For those who may not have the DVD, "Top Hat" is playing tonight (Aug. 16) on Turner Classic Movies.

jj

I've been away for a few days, otherwise i'd have been onto this in an instant.
"greatest" has to be subjective, so here are some of my favourites:.
"Let's face the music and dance" Fred and ginger from Follow the fleet
"I'm putting all my eggs in one basket" also from Follow the Fleet.
"Dancing in the Dark" Fred and Cyd Charisse in the Bandwagon. Fred always liked to make the entry into a routine seem natural and the way Dancing in the dark starts off is fascinating.
"Good morning" Gene Kelly, Donal O'connor and Debbie Reynolds from "Singing in the rain" This routine has the most fantastic piece of syncopation you will ever hear/see.
"Shortie George" (i think that's the title) Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth in "You were never lovelier". Brilliant rhythm in this.
Also, anything choreographed by Busby Berkeley was normally "great" even if desperately old-fashioned.

If we're going to include ensemble pieces then how about "The Pirate" with the Nicholas brothers and Gene Kelly? Granted, the movie itself sucks but this performance rises above it.

jj

Yes, jj, and "The Pirate" also put on display what a strong athlete Gene Kelly was and how his style showed that.
Fred was the smooth and elegant, Gene was the high-energy athlete. At least that's how I always viewed it.
After these posts, I have to see "Dancing in the Dark" again sometime soon.

Interesting comment from Kelly about Ginger Rogers: "When Ginger Rogers danced with Fred Astaire, it was the only time in the movies when you looked at the man, not the woman."

Ouch!



jj

I know, I think I had heard that before as well. And I remember my mother always saying that Ginger was not Fred's best partner. Ginger got her share of grief as not being all that great, were it not for Fred. I don't know what the Hollywood studio politics were at the time, but an Astaire-Rogers aficionado or historian would sure know what the general attitude was regarding who would have been the perfect partner for Astaire. Rogers was plenty good in my book, though it is probably easy to argue that there surely had to be better dancers in her time. But were they better actresses or would their chemistry be perfect for Fred? I think Rogers hits high marks in those areas.
You know, I can't say that I remember Astaire voicing an opinion about her, but he surely must have. This is one of those areas that I can say I am a little bit too young to know all of the ins and outs of America's great dance couple.

After their first picture together, Fred said of his partner, "Ginger never danced with a partner before. She faked an awful lot. She couldn't tap or do this or that...But Ginger had style and talent and improved as she went along." (source)

Supposedly, Rita Hayworth was Fred's favorite partner. I remember seeing a couple of clips of them dancing together and they really did look better than Fred did with Ginger.



jj

I have a complete set of the Fred & Ginger films on DVD, and I hate to say it, but apart from his obvious talent as a tap dancer, I have never been able to see what all the fuss was about. I'm sure it's my loss, but I don't see what others seem to rave about.

Of course you don't.



jj

jj, you are quite good with the computer downloads and attaching them to your files. I'll have to learn that stuff one of these days. Thanks for the interesting info on Fred and Ginger. Also, Telemark, you are probably in a minority on your views on Astaire and his partners, but I would imagine he had all sorts of detractors in his time -- much like any other American super star who was made bigger than life through the Hollywood lense. And yes, he did enjoy throwing in his tap-dance sequences.