"You may see me only as a drunken, vice-ridden gnome whose friends are just pimps and girls from the brothels. But I know about art and love, if only because I long for it with every fiber of my being."

It has been a good five or six years since I first saw Baz Luhrmann's musical romance Moulin Rouge!. It was one of those experiences that change our lives forever- we think different, see things in a new light, understand ourselves better. You may think that I am over-exaggerating, but I was (am) young and impressionable...and boy that film impressed me! I felt right at home with the revolutionary Bohemians of the Moulin Rouge, and found kind of soulmate in Christian- a Romantic to the core who, without any influence as such, just naturally believes in truth, beauty, freedom and above all things, love. However, when I was watching it today for The Film Experience's Hit Me With Your Best Shot, I also found myself identifying with Satine... "Why live life from dream to dream, and dread the day the dreaming ends".


Therefore you see how this film that often tells me more about myself than almost anything else. So it was a real dilemma to chose my favourite shot, there are just so many things to love in this film. For instance:


1) The sublime beauty of Nicole Kidman as Satine.

2) The humour (just had to put that).

3) Obviously the absolutely gorgeous El Tango de Roxanne, which has everyone screaming at some point, deserves to be shown.

While all these are fantastic, I am now left with two finalists. One is an actual shot within the film, another is a set of six shots that come in the end of the credits.

The Best Shot- This really shows the magic of the film. Here are two people standing on clouds, with an umbrella, the Eiffel Tower and the moon with a face on it in the background. The scene happens when Christian, played by the wonderful Ewan McGregor, is wooing Satine by "Your Song". A melody sung from his heart, for hers, and she is swept away so much so that she imagines a completely unrealistic, yet dreamy place where both of them belong together. I think the background pays homage to the great musicals of yesteryears...the umbrella from Singin' in the Rain, rooftop from Mary Poppins, the Eiffel Tower for An American in Paris, and well the singing moon. I love films which transport us to places, and this singular shot takes me to a wonderland of romance and delight.

The Best Shots- Seriously, this is the favourite part of the film for me. I especially wait for credits to end everytime I watch Moulin Rouge!, because it is incomplete for me until I see these final six shots. I weep, I smile, I feel warm- why? Because these shots reaffirm my belief in the world. The fact that what these wild Bohemians believed in is not something the world has forgotten. We sing the songs that they sing- from Bowie to Kiss to Madonna. Their anthems are our anthems now; art and beauty and freedom and love prospers. It is a little hard to notice with all these Dukes lying around, but come what may, everything the film and its characters holds so dear still exists. That is what the story is all about, and I ardently love it.

Moulin Rouge! is 10 years old now, and I do hope it goes down in cinematic history as the beautiful love story with a Bohemian Can Can twist and a total tribute to the great songs of the 20th century. I mean honestly as lovely as the shots are, the film is nothing without its songs. Do watch and listen!

Thoughts

Just a few random thoughts:

1) Remember just a week back I did an overexcited post on X-Men: First Class? Well, I am much less excited now because it seems that Mathew Vaughn or Marvel Comics or whoever it is in charge of advertising the film has lost their marbles. I mean the whole film is practically out in little video clips on Youtube... or atleast all the fun action bits are. I don't understand, why would they do that? And not just X-Men, but also Hangover 2, Kung Fu Panda 2 etc. I have only been watching the X-Men stuff so that I don't feel cheated out of my movie-going experience for the rest as well (also because of my less enthusiasm for them). Just now I saw that this year's Palme d'Or-winning Tree of Life also has clips out, except that sort-of makes sense because of the type of film it is and the demographic it appeals to. It definitely is not a film that can be understood in a few clips, and it won't be watched by everyone and that actually makes it a clever advertising strategy. But it's a very rare exception.

