Top Hat (1935)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Jerry Travers	Fred Astaire	½
Dale Tremont	Ginger Rogers
Horace Hardwick	Edward Everett Horton	½
Madge Hardwick	Helen Broderick	½
Alberto Beddini	Erik Rhodes	½
Bates	Eric Blore	½
Flower Clerk	Lucille Ball	½
Flower Salesman	Leonard Mudie	½
Curate	Donald Meek	½

Review

This is arguably the most classical of the several musicals starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Roberts, masterly choreographed by Hermes Pan and Astaire himself. The five musical numbers were written by Astaire's lifelong pal Irvin Berling, and all five of them became big hits in 1935. "Cheek to Cheek" and "Isn't This a Lovely Day to Be Caught in the Rain" are perhaps the most famous of the lot today.

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers weren't only recurring figures in musicals during the 1930s, they effectively defined this new genre which epitomized the success of the talkies. And Top Hat capitalized on the success of The Gay Divorcee from the year before. Fred Astaire received his only Oscar nomination for the disaster movie The Towering Inferno in 1975, but he was never better than in these 1930s movies. The dance numbers are bubbling over with enthusiasm and joie de vivre, and Astaire and Rogers enjoy a wonderful chemistry and comedic timing between them. And to add a little zest (and confusion, as it were), the perfectly silly script puts the talents of character actors Edward Everett Horton and Erik Rhodes to best possible use – just like in The Gay Divorcee. A winning formula from a time when formulas weren't only the norm, but also enjoyed as such by insatiable new movie audiences.