THE CRITIC'S CORNER - SWING TIME (1936)

"Miss Rogers at least shares 50-50 with Astaire in Swing Time honors, and there will be those who give her an even greater share. Not only does her dancing improve with each appearance, but likewise her acting, and here she shows a distinct flair for delightful comedy." - Regina Crews, New York American, Sept. 1936

"It is high time that Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were relieved of the necessity of going through a lot of romantic nonsense in their screen musicales. The vast success of Swing Time¿is more of a tribute to them than to the material of their latest song and dance carnival. They have never performed with more exquisite finish, but the production itself is uneven and definitely disappointing in its conclusion." - New York Herald Tribune, Sept. 1936

"Swing Time is perhaps a shade under previous par, but it's another box office and personal winner for the Fred Astaire - Ginger Rogers combo. It's smart, modern, and impressive in every respect, from its tunefulness, dancipation, production quality and general high standards. ¿There are six Jerome Kern tunes (Dorothy Fields' clever lyrics don't retard the motivation either) and¿this particular sextet of songs is consistently fetching and a good variety of material, certain to command general radio and other exploitive attention. ¿This is George Stevens' first directorial chore for Astaire-Rogers and also his first filmusical on the RKO lot. [He] has done a highly competent job considering everything." - Abel. Variety, Sept. 1936

"We won't say Fred hasn't ever been as good as he is in Swing Time because - well, because he has. But this is certainly Ginger's triumphant vehicle. She's a delectable eyeful and earful." - Irene Thirer, New York Evening Post, Sept. 1936

"If, by any chance, you are harboring any fears that Mr. Astaire and Miss Rogers have lost their magnificent sense of rhythm, be assured. Their routines, although slightly more orthodox than usual, still exemplify ballroom technique at its best ¿Nothing so intangible as a disappointing score should deter you from enjoying them to the Astaire-Rogers limit." - Frank S. Nugent, The New York Times, Sept. 1936

"If plot, script and supporters are below par, the score by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields is peerless¿And nothing Fred and Ginger did together surpasses their lengthy, climactic duet, taking off from "Never Gonna Dance," which reminds you that dance is the most perfect sexual metaphor of them all." - Stephen Gilbert, TimeOut Film Guide

"Since Astaire and Rogers are both playing appealing, unpretentious characters, we want them to succeed. There is a sweetness to their romance that can't be found in their other films; that's because both seem vulnerable. This is a film in which both stars prove to be excellent comedic actors - they seem to be having a good time together even when they're not dancing, perhaps because they like the characters they're playing." - Danny Peary, Guide For the Film Fanatic

"Swing Time is a movie about a myth, the myth of Fred and Ginger and the imaginary world of romance they live in. It is a world of nighttime frolics very much like Top Hat's [1935], but it is also a middle-class, workaday, American world...Swing Time is based on Top Hat, not as a remake, but as a jazz rhapsody might be based on a classic theme; its materials are romantic irony, contrast, the fantasy of things going in reverse. The snow of Swing Time is as magical as the rain of "Isn't This a Lovely Day?" and the white hotels of Venice. If you put Top Hat in a glass ball like a paperweight and turned it upside down, it would be Swing Time. And at the end of Swing Time, the sun comes out through the falling snow." - Arlene Croce in The Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Book Awards and Honors:

Swing Time won an Oscar® in 1937 for Best Song in the Music category. Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields won for "The Way You Look Tonight." Such a result would appear to be almost inevitable until you see the stiff competition: other nominees included Cole Porter's "I've Got You Under My Skin" from Born to Dance and "Pennies from Heaven" by Arthur Johnston and Johnny Burke, from the movie of the same name. The only other Oscar® nomination earned by Swing Time was for Best Dance Direction, for Hermes Pan's work on the "Bojangles of Harlem" number. It lost to Seymour Felix's dance direction on "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" from The Great Ziegfeld.

by John Miller