Many consider Swing Time to be the best of the movies that Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made together, making it a strong candidate for Astaire's best film ever. It has four greatly-admired dance scenes, and a music score by Jerome Kern that is considered to be one of the greatest ever used in a musical. Kern's song, "The Way You Look Tonight" won an Academy Award, was Astaire's most successful record in terms of sales. Swing Time also marked the watershed after which Astaire's career would become much harder. While the film did well at the box office, receipts fell rapidly after the opening week, and later films would fare less well. When it comes to the moral questions raised by the average early Fred Astaire movie, it is often best to not think too deeply about it. What are we to make of an engaged man lying to the woman he loves so that she does not leave him. Why do we not care that he does? Because this is a light fluffy musical in which the plot is the least important thing. We know that nobody will get seriously hurt, and that everything will work out in the end. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers breeze through the story in a suitably casual manner. They are never too upset, never too troubled, never too angry, and never too heartbroken, waiting for the moment when their problems disappear without greatly injuring anyone else. At the centre of the action is dance. The opening credits of the movie are silhouettes of Fred and Ginger dancing together. In one sense the story is merely an excuse to provide a peg on which to hang the songs and dancing. In another sense, the dances are integral to the development of the story. They are not mere unconnected add-ons. Dancing is used to break the ice between the lovers. It is an act of wooing, and yet not a sexual gesture. It has been said that dance is the vertical expression of a horizontal desire, but that is not the case here. The dancing is pure romance, a respectful form of courtship. It overcomes resistance, soothes the storms, and brings about reconciliation. It achieves this far more often than the dialogue. The sets are designed to provide perfect dancing spaces for the stars to move around in. The most remarkable set is the nightclub in which the two lovers spend much of their time. The Art Deco design has stairways that descend in a semi-circle, a floor design that looks like the characters are on skyscrapers, and a wall behind the stage that glitters. As in other Astaire films, the cinematography too is employed for the benefit of the dancers. It is mostly at eye level, but occasionally follows the dancers around the room. There are few cutaway shots to show the reaction of spectators. There are to be no distractions from the dancing. This is not egotism on Astaire's part. He knows that this is what the audience are paying to see. The best remembered of Astaire's partners is Ginger Rogers. They made ten movies together, and it is easy to see why people wished to see more of them. All of Astaire's leading ladies played strong and reasonably intelligent women that were a match for him in verbal repartee. Rogers went further, and was a match for him on the dance floor. Neither star was unusually sexy, but they had charm, humour, confidence and poise. Astaire typically wore his top hat, white tie, and tails, and Rogers wore the lovely dresses that were chosen more for appearance than practicality. In Top Hat, she had feathers that got in the way of her dancing. Often she wore high heels. The dancing was meticulously planned and rehearsed, yet somehow looked spontaneous and natural. None of Astaire's other collaborators seemed able to match him in the sheer intricacy of the numbers. Anything Astaire could do, Rogers could match – and in heels as well. The storyline may be preposterous and highly dubious at times, but nobody really cares. We watch Swing Time to see the two best performers of their age together, and to enjoy the almost athletic unity of their accomplished routines. The film is a sublime, escapist pleasure. I wrote a longer appreciation of Swing Time on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2020/10/16/swing-time-1936/

Several beautiful dance numbers and some genuinely funny dialogue. That said, the romance is incredibly rushed and corny, and the stakes feel non-existent - which is what I expect from musicals of that era. I also can't overlook Fred's blackface - I find that scene unwatchable because of it.

