandrich, also known as the seventh film in which legendary dance stars Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers appeared together.
The plot begins in Paris where American ballet dancer Peter P. Peters (played by Astaire) works pretending to be Russian with the stage name “Petrov”. He falls in love with American tap dancer Linda Keene (played by Ginger Rogers) who is just considering end of her career in order to marry bumbling Jim Montgomery (played by William Brisbane). She rejects Peters’ advances before two of them meet again on ocean liner traveling to New York. Before departure Peters tries to get rid of assertive Lady Tarrington (played by Ketti Gallian) by claiming that he and Linda are secretly married. As a result, rumours about it start to spread on the ship and even reach media. Linda’s manager Arthur Miller (played by Jerome Cowan) doesn’t want her to end the career and does everything in his power to make those rumours look true in order to sabotage the upcoming marriage. When Peters and Linda arrive to New York, they discover that they are booked at the same hotel and, as supposedly married couple, even share one of its suits. This leads to all kind of misunderstandings and complications, but Linda gradually discovers that she is actually attracted to her alleged husband.
Shall We Dance was supposed to be the last Astaire-Rogers pairing. Rogers, despite later urban legends that would claim otherwise, loved working with Astaire, but she was angry at RKO Pictures for paying her less than her partner. The studio recruited ballerina Harriet Hoctor as her possible replacement; she briefly appears near the end of the film playing herself and performing “Hoctor’s Ballet”, composition Gershwin wrote exactly for her. Apart from this, Shall We Dance looks like standard Astaire-Rogers musical, with weak and unoriginal plot and rather mild humour. Scenes that don’t feature music or dance are made interesting only through comedic abilities of supporting actors who have appeared in two previous Astaire-Rogers films - Edward Everett Horton (as Peters’ bumbling impresario) and Eric Blore (as long-suffering hotel manager Cecil Flintridge).
What ultimately makes this film interesting are music and dance numbers. Gershwin, who was partnered by his lyricist brother Ira, delivered some truly great compositions, including songs that would become some of the most popular 20th Century standards. They include “They All Laughed”, “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” and “They Can’t That Away from Me”. Although some of them don’t sound that impressive while being sung by Astaire (unlike when being sung with Rogers), they are followed by very impressive choreography, including delightful scene in which Astaire and Rogers dance on roller skates. The ending, which features an interesting attempt to blend jazz with classical ballet, is quite inventive and improves general impression of Shall We Dance. However, although very entertaining and still a good example of Classic Hollywood craftsmanship, this film represents one of the lesser works of legendary dance couple.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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