This madcap musical from 1935 about an American dance star visiting London swirls effortlessly back into cinemas, with classic songs from Irving Berlin
Like a Shakespearean marriage comedy with a spoonful of Feydeau farce, this madcap musical from 1935, from screenwriters Allan Scott and Dwight Taylor and director Mark Sandrich, saunters back for a re-release. It features Fred Astaire as Jerry, the American dance star visiting London, a city seen in almost surreally weird back projections – and Astaire incidentally does an intentionally terrible Cockney accent when he pretends to be a hansom cab driver. (It is one of the rare times he does not appear in faultless evening dress.) Irving Berlin’s classic songs Cheek to Cheek and Top Hat, White Tie and Tails are great, and Astaire swirls on a forward-tilting gyroscopic axis with his spindly arms and legs effortlessly orbiting him like Saturn’s moons.
Playing opposite him – and of course,...
Like a Shakespearean marriage comedy with a spoonful of Feydeau farce, this madcap musical from 1935, from screenwriters Allan Scott and Dwight Taylor and director Mark Sandrich, saunters back for a re-release. It features Fred Astaire as Jerry, the American dance star visiting London, a city seen in almost surreally weird back projections – and Astaire incidentally does an intentionally terrible Cockney accent when he pretends to be a hansom cab driver. (It is one of the rare times he does not appear in faultless evening dress.) Irving Berlin’s classic songs Cheek to Cheek and Top Hat, White Tie and Tails are great, and Astaire swirls on a forward-tilting gyroscopic axis with his spindly arms and legs effortlessly orbiting him like Saturn’s moons.
Playing opposite him – and of course,...
- 4/5/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Joan Fontaine movies: ‘This Above All,’ ‘Letter from an Unknown Woman’ (photo: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine in ‘Suspicion’ publicity image) (See previous post: “Joan Fontaine Today.”) Also tonight on Turner Classic Movies, Joan Fontaine can be seen in today’s lone TCM premiere, the flag-waving 20th Century Fox release The Above All (1942), with Fontaine as an aristocratic (but socially conscious) English Rose named Prudence Cathaway (Fontaine was born to British parents in Japan) and Fox’s top male star, Tyrone Power, as her Awol romantic interest. This Above All was directed by Anatole Litvak, who would guide Olivia de Havilland in the major box-office hit The Snake Pit (1948), which earned her a Best Actress Oscar nod. In Max Ophüls’ darkly romantic Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), Fontaine delivers not only what is probably the greatest performance of her career, but also one of the greatest movie performances ever. Letter from an Unknown Woman...
- 8/6/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
AfterElton Briefs: Bristol Bombs, "Glee" Grabs an American Idol, and Is Your Boyfriend a Psychopath?
Happy 27th Birthday to cutie pie Kris Allen! Let's celebrate with some suggestive gifs!
Birthday shoutouts go to Meredith Baxter, who is 65, Juliette Lewis is 39, Jujubee is 28, Kathy Mattea is 53, and 80's stud muffin Kip Winger is 51.
Reese Witherspoon is going to star in the big screen adaptation of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus. Seriously? Does that mean The Rules: The Motion Picture is up next?American Idol runner-up Jessica Sanchez will appear in a four-episode arc on the upcoming season of Glee. In ratings news, has Bieber fever broken?In other ratings news, pack it up, Bristol. Bwa-ha-ha!Okay Alec, it's time to give your thumbs a rest.Below you can see the first official trailer for Judge Dredd. Carl Irven kicks ass!
Former The Voice and American Idol contestant Frenchie Davis has come out. The New York Times reports on the life and eath of Erik Rhodes.
Birthday shoutouts go to Meredith Baxter, who is 65, Juliette Lewis is 39, Jujubee is 28, Kathy Mattea is 53, and 80's stud muffin Kip Winger is 51.
Reese Witherspoon is going to star in the big screen adaptation of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus. Seriously? Does that mean The Rules: The Motion Picture is up next?American Idol runner-up Jessica Sanchez will appear in a four-episode arc on the upcoming season of Glee. In ratings news, has Bieber fever broken?In other ratings news, pack it up, Bristol. Bwa-ha-ha!Okay Alec, it's time to give your thumbs a rest.Below you can see the first official trailer for Judge Dredd. Carl Irven kicks ass!
Former The Voice and American Idol contestant Frenchie Davis has come out. The New York Times reports on the life and eath of Erik Rhodes.
- 6/21/2012
- by snicks
- The Backlot
Birthday shoutouts go to Kevin McHale (above) , who is 24, Diablo Cody is 34, and Boy George is 51. Time to name your top five Boy/Culture Club songs! Here are mine: 5. "The Crying Game," 4. "Move Away," 3. "Mistake #3," 2. "The War Song," 1. Miss Me Blind."
The answers to today's meme quiz are: Sade, Nena, Irene, Corey, Kate, Sheena, Rick, U2, Lionel, ZZTop. Put them together, and ... Snicks Rulz!Ryan Kwanten: Predatory Gay Vampires Helped His Character Grow.You may have seen an article on the gay blogosphere the last day or two about a jaw-dropping Craigslist post in which a parent tried to bribe his son out of being gay by giving him a new Macbook. I didn't post it in Briefs or Meme this morning because there was a lot of speculation that it was a hoax. Guess what? It was. And the details are eye-rolling Towleroad has the details on the...