An All Time Classic. The acting is really good across the board with really good chemistry between Fred & Ginger especially in the dance sequences. The humor is solid and the supporting cast is good also. The only thing is some of the humor is a bit dated and went over my head though it still got a chuckle even though I didn't get a lot of the subtle moments because the delivery was good and I did the general gist. The cinematography and music are the best parts of this. The dancing, set design, and choreography is excellent and the music numbers are super catchy and on par with Top Hat. (Arguably even better choreography wise) There is a lot of ambition in these numbers. The editing is very good, this merges a very good screwball comedy plot with fantastic musical numbers that ties into the plot really well. Sometimes it does throw new plot elements at you very quickly without buildup and coupled with the humor being over my head it threw me for a loop at first but I got it eventually. And this all leads to fantastic pacing as even though there aren't any music numbers for the first 24 minutes and can be a bit dry ironically. Once it starts with the music it really finds its stride. The blackface in this has many people noting it does come out of nowhere but it really didn't bother me because it wasn't done in a degrading or disrespectful way. (Though the practice arbitrary is racist). Besides that, I can say this is definitely something everyone should give a try once.

Wonderful. Fantastic choreography and sets, the lightweight plot more than made up for by she sheer charisma of the stars of this film. Also incidentally one of the only portrayals of gambling that I can recall seeing on film where the protagonist doesn't lose it all but in fact manages to win and keep his winnings.

Ginger is just so unbelievably adorable it hurts.Fred and Ginger never get old.Classic in every way

The dancing and dialogue were great, the blackface not so much. I have heard Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers used in countless similes and metaphors and can now appreciate why, as their charisma and chemistry make them an incredibly entertaining watch. The choice by Astaire to don black face paint late in this film, even if during a musical number paying homage to Bill Robinson, was unfortunate and will usually take me out of a film, especially being totally unexpected or unknown to me beforehand in this case. Watching this film also reminds me it maybe finally time to get around to Zadie Smith's novel of the same name, which I had intended to read after being blown away by White Teeth.

SWING TIME just misses being the best of all the Astaire-Rogers musicals because of one factor--too much Victor Moore and too little Eric Blore. I tend to favor TOP HAT as their best collaboration because among the supporting players in that one was Edward Everett Horton and, of course, the Irving Berlin tunes were great. This time, in SWING TIME, we're at least spared the mistaken identity theme which ran through so many Astaire-Rogers plots. It's a simple boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl sort of thing without wearing the patience thin and sprinkling some nice Gershwin tunes throughout. My own favorites are "A Fine Romance", staged among the snowflakes in a country setting, and "Never Gonna Dance" which is the most dramatic of the duo's dancing numbers and takes place in an art deco setting that is strikingly photographed in great B&W photography. Ginger's eye make-up looks a little heavy but she's pretty as a picture as the dancing instructor Eric Blore almost fires. Fred Astaire not only acquits himself with finesse on the dance floor but in the acting department as well. Victor Moore soon gets tiresome (in a way that Edward Everett Horton did not). The plot is paper thin and Betty Furness has next to nothing to do--but in this kind of film, all fans really wanted was to watch Astaire and Rogers glide across the dance floor in intricate style--and this they do. Ginger Rogers was told that SWING TIME did even better business at Radio City Music Hall than TOP HAT--and has declared that among all her films with Astaire, this is her own personal favorite. It's easy to see why. Her big dance numbers with Astaire were filmed in one long, unbroken take--but since she complained of bleeding in her dance shoes you have to wonder how many takes it took to get the perfection seen here.

The story is even more insipid than the usual 1930s musical fare, but hey, it's Fred and Ginger. Director Stevens really knew what he was doing - don't worry about various camera angles and cutaway shots, just turn the camera on and let them go. His style really gives you the feeling that you're there, sitting in the front row. Plus, this movie has two true milestones: Astaire's "Bojangles" number may be his best ever sequence on film, and the movie debuted one of the great classic songs of all time, "The Way You Look Tonight" (although Sinatra does it better).

