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Swing
Time (1936)
In director George Stevens' superb song-and-dance
film:
- the magical dancing rapport between gambler John "Lucky"
Garnett (Fred Astaire) and dancer Penelope "Penny" Carrol
(Ginger Rogers)
- the light courtship "Pick Yourself Up" scene
in which dance instructor Penny attempted to teach pupil Lucky how
to dance as he faked ignorance and pretended to be a klutz and caused
both of them to collapse to the floor after trying a simple dance
step
- her huffing of: "I can't teach you anything...No
one could teach you to dance in a million years!"
- Lucky's singing of the Oscar-winning
"The Way You Look Tonight" as Penny shampooed her hair
- the formal "Waltz in Swing Time" in a spotlight
and backed by a small orchestra
- "A Fine Romance" sung together in a snowy
winter wonderland (and reprised at film's end)
- the black-faced tribute to dancer Bill 'Bojangles'
Robinson with "Bojangles of Harlem" (Astaire's first and
last blackface performance) in which he danced with a chorus line
and then tap-danced along with three huge silhouette-shadows
- the preface to their stunning finale dance number
"Never Gonna Dance" - set on a deserted dance floor in an
Art Deco nightclub, where he told her: "I've danced with you.
I'm never gonna dance again" - and then sang "Never Gonna
Dance" to appeal to her as she stood on a staircase slightly above
him - he told her of his broken heart and frustration, and how forlorn,
pained and sad he would be without her
- they began their poignant, ethereal, and melancholic
dance duet by transforming their steps on the empty dance floor into
a smooth gliding motion (followed equally smoothly by the camera
moving side to side), and then by transitioning into a dance step
as their love affair was repeatedly and gently rekindled; they separated
and danced up the two sides of the curved staircase leading to another
higher dance floor, spinning their way to the upper landing at the
top (filmed with a well-executed crane shot), where they experienced
one final flurry of propelled spins and twirling turns - her pirouettes
in her white gown glowed fiery and bright - before she ran from him
and exited
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