Swing Time (1936)
Swing Time (1936)
Plot.
Where to Watch.
Currently Swing Time is available for streaming online, rent, buy or watch for free on: Apple TV, Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Vudu, DIRECTV
Streaming in:🇺🇸 United States
This Movie Is About.
Cast & Crew.
Fred Astaire
Lucky Garnett
Ginger Rogers
Penny Carroll
Victor Moore
Pop Cardetti
Helen Broderick
Mabel Anderson
Eric Blore
Gordon
Betty Furness
Margaret Watson
Georges Metaxa
Ricky Romero
Landers Stevens
Judge Watson (uncredited)
William Bailey
Roulette Player
Jack Goode
Dancer (uncredited)
Ben Holmes
Writer
Gerald Hamer
Eric Lacanistram (uncredited)
Harry Bernard
Second Stagehand
Van Nest Polglase
Art Direction
Rian James
Writer
Vernon L. Walker
Special Effects
George Stevens
Director
Carroll Clark
Assistant Art Director
Howard Lindsay
Writer
Allan Scott
Writer
Mel Berns
Makeup Artist
Erwin S. Gelsey
Writer
Darrell Silvera
Set Dresser
Fred Fleck
Unit Manager
Jerome Kern
Composer
David Abel
Cinematographer
Henry Berman
Editor
Pandro S. Berman
Producer
Hermes Pan
Choreographer
Dorothy Fields
Lyricist
Bernard Newman
Costume Design
George Marsh
Sound Editor
Media.
Details.
Release DateAugust 27, 1936
StatusReleased
Running Time1h 43m
Content RatingNR
Budget$886,000
Box Office$2,600,000
Genres
Wiki.
Swing Time is a 1936 American musical comedy film, the sixth of ten starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Directed by George Stevens for RKO, it features Helen Broderick, Victor Moore, Betty Furness, Eric Blore and Georges Metaxa, with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Dorothy Fields. Set mainly in New York City, the film follows a gambler and dancer, "Lucky" (Astaire), who is trying to raise money to secure his marriage when he meets dance instructor Penny (Rogers) and begins dancing with her; the two soon fall in love and are forced to reconcile their feelings.
Noted dance critic Arlene Croce considers Swing Time Astaire and Rogers' best dance musical, a view shared by John Mueller and Hannah Hyam. It features four dance routines that are each regarded as masterpieces. According to The Oxford Companion to the American Musical, Swing Time is "a strong candidate for the best of the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals". The Oxford Companion says that, although the screenplay is contrived, it "left plenty of room for dance and all of it was superb. ... Although the movie is remembered as one of the great dance musicals, it also boasts one of the best film scores of the 1930s." "Never Gonna Dance" is often singled out as the partnership's and collaborator Hermes Pan's most profound achievement in filmed dance, while "The Way You Look Tonight" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and went on to become Astaire's most successful hit record, scoring first place in the U.S. charts in 1936. Jerome Kern's score, the first of two he composed specially for Astaire films, contains three of his most memorable songs.The film's plot has been criticized, though, as has the performance of Metaxa. More praised is Rogers' acting and dancing performance. Rogers herself credited much of the film's success to Stevens: "He gave us a certain quality, I think, that made it stand out above the others." Swing Time also marked the beginning of a decline in popularity of the Astaire–Rogers partnership among the general public, with box office receipts falling faster than usual, after a successful opening. Nevertheless, the film was a sizable hit, costing $886,000, grossing over $2,600,000 worldwide, and showing a net profit of $830,000. The partnership never again regained the creative heights scaled in this and previous films.In 1999 Swing Time was one of Entertainment Weekly's top 100 films. In 2004 it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition), it is ranked at #90.