2) I was reading this Q&A post at Anomalous Material and the comments made me feel a bit...well bad, that people really don't like Bollywood. This is a surprising thing for me because I am constantly ridiculed for my preference of' "those English films", but as of late I have come to watch quite a bit of foreign cinema and it seems absurd to me that I would not stand up for my own country's very iconic movie industry. There are some great films in there, but as I discussed with my father once (the only really sensible movie-related conversation I've really had with the man), most of it has been condensed into the same action-romance bullshit that became famous in the late 70s. Add to that the incessant copying of Hollywood films and ideas, while adjusting it to the rigid mores of the Indian society, and you end up with a lot of tripe. Nowadays a new trend of "modern" films have emerged, in which everything has a dance number shot in Dubai, and there is a lot of talk about sex and homosexuality, but in the end it is all treated as a joke.

But in all of this garbage, some great films have been made by filmmakers who dare to do different things, or do things differently...

3) Which brings me to my third and final thought, or rather question- should I do a Bollywood Film Marathon??  I have planned numerous marathons in the past which never came through- the Harry Potter one which got too tiring (but most probably will be done still, you never know), the Winona Ryder one after watching Black Swan which I couldn't do because of the impending exams, the Disney Princess one leading upto the Royal Wedding but I didn't have a laptop to watch them, and ofcourse my Woody Allen one, which I've literally been planning for ages and was gonna do soon but I can't seem to locate some of his earlier works. 

So Bollywood anyone? I will obviously have to find some of the films from places because the television shows the afore-mentioned tripe 99.99% of the time... but I do have a nice list in mind for someone who was practically born in an Indian cinema theatre(my mum's words, not mine)  because I have been watching Bollywood films since I was very very small. This might be a total hit-and-miss thing, and my gargantuan self-esteem might not be able to take it, but I have been feeling very patriotic lately.

4) Also also also...do read this absolutely wonderful post by Stevee at Cinematic Paradox, if you haven't already. It talks about horses and films!

Soooooo... these were some of my thoughts... how about yours?

15 Movie Questions Meme

So there is a 15 Movie Questions Meme that has been started by Anna from Defiant Success. It's very interesting, and got me thinking. Here's what I came up with:

1) Movie you love with a passion.

The Harry Potter Series- Is it any surprise? I owe my life to these films... I would've never fallen in love with films if it wasn't for them. Not because they are the greatest films ever, but because they fill my life with magic and wonder.

2) Movie you vow to never watch.

The Last Song- It's a film based on a Nicholas Sparks book starring Miley Cyrus. Give me all the Twilights and all the Biebers, but save me from this worst kind of sapfest.

3) Movie that literally left you speechless.

Pan's Labyrinth- Maybe it's because I was crying, but I could not find words to describe the emotions going through me when this ended. It was happiness, and sadness, and amazement, and just the beauty of Long, Long Time Ago wafting over me. I understand what those folks at Cannes felt.

4) Movie you always recommend.

Fight Club- Just to see the change in the person, that is bound to come after seeing this.

5) Actor/actress you always watch, no matter how crappy the movie.

Johnny Depp- Light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. He has me quoting Humbert Humbert for crying out loud!

6) Actor/actress you don't get the appeal for.

Russell Crowe- I just can't stand him for some reason. I think he's my anti-Depp. Yes he's a good actor blah blah blah... but I sort of really hate him.

7) Actor/actress, living or dead, you'd love to meet.

Woody Allen- I cheated! Well most of the people I want to meet are directors, but Woody acts too! I think it would be just so intellectually stimulating to meet him, even though he may think of me as an ignorant fool.

On the flipside, I would never want to meet Ryan Gosling, because I'll embarrass myself silly around him. He is just so sexy and has a very weird grip on me, I'm telling you...

8) Sexiest actor/actress you've seen.

Ryan Gosling- See above.

9) Dream Cast.

Streep, Depp, Blanchett, Garfield, Dunst, Tucci, Ronan and Radcliffe- Okay I know it's rather big, but I have actually thought of a weird story with all of them. I mean we have royalty, under-appreciated actors and the up-and-coming ones.

Maybe Tarantino can do something...a girl can dream, right?

10) Favourite actor pairing.

Richard Gere and Julia Roberts- I really though Kate and Leo will take this, but I love them more off-screen. But the way Gere and Roberts electrify the screen, it's quite something else.

11) Favorite movie setting.

