ΤΟP ΗΑΤ 1935

Top Hat

RKO, 1935, B/W, 97 minutes, ****

General release September, 1935
Perhaps the best remembered of the 10 Astaire / Rogers musicals, Top Hat has it all. Art Deco elegance, a whimsical storyline, loopy support from skilled farceurs and the ideal chemistry of the two leads cheek-to-cheeking to Irving Berlin's finest film score. It's a wake-up call to romance when Fred's lively "No Strings" hotel room dance disturbs the sleeping beauty (Ginger) below. Love beckons - until Ginger gets the wrong idea that Fred is a married playboy. Among the highlights: Fred mows down the chorus in his signature "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails," the shimmeringly dreamy "Isn't It a Lovely Day (To Be Caught in the Rain)?" and the tender "Cheek to Cheek." Nominated for 4 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Top Hat is top-flight movie magic.



Produced by: Pandro S. Berman

Directed by: Mark Sandrich

Screen Play by: Dwight Taylor and Allan Scott

Story by: Dwight Taylor

Musical Director: Max Steiner

Lyrics and Music: Irving Berlin

Ensembles Staged by: Hermes Pan

Art Director: Van Nest Polglase

Associate: Carroll Clark

Set Dressing by: Thomas Little

Gowns by: Bernard Newman

Music Recorded by: R. J. Faulkner, Jr.

Photographed by: David Abel

Photographic Effects by: Vernon Walker

Edited by: William Hamilton



Awards: Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Interior Decoration, Best Song ("Cheek To Cheek") and Best Dance Direction (Hermes Pan)



Cast: Fred Astaire [Jerry Travers], Ginger Rogers [Dale Tremont], Edward Everett Horton [Horace Hardwick], Helen Broderick [Madge Hardwick], Erik Rhodes [Alberto Beddini], Eric Blore [Bates], Lucille Ball [Flower Shop Clerk], Leonard Mudie [Flower Shop Salesman], Edgar Norton [Hotel Manager], Gino Corrado [Hotel Manager], Peter Hobbes [Call Boy], Frank Mills [Lido Waiter], Tom Ricketts [Thackeray Club Waiter], Dennis O'Keefe [Elevator Passenger]



Musical Program: [0:00] Overture (played by Orchestra behind titles); [0:08] No Strings (I'm Fancy Free) (sung and danced by Fred Astaire); [0:23] Isn't This a Lovely Day (sung by Fred Astaire, danced by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers); [0:39] Top Hat, White Tie and Tails (sung and danced by Fred Astaire and Men's Chorus); [1:01] Cheek to Cheek (played by Orchestra, danced by hotel guests, then sung by Fred Astaire dancing with Ginger Rogers); [1:29] The Piccolino (production number: sung by Ginger Rogers, danced by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers with Chorus)