Astaire dances as if always falling and catching himself: a slide that sends one leg so wide it is inevitable he will tumble until he doesn't, a twirl so fast it's a miracle he does not vomit. When Rogers storms up to his room to tell him to knock off the racket of his taps, he just keeps dancing as if possessed. It's not the girl who sets him off but the simple fact of existence; he falls in an instant, though, when the girl dances back.

Plot is unapologetically thin, turning even the mistaken identities of screwball into perfunctory setups, but anything a story could ever say is said in the entreaty of an outstretched, lanky arm or a move so fast that a dozen steps seem like one stomp. Props to Eric Blore's face, though, which stretches and cajoles and invites in its own mugging dance.

Movie #31 of The June Challenge

It's magic every time Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are on the screen dancing, but there's far too little of it. The plot just isn't strong enough to link dance scene to dance scene. It frustrates me when the main characters would figure things out if they'd just take 30 seconds to sit down and talk about what's going on. I suppose if that happened we'd be left with a 45 minute movie and be deprived of the two stars dancing together cheek to cheek... so maybe I'm in the wrong here.

A great compliment to the Powell/Loy pairing I watched earlier in the day. Fred and Ginger have a natural chemistry that has never been topped as far as I'm concerned. Great songs by Irving Berlin, and some of the best dancing ever put on film. The supporting players are great here as well, with Edward Everett Horton and Eric Blore providing a good deal of the movies very funny moments. Highly recommended.

Sure, I could point out that this is the perfect blend of musical and screwball comedy, that neither Astaire nor Rogers were ever more charming, or that it's darker moments combined with slapstick approach cut a path for Preston Sturges' '40s comedies, but that would betray the fact that Top Hat is the purest "feeling" movie ever. I mean that as in it's a movie that you feel more than you think about. Watching it is simply pure joy.

**Part of the Best Picture Project**

Very similar to The Gay Divorcee, but much better in my opinion. Fred and Ginger dance like mad, and the humor is great. I wish every now and then, Hollywood would make more films like this. It's a simple musical with great music, dance sequences, and it's very funny to boot.

See it.

A superb Astaire-Rogers musical which has Fred and Ginger at their peak. The showstopping numbers are ecstatic and joyous, but also heartbreaking, considering that this style is basically no more.

The plot complications are lightly handled by a team of deft farceurs, spearheaded by Sandrich.

Edward Everett Hortons's slow double-takes, Eric Bloor's befuddled grin and (above all) Helen Broderick's worldly wise snigger are indispensable.

Movie #31 of The June Challenge

It's magic every time Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are on the screen dancing, but there's far too little of it. The plot just isn't strong enough to link dance scene to dance scene. It frustrates me when the main characters would figure things out if they'd just take 30 seconds to sit down and talk about what's going on. I suppose if that happened we'd be left with a 45 minute movie and be deprived of the two stars dancing together cheek to cheek... so maybe I'm in the wrong here.

Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers could dance forever and ever.... And thats almost what they do in Top Hat. Stylish & elegant with a grand hotel setting for their steps. The comedy is light and charmingly easy with Edward Everett Horton as the buffoon who gets the worst of it. Erik Rhodes as Astaire's rival was a bit much. I understand he's supposed to be over-the-top, but he's really over-the-top. The story is a bit... well, unpolished. I wouldn't exactly call it a good one, but this wasn't the type of movie that was going to be very intelligent or deep. It's all about the fly Astaire courting the dashing Ginger with slick lines and smooth foot-work. Astaire/Rogers 4th film together is still their best collaboration up to this point and delivers exactly the high quality entertainment one has learned to expect from them!

Fred and Ginger. Jesus Christ.

It occurred to me after watching ten minutes of Top Hat, that Fred Astaire was not a good looking man. Sure, he was a fantastic dancer, and his acting was fine for the era, but he looked like a buff Stan Laurel. With lipstick.

I'm guessing the main draw to see these films during their hey day was the dancing, not the plot (much like action and Transformers). And those didn't dissapoint.

However the story was an overly long farce which kind of petered out at the end. A shame, as both leads were great.

Great dancing, great sets, great costumes. The comic relief actors really hit it out of the park. The romance? The plot? Less so. Bandini was robbed.

Astaire dances as if always falling and catching himself: a slide that sends one leg so wide it is inevitable he will tumble until he doesn't, a twirl so fast it's a miracle he does not vomit. When Rogers storms up to his room to tell him to knock off the racket of his taps, he just keeps dancing as if possessed. It's not the girl who sets him off but the simple fact of existence; he falls in an instant, though, when the girl dances back.

Plot is unapologetically thin, turning even the mistaken identities of screwball into perfunctory setups, but anything a story could ever say is said in the entreaty of an outstretched, lanky arm or a move so fast that a dozen steps seem like one stomp. Props to Eric Blore's face, though, which stretches and cajoles and invites in its own mugging dance.

I love the cheek to cheek dance scene ...

Perhaps the best of the Astaire-Rogers collaborations, Top Hat works marvelously as a comedy, as a musical, and as top-notch escapism. A wonderful, wonderful film.