The Gay Divorcee (1934)
Genre: Music / Comedy
Duration: 107 minuten
Country:
United States
Directed by: Mark Sandrich
Stars: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and Alice Brady
IMDb score:
7,3 (9.288)
Releasedate: 12 October 1934
The Gay Divorcee plot
"The King and Queen of 'Carioca'"
The first time the tap dancer meets her, he tears her dress, but he immediately knows that he wants to see her again. It would be a lot easier if he knew that his friend, the lawyer, is handling her divorce.
Actors and actresses
Guy Holden
Mimi Glossop
Hortense
Egbert 'Pinky' Fitzgerald
Rodolfo Tonetti
Waiter
Singer - "Continental" number
Valet
Cyril Glossop
Dance Specialty "Knock Knees"
Reviews & comments
Onderhond
-
- 87623 messages
- 12891 votes
Top Hat in advance.
Almost the same set-up, identical cast, same director. So the enthusiast knows what to expect. A classic musical with Astaire and Rogers, lots of light-heartedness and more classical dance than tap dance.
Must say that Astaire and Rogers make a nice onscreen couple. The chemistry between the two is nice and as a dance couple they already seem very attuned to each other, although this is apparently one of their first films. Less are those extended dance numbers at the end of these kind of musicals (the Continental song). Usually come when the story has lost some steam, but just then they would be better off finishing the movie than putting in another 10 minute dance sequence.
The beginning is especially nice. The humor is quite successful, especially the additional cast is quite funny. It's still fun in Brighton (with the waiter of course, and that Italian guy from Top Hat), only you notice that they occasionally have to stretch the story a bit to increase the playing time.
Too bad it all takes a bit long, because those Astaire/Rogers musicals are otherwise quite fast.
1.5*
Translated from Dutch · View original
Dievegge
-
- 3181 messages
- 8231 votes
In their second joint dance musical, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers take center stage. They transport you to an era of elegance, humor, romance and tuxedos with a carnation in the buttonhole. The story is simple but fun. Ginger is hard to get, but after some misunderstandings, she succumbs to Fred's charms. The humor comes from the side roles. Edward Everett Horton, Alice Brady, Eric Blore and Erik Rhodes would become regulars.
However, the magic is in the virtuoso dancing and the carefree swinging songs. Cole Porter's Broadway musical Gay Divorce featured only Night and Day, which would become a well-known jazz standard. The burlesque Let's K-nock K-nees is sung by seventeen-year-old Betty Grable. The dancers always come into the picture with their entire bodies to make it clear that nothing has been tampered with.
The apotheosis is The Continental. For sixteen minutes you can enjoy the grandiose choreography of Hermes Pan, with a combination of ballroom and tap dancing, a visual trick with moving silhouettes, many dancers in white, black, white-black and black-and-white costumes, a setting with sunbeams , stairs and revolving doors. Here began rare symbiosis of talents in different disciplines.
Translated from Dutch · View original
T.O.
-
- 2428 messages
- 2806 votes
This is a precursor to Top Hat, but I watched that movie before. Anyway, it's strange that the two are almost exact copies of each other. My criticism of Top Hat - in short, a silly farce with fun dance scenes - therefore fully applies to The Gay Divorcee.
On The Dike of Zuider Zee, the Wooden Shoes have found the key to the Continental. From the pre-IJsselmeer period 
Translated from Dutch · View original
Trending Movies
Corporate & Media
Realtimes Network
Innovatieweg 20C
7007 CD, Doetinchem, Netherlands
+31(315)-764002