The answers to today's meme quiz are: Sade, Nena, Irene, Corey, Kate, Sheena, Rick, U2, Lionel, ZZTop. Put them together, and ... Snicks Rulz!Ryan Kwanten: Predatory Gay Vampires Helped His Character Grow.You may have seen an article on the gay blogosphere the last day or two about a jaw-dropping Craigslist post in which a parent tried to bribe his son out of being gay by giving him a new Macbook. I didn't post it in Briefs or Meme this morning because there was a lot of speculation that it was a hoax. Guess what? It was. And the details are eye-rolling Towleroad has the details on the...
- 6/14/2012
- by snicks
- The Backlot
Hayao Miyazaki, Gregory Peck, King Vidor, Ingmar Bergman: Packard Campus January 2011 Thursday, January 6 (7:30 p.m.) The Gay Divorcee (Rko, 1934) An unhappily married woman mistakes a suitor for the gigolo hired to end her marriage. Musical, comedy, romance. Directed by Mark Sandrich. With Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Alice Brady, Edward Everett Horton, Erik Rhodes and Eric Blore. Black & White, 107 min. Friday, January 7 (7:30 p.m.) Tron (Disney, 1982) A computer genius falls into the game he's designed and has to fight an evil intelligence he accidentally created. Science Fiction, action, adventure. Directed by Steven Lisberger. With Jeff Bridges, David Warner and Bruce Boxleitner. Color, 96 min. Rated PG. Saturday, January 8 (2:00 p.m.) My Neighbor Totoro (Toho,1988) When two girls move to the country to be near their ailing mother, they have adventures with the wondrous forest spirits who live nearby. Animation, family adventure, fantasy. Directed by Hayao [...]...
- 1/8/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The history of queer characters in mainstream movies has been, at least in part, a history of heterosexual protagonists making fun of gay second bananas. It’s pretty much a given that the gay guy never gets to be the hero, so it boils down to how the supporting gay is going to be handled by the major players and what style of humor society has deemed appropriate for the era when the movie was made.
In the same way that gays off the screen spent the 20th century going from invisible to mocked to militant to a fact of life, so did the "funny" barbs sent our way on the big screen.
Phase One: “You’re gay, and you’re ridiculous.”
When movies began to talk in the late 1920s and beyond, gays were still pretty invisible in American society; that invisibility was mirrored on screen, particularly after the...
In the same way that gays off the screen spent the 20th century going from invisible to mocked to militant to a fact of life, so did the "funny" barbs sent our way on the big screen.
Phase One: “You’re gay, and you’re ridiculous.”
When movies began to talk in the late 1920s and beyond, gays were still pretty invisible in American society; that invisibility was mirrored on screen, particularly after the...
- 11/9/2010
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Backlot
In 1935, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made cinema history with their most successful film partnership, Top Hat. However, it wasn’t Astaire’s headgear that got people talking; it was Rogers’ ostrich feather dress worn in the Oscar-nominated song ‘Cheek to Cheek’.
The fact remains that this is quite possibly the most memorable, beautiful and romantic musical number ever captured on film, and Rogers’ dress contributes to this greatly.
Whenever Astaire and Rogers dance, they are making love without undressing, without even kissing in the majority of their films; “they is angels” remarks unfairly condemned criminal Kofi as he fulfils his dying wish of watching the lovers perform ‘Cheek to Cheek’ in the film The Green Mile (1999).
In this scene, Rogers certainly does look like an angel in her now-famous dress, accessorised only by a glass panel-style bracelet (costume jewellery in enamel or glass was very fashionable in the 1930s...
The fact remains that this is quite possibly the most memorable, beautiful and romantic musical number ever captured on film, and Rogers’ dress contributes to this greatly.
Whenever Astaire and Rogers dance, they are making love without undressing, without even kissing in the majority of their films; “they is angels” remarks unfairly condemned criminal Kofi as he fulfils his dying wish of watching the lovers perform ‘Cheek to Cheek’ in the film The Green Mile (1999).
In this scene, Rogers certainly does look like an angel in her now-famous dress, accessorised only by a glass panel-style bracelet (costume jewellery in enamel or glass was very fashionable in the 1930s...
- 8/11/2010
- by Sarah H
- Clothes on Film
Ginger Rogers is Turner Classic Movies‘ Star of the Month of March. Most of the films — perhaps all of them — have been shown on TCM before. So, don’t expect hard-to-find titles such as The Confession, Forever Female, The Groom Wore Spurs, Young Man of Manhattan, Sitting Pretty (1933), A Shriek in the Night, or Harlow (the Carol Lynley version). TCM’s Ginger Rogers salute begins tonight at 5 p.m. Pacific Time with a screening of The Gay Divorcee (above), one of Rogers’ best pairings with Fred Astaire, partly thanks to a top-notch supporting cast that includes Alice Brady, Eric Blore, and Erik Rhodes. That will be followed by the other nine Rogers-Astaire (I know it’s usually the other way around) [...]...
- 3/10/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
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