Paris, France- I guess this would be a common thing. Audrey Hepburn said it was always a good idea, and from the New Wave to Moulin Rouge!, An American to Pink Panther, we all love the city of love. And we'll always have it.

12) Favourite decade for movies.

Sixties- Without any doubt. 'Twas a magical time. I still wish I lived then.

13) Chick flick or action movie?

Action movie- The success rates of both nowadays is low, but with the improved special effects, most action movies deliver enough.

14) Hero, villain or anti-hero?

Anti-heroes- Yes I love them, I love them, I love them! How many times more? I FUCKING LOVE ANTI-HEORES!!

15) Black and white or color?

Black and White- It reminds me of a quote from a book, about a character reminiscing the past:

"In those days, thought Mr. Fisher, we dreamed in colour, though films were in black and white, good always triumphed in the end, and only Americans spoke American."

In other words, there is something very right about black and white (that rhymed!).

Hope it was fun reading it as much as I had fun answering them.

“I’d like to grow up and be beautiful. I know it doesn’t matter, but it doesn’t hurt.” ~Kirsten Dunst

So I've been a fan of Kirsten Dunst for a very long time. Many of my friends don't like her for that wretched Mary Jane Watson role, but they barely look past it. I think the first film of hers that I saw was the fantasy-film Jumanji. She was so sweet in it, a typical older sister, who had because of the game been released into this world of surprising horrors and insane jungle-stuff. Prior to Jumanji, she had been in a few other films, most notably Interview with the Vampire and Little Women. Both adaptations of famous books; in the first she played Claudia- a young vampire who lives with fellow-vampires Lestat and Louis, played by Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt respectively. It was a very interesting role, certainly a predecessor to the young vampires we see everywhere now. I remember feeling very bad for her, never being able to grow up along with growing old, along with that strange relationship she had with both men. I though she was particularly powerful because she did demand my attentions in her scenes more than her much more accomplished co-stars. She played the younger Amy in Little Women, who is my least favourite March sister, but she was absolutely adorable in the role. From her nose-worries, to being a total brat, to having that very special relationship with Laurie (a very young Christian Bale).

I think Kiki was the quintessential teen-star, something that many of her successors have tried to be, but unfortunately failed. I think it's her blonde locks, and joyful face and sweet voice. This worked behind many of her late 90s-early 2000 films like Strike, Bring it On, Drop Dead Gorgous and The Virgin Suicides. The first two are much lighter roles like the cheerleader Torrance in Bring it On. She's funny and preppy and just plain contagious. I mean how can one not know all the cheers by rote, right? The latter two are much darker roles. I think as Amber Atkins in Drop Dead Gorgeous, she perfected the bright-eyed, beautiful, smart teenager-look that a teen-film like this needs as its protagonist. In all the craziness of the film, her character remains the only sane one. Now Virgin Suicides, which was done much before these, is one of her darkest roles to date. She played one of the younger Lisbon sisters, whose lives are doomed as shown by the title of the film itself. She's the main one, without doubt, just the kind of beauty that all the boys in the film are after... with darker undertones. 

After all of these, she did her most famous role to date- Mary Jane Watson, the love-interest of Peter Parker and his alter ego Spiderman. She was not that annoying in the first one, but as the films kept coming, the more and more I found myself hating this character. Infact, it's number 2 on my most annoying film-characters list, preceded by Bella Swan and followed by Frodo Baggins. While it did what she wanted it to do for her career, that is make her well-known all over the world, it did become one of the most stereotypical damsel-in-distress roles ever.

In between, she tried to let go of her teenage image by choosing more adult, or rather young adult roles. She was there in Michel Gondry-Charlie Kaufman modern classic- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Her character Mary was this naive girl who is infatuated with her much older employer. he starred in the ensemble female-drama Mona Lisa Smile, a film set in the early 50s, which questioned the role of women in society then. She played a very traditionalist, headstrong character Betty, who is found often sparring with her free-minded teacher, played by Julia Roberts. While it's one of her least-likeable roles, she does adopt the look of a Stepford-ish housewife really well. She was also there in romantic films like Elizabethtown and Wimbledon, the latter being a particular favourite of mine. I liked her relationships with her heroes in these films- Orlando Bloom in the first and one very fit Paul Bettany in the second. 

