"I prefer being in distress."

[icepixie]

This weekend, I corrected a grievous oversight plaguing my life: I finally saw a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers flick (Top Hat). The plot was so incredibly lame* that I wound up fast-forwarding through most of the talky bits to get to the dancing, which is magnificient. I wanna be able to do that.**

You can really see the influence they had on American Smooth dancing (my favorite of the four ballroom dance types). Like right here, in this clip from Roberta, there's definitely some American Foxtrot sensibility going on, even if they aren't performing actual steps from the syllabus. (Granted, there are sometimes little Russian-accented voices in my head yelling at them to stand up straight when they dance with each other, for the love of God, but then I remember that, a.) they were doing tap dance together more often than they were doing anything strictly ballroom-related, and b.) it's Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and I have absolutely no room to criticize.)

Speaking of YouTube, there appears to be some kind of fad over there for replacing the original music with modern songs (such as here and here) and...it actually works, once you get past the initial weirdness. I guess when the beats are roughly the same, you can kind of do whatever you want. (Or possibly just that particular number is so amazing it can handle any music you throw at it.)

There are also actual fanvids, such as this one, which was surprisingly well-done and even somewhat touching.

Anyway. Back to the thesis. I have new critical scaffolding that I like better than my old one, so I need to go and integrate that.


* Mistaken identity plots are my number one narrative hate. I truly, truly despise them, because they rely on characters being SO, SO STUPID.

** Also, Ginger manages to make being sung to by--and dancing with--Fred look like the most awesome thing in the world. Since he's doing the soloing, in theory my attention should've been on him, but no, it was all on her. I am duly impressed.

Comments

[vallentine.livejournal.com]

While I agreed that the plot is thin at best I think it's a shame that you fast forwarded through the talking. One of the joys of Top Hat is all of the delightfully ridiculous and razor-sharp conversations. Obviously the best bits are the dancing scenes but there is joy to be had in the absurdity of the rest of the film.

[icepixie]

I liked the dialogue up until Ginger's character started thinking Fred's was married to her friend. Then I had to give up in short order, because seriously, the depth of my hatred for mistaken identity hijinks knows no limit. If everything hinges on people not asking who the person they've fallen for is, or introducing themselves like normal people do, I just...I...GAAAAAH.

[alto2.livejournal.com]

I guess you're not a fan of North By Northwest, then. Pity.

[icepixie]

I've never seen it, so I don't know. I'm okay when one character is hiding his/her identity for vaguely legit purposes, but when neither of them is trying to hide anything, it's just that the plot requires them to be too damn stupid to introduce themselves like normal people, I turn into the Hulk, raging against narrative stupidity.

[alto2.livejournal.com]

've never seen it

What??? Girl. Hie thee to Netflix and get it. Cinematic classic, of the Hitchcock variety. And an added level of inappropriate mirth for anyone who's seen Eddie Izzard.

[icepixie]

But you just said I wouldn't be a fan of it! ;)

[alto2.livejournal.com]

You might, you might not (which is true of almost anything, really). Only one way to find out. It's Hitchcock, though, and one of my favorite films EVER, so, you know, hope springs eternal.

[thespatz.livejournal.com]

Just FYI in case you still haven't seen North By Northwest - the character has a completely legit reason for hiding their identity. And the movie is completely awesome. Not quite as awesome as Notorious (nnngh, the *pining* in that one....), but there's some amazing innuendo and lots of spy shenanigans.

[icepixie]

I still haven't seen it, but I gave it a quick wiki, and it sounds a bit like The 39 Steps, which I saw a couple years ago and enjoyed. I'll put it on my list for when I gather up enough movies/TV shows to make Netflix worth it again. :)

[thespatz.livejournal.com]

I think that's a fair comparison - both Hitchcock films, obviously, with vaguely similar regular-Joe-gets-caught-up-in-espionage plots - though NxNW is decades later, and therefore more sophisticated as a film and able to be more sexy. Plus, Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, and Leo G. Carroll! ♥

I think my favorite part of The 39 Steps is when he's trying to convince her that he's a bad guy, and totally undercuts his speech by offering her a handkerchief. Damn good screenwriting, that. *laughs*

[pellmelody.livejournal.com]

"Top Hat" isn't a favorite of mine for Fred/Ginger, though "Cheek To Cheek" is gorgeous). I'm much fonder of "The Gay Divorcee," (Cole Porter's "Night And Day"...guh) "Swing Time" and "Shall We Dance" (I'm a sucker for Gershwin). When you get down to it, the plot of all their movies is pretty weak (a lot of boy wants girl, girl can't stand boy, boy wins girl over). It's about the dancing and their chemistry more than anything.

[icepixie]

I have, uh, been abusing the Netflix instant watch feature this weekend, so I've seen all of Carefree and Shall We Dance (which I think is my favorite so far--the dancing was good, though perhaps not as good as some of the earlier ones, and the plot was actually entertaining rather than painful; same thing with Carefree). I also watched parts of Gay Divorcee (same frigging mistaken identity conceit, so I sped through to get to the dances) and Follow the Fleet (I watched every scene they were in and gave the ones with her sister and the other sailor a miss). Despite the irritating plot, "Night and Day" was, indeed, incredible. And I really liked all three dances in Fleet, especially "Let's Face the Music and Dance."

The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle and Swing Time are the next two in my queue, followed by Roberta and Flying Down to Rio (no instant watch for any of them). I'm especially curious about the Castle one, 'cause I'm pretty fascinated with the styles of dance they introduced. Plus, hey, plot!

[pellmelody.livejournal.com]

The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle is a good one too. I liked the plot. More substance. Flying Down To Rio is pure fluff. They are more of a subplot. Dolores del Rio was a big name at the time.

I'll be interested to know what you think of Swing Time.

[icepixie]

The more photos I see from Swing Time (I have been a-googling of late) the more intrigued I am. I get the impression the plot holds together better than Top Hat and Gay Divorcee, if not as well as the later ones.

I'd heard Rio was fluffy and didn't really feature them; that's why I stuck it last of their movies in my queue. But I'm sort of a sucker for the pressing-your-foreheads-together pose, so I think I'll enjoy it for that, anyway. *g*