Smoreni Zmaj
Have you ever seen a bad romantic musical comedy from the first half of the twentieth century ?! I haven't. Although many resemble one another, and after a while they melt together in my memory, they all carry joy of life that in the decades that follow slowly disappears from movies, and today it's almost nowhere to find. Among them stand out mutual films of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. Ginger's beauty is breathtaking and their mutual chemistry is magical. Story is light and fun, music and dance as always great, but although I really liked it, it did not particularly stand out from the masses of similar ones, and it's far below, for example, Top Hat. I have yet to mention, in my opinion, the best scene in the movie, where Astaire is followed by three huge dancing shadows. Joyful recommendation.7/10
dougdoepke
No need to recap the plot or echo the excellence of the dance numbers. Several side aspects also impressed me about the movie. Catch the great art and set decoration that complement the dance step artistry. True, later "pig pen" musicals like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" (1954) showed that choreography can be great whatever the background. But here the majestically spacious sets showcase the stylish numbers and costuming. And how the heck did they do the three big shadows that Lucky (Astaire) supposedly casts in his blackface number. I'm thinking they must have been special effects since the steps are so perfectly synchronized. Anyway, it's like nothing else I've seen. Then too, Astaire really is a fine actor as well as dancer. He's lively without stretching it. Too often his talent in that regard is overlooked. Frankly, I could have used more "tripping the light fantastic" and less storyline, but the result remains a classic for eyes and ears, even 8-decades later.
Ryan Ellis
An inexplicable addition to the American Film Institute's Top 100 list in 2007, Swing Time is a mystifyingly stupid movie. If you're compelled to see a Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musical, go watch Top Hat. Watch it twice. Then rent it. Buy the DVD. You should do all that before you endure the movie that's a terrible representation of George Stevens' talents. I mean, this is the guy who directed Shane!At least the dancing scenes are beautiful choreographed and performed by Astaire & Rogers. You can find those on YouTube though. If you spend 103 minutes with Swing Time, you're going to have to figure out how gullible Lucky Garnett (Astaire) is that he lets his stage "friends" distract him from his wedding. You'll get to "enjoy" Astaire doing a racist number in blackface. You'll be "treated" to a woefully horrible performance by a dopey Victor Moore.You'll also have to go through an entire movie's worth of "will they or won't they" with your "I don't care if they" goggles on. Many (most?) rom-coms put up roadblocks to 2 lovers from becoming lovers, but they've got to create a story worth suspending that disbelief. This movie doesn't make that work very well, although what's worse is how Astaire and Rogers' intendeds handle their respective break-ups. They take it waaaaay better than a real human being ever would.In short, this movie is no good.My wife and I do a podcast about the AFI's 1998 and 2007 Top lists. If you want a better account of our disdain, go to www.top100project.com and check out the "Podcasts" section for 29-minute tear-down of Swing Time. Bev's epic rant at the beginning of the podcast makes this review sound like a recommendation!
Claudio Carvalho
The dancer and gambler Lucky Garnett (Fred Astaire) misses his wedding with Margaret Watson (Betty Furness) due to a prank of the other performers and his future father-in-law calls off the ceremony. When Lucky arrives at his fiancée's home, he promises to make US$ 25,000.00 to be allowed to marry her.Lucky travels to New York by train with his friend and magician Pop Cardetti (Victor Moore) and he stumbles with the dance instructor Penny Carroll (Ginger Rogers) on the streets of the big city. He follows her to the dance academy and they team-up in the end. When they are ready to dance together in an elegant club, Penny's former affair and conductor of the orchestra Ricky Romero (Georges Metaxa) refuses to play for them.Meanwhile Lucky wins lots of money gambling and Penny falls in love with him. Lucky decides to stop gambling in order to NOT raise US$ 25,000.00. But when Margaret arrives in the club to see his show, Lucky has to take a decision about his previous commitment with Margaret and his true love with Penny."Swing Time" is another delightful and naive romance of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. The story is very funny specially the scenes where the clumsy Pop participates and this is the first time that I see Ginger Rogers' character chasing Fred Astaire's one. As usual, there are wonderful dance numbers with this charming couple. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Ritmo Louco" ("Crazy Rhythm")