After these came Marie Antoinette, which is the last film that I've seen of her, save Spiderman 3. I've written time and again about how much I love this film, and how much I love her in it. She got back together with her Virgin Suicides-director, Sofia Coppola and made one of the most unique period films ever. She's just transplendent in it. She looks uncommonly beautiful- a sort of decadence with the freshness of youth, and ofcourse those marvelous clothes and jewelery and hair. She plays the ill-fated monarch from her blooming early teens till her death in her twenties, which is a major part of any girl's life. In that time she has to get her prince to impregnate her, get love from her country, get respect from her mother, and have lots and lots of fun (and candy =P). Of course things do not go that way, and Kiki in the end is just so impactful, that atleast I felt like saving her.

Now the reason why I am writing this whole ode to Kirsten Dunst is because she has won the Best Actress award in Cannes for her upcoming film Melancholia! I am so happy that she is going to finally get the critical appreciation that she has worked so long to get. I thought that this looked bleak after the ban put on it's director Lars Von Trier, for his "Pro-Nazi" comments, but she did it. I will definitely be watching this film, which looks very intriguing from the trailer, and for her ofcourse. She also will be playing Camille in Walter Salles's adaptation of Beat-epic On The Road. I just can't wait!

CONGRATULATIONS TO MS. DUNST FOR BEING SUCH A WONDERFUL ACTRESS!

New Reviews- POC4, Thor, Hanna

       So apparently the world was supposed to end yesterday...and I had this review in mind for a very appropriate film, i.e. Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men. But it seems my laziness is way past apocalyptic urgency. Still seeing that Harold Camping has been very wrong, and "the real end of the world" is still 19 months away, I do have the opportunity to post my review! Soon that is...


         For now, I think it's makes sense to write about the new Pirates film, which follows At World's End (see what I did there?!) And also the other two recent releases I saw- Thor and Hanna. Here it goes:

1) Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides- This film for me picked up where the Curse of the Black Pearl left off. I mean I love Johnny Depp and I love Captain Jack Sparrow but Dead Man's Chest and At World's End were a bit of a mess, especially the latter. It had gotten too confusing, I admit. So I was little skeptical about On Stranger Tides...but it delivers beautifully. In this one, we see Capt. Jack, Barbossa, and Gibbs are on the search for the treasured Fountain of Youth, along with Jack's ex-flame Angelica (Penelope Cruz), the dreaded pirate Blackbeard (Ian McShane), the British, the Spaniards, etc. 


         There's a lot of swashbuckling involved, along with mermaids and obviously Capt. Jack escape-specials. The story was much more simpler, focussed on a few things and the logic behind all that was clear. The witty dialogues were there, with good action scenes, and a great chemistry between Depp and Cruz (unlike that which he had with a certain Miss Jolie), all of which fueled the film. There was the "new" Will and Elizabeth in the form of a clergyman Phillip and a very Brooke Shield-y mermaid Syrena. They were okay, only mildly annoying but no where near the heights of super-painfulness that Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley achieved. They were played by Sam Claflin (who will forever now be known as "Cheekbones") and Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey. Though I missed the grand Black Pearl and the gorgeous locations throughout most of the film, this Rob Marshall piece looked fine enough, with the scary-looking Queen Anne's Revenge and the darker atmosphere. My favourite things were the cameos- from the truly enchanting Gemma Ward as a vicious mermaid, to Capt. Jack's father and inspiration Capt. Teague played by the legendary Keith Richards, to the always grand Richard Griffiths and one very special royal dame whose completely unexpected appearance made me squeal with joy!


