Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers 1937

Well, it was time for another Fred Astaire–Ginger Rogers film. They're all being kicked off of HBOmax at the end of the month, and I hadn't seen very many of them, so here we are. Tonight it was their 1937 offering, Shall We Dance. This film is definitely better than Swing Time (1936) and Carefree (1938), the two films that sandwich it, but, like both of those films, Shall We Dance is preciously short on musical numbers. This is the thing that I really do not understand about these Astaire–Rogers movies. Why is there so much plot and why is there so little song and dance? They are singer-dancers. Why aren't they doing that for most of the movie?

What makes Shall We Dance much better than the others is that this film stars the brilliant comedians Edward Everett Horton and Eric Blore in supporting roles, and they're both absolutely hilarious. But Rogers – as she does in the other two films – sort of glowers her way through the movie. I know that she really wanted to be acting in more serious roles instead of doing this kind of hoofing, but making these parts more dramatic makes them much less entertaining. 

Shall We Dance's music is by the Gershwins and it's excellent, of course. Shall We Dance introduced the world to "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off", and if that weren't enough, it also introduced the world to "They Can't Take That Away from Me". Both songs are obviously now standards, although "They Can't Take That Away from Me" somehow lost the Oscar to "Sweet Leilani" from Waikiki Wedding (a song to which I couldn't sing you a single note).

Anyway, I think these films all have the same problems, honestly. They're weirdly directed. Their timing is off. And more importantly, they just don't have enough music in them. The Astaire–Rogers films behave as if the plot is important, when it doesn't matter one bit. I know this is not a popular opinion, but I'd opt for an Astaire–Hayworth picture or an Astaire–Charisse picture over an Astaire–Rogers picture any day of the week.