So I hope this may help people who are looking at reviews BEFORE they watch this film- there is a scene that is uncomfortable because it was a movie from 1936 I was taken aback myself when it came on because blackface is just a shock to see now even when they are old movies such as this. So for those who would like the warning I hope this helps because in a lot of reviews people including myself would have liked maybe a forewarning such like Disney will be doing with their older films with such scenes in them as well. That is where my half star is lost. Other than the blackface number that was done- this film was absolutely incredible and so well done that it made me think the whole film that I wish movies today had this much talent from actors in multiple fields instead of an actor for each different part of the role. It's rare to read a massive list of things actors do in the movie nowadays which is unfortunate! Watch this film. It's a classic- and it's just unfortunate as well that we had to see that one scene I still can't even believe was such a huge thing at the time!

First I've seen of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. They're good at dancing but I hate dancing and singing so I just skipped those bits. The ending awful and bit weird with all the psychotic laughing plus seeing Astaire doing black face.

The most enduring and endearing products of the Astaire/Roberts collaboration, featuring top quality dance choreography and a few timeless tracks to punch them up. The plot is substandard but is far from the focal point of the film, instead serving as a means to progress the relationship between it two main characters and to provide a steady stream of new setpieces. Astaire's character is also surprisingly easy to dislike based on his traits, as a two-timer and hustler who is somehow supposed to be considered a wholesome down-and-out everyman type, despite seemingly intending to abandon his fiance without any contact, though Moore and Broderick provide capable comic relief. Still, the bellows of the big band, Astaire's sauve manner, Roberts' timid charm, and the dance numbers still make this one a classic, even if the genre is rather outdated. (4/5)

Another forgettable plot only used as an excuse to dance

I really wish that someone would take the racism out of these old movies. It would be a really nice feature to be able to rent the racism-free cut.

Great dancing and entertaining, but BLACKFACE??? WTF. Movies with blackface should have trigger warnings!

A Blobbo favorite. (Also favorite Astaire/Rogers.)

Love the music & dance routines along with a great cast, but, the story was lacking

1001 movies to see before you die. A sweet feel good romantic comedy with great dancing.

As someone who grew up watching a lot of musicals, it's kind of surprising that I never saw one starring the most famous dancing duo of all time, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. But Swing Time is my first foray into their filmography, and I’ll just say they deserve all the recognition they have received over the years. Watching them dance together is simply marvelous. In this film they have several routines together which they use to portray a number of different emotions that fit in with the plot of the film. Perhaps the most spectacular is when they use a dance routine to show their sorrow when they long to be together but situations won’t allow that to be. Now I’ve never thought that Fred Astaire has the greatest singing voice, but he does fairly well in this film for the few times he’s asked to sing, and all is forgiven once he starts to dance. It took me some time to buy into the plot of Swing Time. The opening sequence was a little too silly, and the meet-cute between Fred and Ginger was horrible. As the story progresses there is this weird section of the film where I lost track of what was happening or why. Suddenly time was passing, but I didn’t know how much time. It wasn’t incomprehensible or annoying, but I felt disconnected and a little lost. Luckily, the story came around for the third act and I suddenly reconnected with everything. In fact the final scenes were so spectacular that I was laughing out loud with the characters and smiling like a fool. It even connected back to the first scene of the movie and made me like that part of the movie more in hindsight. This makes evaluating the quality of the story structure difficult because I started out not impressed, then almost got bored, and finally was delighted tremendously. I think the character work is what saves the film for me. Fred Astaire isn’t playing a loveable guy, but somehow with him in that role I still liked him. Ginger Rogers is all charm and class, so once she gets past the initial scenes that make her seem a bit obnoxious, I loved her. Then there is some comedy added into the mix thanks to 2 amazing performances from Victor Moore and Helen Broderick. Those characters are just friends of the leads, and yet they are always adding a joke or two that kept me chuckling. Between their wisecracks and the gorgeous dance numbers, I found Swing Time to be a film that rises above some plot issues. I was certainly entertained enough to make me want to see more films starring the spectacular Fred and Ginger.

"Waltz in Swing Time" has to be one of the greatest Astaire/Rogers dance numbers put to film

My first Fred & Ginger movie gets an A+ for song & dance but a C- for plot & dialogue.