           All I can say was that this was a decent effort, and I am very glad for the focus being brought back to the man who started it all and is the very soul of the franchise- Mr. Johnny Depp. I mean every expression, every move, everything he says is brilliance! I will always love the hero that Capt. Jack is and his tenacity towards life. Though he is a rogue and often dishonest, he is often more right than anyone else ever. I have started to, mildly, feel bad about how predictable Mr. Depp's unpredictable career choices have become, but I guess if he continues to perform the way he does (save The Tourist!), I will still be very proud to be his number one fan. I mean I was watching Secret Window this very morning, and there's a jiffy towards the end when he makes this freaky mouth movement, and it makes soooo much sense in context with the film. These tiny details, that Capt. Jack is full of and Depp can perform perfectly, almost unconsciously, is what makes him...them great.


           Favourite Scene- The beautiful mermaids attacking Blackbeard's crew. Reminded me of the all-jazzed-up ladies from another Rob Marshall feature.


           Rating- 9 out of 10- for a relatively simple and exciting action adventure, one which caused the cinema hall where I was watching to repeatedly clap out loud (very enjoyable experience I must say). The place where it lacked was to show off the fabulous Penelope Cruz more, along with leaving certain loose ends. And Capt. Jack rules ofcourse.

2) Thor- It was fun. I had very less expectations for it, not understanding how in the world could Kenneth Branagh direct an action flick. The tale is about the Thor, the Norse God of Thunder, the son of Odin who is the ruler of Asgard...who in his childish and brawnish recklessness decides to provoke the Frost Giants, inhabitants of Jotunheim, who have been in a very volatile truce with Asgard. As a punishment Odin strips him of his powers and exiles him to Earth, where who should he find but Natalie Portman, or rather scientist Jane Foster and her skeptical team. At the same time, in Asgard, Odin has fallen sick and the throne is passed on to his younger son, the mischievous Loki. Along with Thor, his legendary weapon Mjolnir has also been sent to Earth, where only he who is can possess it and Thor's powers. And who should be after it but Agent Coulson from S.H.I.E.L.D. (something which I remembered only after the film had ended- sorry Ironman 2 didn't really leave an impact on me). That's about the premise of the story. 


          Chris Hemsworth plays the banished Norse God/Superhero. My god he is biiiiiiig. He was good, having the over-confident look about him that a spoilt and proud prince is expected to have. He handled the action scenes well, and it was believable when he threw his hammer around. Honestly the only person I really liked was Tom Hiddleston, who played Loki. Now everyone knows about my affinity towards villains, especially super-villains, and this was no different. I liked his character, the things he did and the reasons behind them. Hiddleston plays's him with the subtlety I always imagined a character like Loki to have. I was totally rooting for him.


         There are other people too- Odin is played by god of all gods- Sir Anthony Hopkins, Jane played by the absolutely stunning Portman ofcourse, her assistant Darcy was played by the always delightful Kat Dennings, her mentor Erik was the nice and supporting Stellan Skarsgard; Clark Gegg reprised his role as Agent Coulson. They were all fine, but I think completely unnecessary. Everyone was pretty much unnecessary. But the action sequences were good, and Asgard was very cool-looking. I thought that the coming of Thor on Earth could have been shown better, it all seemed too easy for a God being able to adapt amongst humans. And the action sequence with the Destroyer was terrible... it made no sense to me at all.


            Favourite scene- The first time Thor and his friends go to Jotunheim to fight the Frost Giants. Thor's superior fighting skills, done with utmost ease, along with the fighting styles of all his friends is shown properly here.


            Rating- 7 out of 10- for a proper beginning of the much-awaited superheroes season (no I don't count Green Hornett...or Green Lantern for that matter, but more on that later). The action sequences were cool, the super-villain was just perfect, and there was enough going on to keep the film from slowing down. On the downside, almost everyone was a prop, and the possibilities of Thor's exile were not exploited properly.

3) Hanna- Slick, cool, gorgeous. I've always admired Joe Wright's films visually, and this one does not disappoint. Ofcourse this is very different from his previous enterprises, but just as fruitful (I haven't seen The Soloist though). Hanna starts in the Arctic Circle, where we meet Erik and his daughter Hanna, who have been training all her life for a special cause. And that is to kill CIA agent Marissa Wiegler. When Hanna thinks she is ready, Erik goes into hiding and Hanna is brought to Marissa. But the devious Wiegler is suspicious about this innocent-looking young girl and sends in another woman, and she watches in horror and amazement as Hanna turns into this adept and ruthless killer who kills her double and escapes unscathed. Out in the real world for the first time, Hanna must find her father, the truth about her own self, the cause of her enmity with Wiegler and what it is to be normal.


