Swing Time (1936)

Star Rating- 2 1/2
Length of Film- 103 minutes
Director- George Stevens
Cast- Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Victor Moore, Helen Broderick, Eric Blore, Betty Furness, & Georges Metaxa
Oscar-Jerome Kern & Dorothy Fields (music)
Oscar Nominations- Hermes Pan (dance)

The only good thing about this movie is the music and the dancing. This film produced two popular songs, "The Way You Look Tonight" & "A Fine Romance". 

The plot line was weak...very weak. Pretty sure the production company had a contract with Astaire and Rogers so they had to put the duo together and made this crap film. I understand why this movie is so memorable; it's because of the musical numbers and the dancing abilities of the actors. No one dances like the greats such as Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. They were super stars for a reason. 

The big, (oh my gosh, did they really put this on film?) was Astaire's solo of "Bojangles in Harlem". They painted his face black to represent Bill Robinson. "While Astaire’s admiration of Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, was genuine, a salute to a black artist, is not a salute if it is also insulting to African Americans." 
http://www.mirrorfilm.org/2010/09/15/race-in-film-swing-time-shall-we-dance/comment-page-1/


Fun Facts
"Never Gonna Dance" took nearly fifty takes to nail. Roger's feet were bleeding by the end. 


In "The Way You Look Tonight", Ginger Rogers is seen to be washing her hair. The crew tried various soaps, shampoos, and even egg white, but it always ran down her face too quickly. They achieved success with whipped cream.