Movie Musicals

 

With the coming of sound, Americans came to love musicals. In 1929. only the second year for Academy Awards, MGM's Broadway Melody won the award for Best picture. Below are brief reviews of two early movie musicals that feature spectacular dancing. Use the links to see for yourself.                                  

 

Swing Time. 

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are universally regarded as the greatest dance team of all time. Starting with their first appearance in Flying Down to Rio where they danced the Carioca, they appeared in a series of films whose dance numbers have never been equaled. No one else danced together as a team as they did. My personal favorite is Roberta, but Swing Time, which opened in 1936, is generally regarded as their best film.

It includes two great songs by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields, the Academy Award winning, “The Way You Look Tonight,” and “A Fine Romance,” as well as four of their greatest dance numbers: “Pick Yourself Up,” the most popular of all their dances; the effervescent “Waltz in Swing Time;” the dramatic finale “Never Gonna Dance;” and the solo “Bojangles of Harlem,” Astaire’s spectacular homage to the great black dancer Bill Robinson.

Speaking of homage, Ginger Rogers never gets enough credit for her performances opposite Astaire. She is said to have quipped that she did every step that he did, but backwards and in heels. To my mind she was much more than a beautiful singer and dancer. One only has to look at her facial expressions and posture while she dances to see that she was a great actress as well. In her book on the Astaire Rogers films, Arlene Croce paid homage to Ginger.

“It’s easy to underrate Rogers’ dancing because she never appeared to be working hard, and because, with a bold nonchalance that irritates women more than men, she sometimes threw away stuff she never had. But Rogers danced with love, with pride in the beauty of an illusion—and with one of the most elegant dancer’s bodies imaginable. She avoided any suggestion of toil or inadequacy. She was just physically incapable of ugliness.”

A few years ago, the complete set of Astaire/Rogers films was made available on DVD. Even though streaming has largely replaced DVDs today, the DVD versions often include commentaries and other features. John Mueller’s commentary for Swing Time is one of the best I have ever heard. 103 minutes.

 

Broadway Melody of 1940.

The first Broadway Melody film appeared in 1929 and won an Academy Award for Best Picture. Six years later, MGM produced Broadway Melody of 1936 that made a star of newcomer Eleanor Powell, who would become famous for her extraordinary dancing. She became known as the Queen of Tap, but she was able to do anything from tap to ballet. The success of the film led MGM to follow with Broadway Melody of 1938, and Broadway Melody of 1940.

Despite weak story lines the series is worth watching today not only for Powell’s dancing but also because MGM used these films to spotlight up and coming talent. For example, in Broadway Melody of 1938, a young Judy Garland has a small role but does get the spotlight on her for an unforgettable rendition of “You Made Me Love You,” sung to a photograph of Clark Gable. But only in Broadway Melody of 1940 did Eleanor Powell find a partner to dance with. In this film the Queen of Tap is paired with Fred Astaire who had recently ended his long career with Ginger Rogers. Famed ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov once said, “Fred Astaire is dancing, and the rest of us are doing something else.” 

And so, in Broadway Melody of 1940, despite a weak script and the inevitable comic interludes that including a fantastic female juggler, the "Begin the Beguine" finale of this film is perhaps the greatest dance number ever filmed. MGM created a huge set for this number with countless light bulbs sparkling in the dark background, and a dance floor of glass that would mirror every step.

The first half of the finale is a Latin dance introduced by a female singer intoning Cole Porter’s famous words, but soon the camera pans to a chorus of beautiful girls in lovely white gowns dancing to the Latin music. Then, almost as if she was Venus rising from the sea, Eleanor Powell appears, also in a flowing white gown, and takes over in a solo featuring her incredible back bends and high kicks. Finally, she is joined by Astaire who first appears as a mirror image in a bolero outfit. They complete the dance beautifully and twirl off stage, but there is more to come.

Now, a female quartet appears singing Begin the Beguine in an upbeat swing rhythm. They finish and move off camera as Powell and Astaire, now dressed in contemporary outfits, come tapping into view and launch into a sprightly, up-tempo number where they almost seem to be competing to outdo each other. The King and Queen of Tap match each other step for step in a dance number that has never been equaled.  Heaven, sheer Heaven.

For those who do not want to watch the whole film, the Begin the Beguine number can be watched in two parts on YouTube, but I still prefer the DVD in order to view it in its entirety. The film includes other fine Powell/Astaire numbers including “I’ve Got My Eyes on You,” “I Concentrate on You”, and “Jukebox Dance” which Powell regarded as her personal favorite.102 minutes. CC

 

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