         Hanna is played by the very alluring and devastatingly talented Saoirse Ronan, Erik by the cavalier and awesome Eric Bana and Wiegler by the sublime (Queen) Cate Blachett. Very much like Atonement, Ronan truly shines the most in this film. She has a German accent throughout, speaks many languages, is focussed and ruthless, yet full of wonder. Something like electricity amazes her more than I think anything can amaze me. I loved how childish she was, but still deadly enough to scare many grown-ups. She meets a travelling English family and befriends their daughter Sophie, who is about the same age as her. The contrast between them is both amusing and upsetting. Hanna's innocence- sexually and generally, reminds me of a Mean Girls quote, "I love her. She's like a Martian!" I bet Sophie thinks this...especially when both of her go on an outing with two boys. Jessica Bardem played her and she was very funny. 


         Bana and Blanchett were very good too. I do love it when she plays the baddie (one of the few saving graces of the slightly absurd Indiana Jones and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull), and Hanna did in many ways found her match in her. Except that's where the film also lacks for me because I do not understand why noone else cares about finding her. Her secret is a big one, and the fact that only Wiegler knew about it and the government particularly didn't do anything when a lethal, albeit tiny assassin kills people in their premises. I also thought the big reveal and climactic fight was too short, and well anti-climactic. As said earlier, the look of the film was fantastic, with the Arctic wilderness, the Moroccan and Spanish backdrop and the supercool CIA safehouse. The Chemical Brothers provided the music and it worked beautifully in the action sequences.


        Favourite scene- The escape from the Moroccan safehouse. The music, the lights, the action, Saoirse's eyes... pure cinematic magic. I was jumping up and down my seat, I do not kid you. 


        Rating- 9.5 out of 10- An almost perfect thriller. Stellar performance from Saoirse Ronan and the supporting cast was very good as well. Girl Power!!! The ending could have been better, and that was the only flaw. A superb effort by director and co-writer Joe Wright!




Random observation- I think if few elements of Hanna and Thor were interchanged- more of the real world in Thor and more of action in Hanna, they would've been considerably better.


        So I hope people watch these films... The Hangover 2 is out next week and I have seen the very desperately anticipated X Men: First Class. I do wish they are very good as well. What about you??
           

"You see once in a while, I suddenly find myself... dancing."

         Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing in the film Top Hat reminds me of a quote from a very, very different film-
"Oh bliss! Bliss and heaven! Oh, it was gorgeousness and gorgeousity made flesh. It was like a bird of rarest-spun heaven metal or like silvery wine flowing in a spaceship, gravity all nonsense now. As I slooshied, I knew such lovely pictures!" And not just slooshied, but viddied as well. Yes I know my Nadsat lingo real horrorshow.


        In the film Astaire's character Jerry Travers is an American professional dancer whose shows in London are being produced by a Horace Hardwick. While staying at a hotel, Jerry does a rather loud tap dancing routine which wakes up Roger's character Dale Tremont who is sleeping just a floor below him. Angered at this disturbance, she goes to confront him. Both of them meet and sparks fly immediately. But due to some confusion, Dale starts to believe that he is infact Horace, who is the husband of her friend Madge and is disgusted at his infidelity. They all end up in Venice, along with Horace's valet Bates and Dale's designer Alberto Beddini and the mix-up continues to expand. Through various situations and a couple of Astaire-Rogers magical dance numbers, everything clears up and this screwball comedy of errors has a very happy ending.

          The film is directed by Mark Sandrich and written by Allan Scott and Dwight Taylor. I had a little problem with the story... I thought everything happened too fast. I guess I believe in love at first sight only in Disney movies, but very rarely otherwise. And being of a "I Don't Need a Man to Make It Happen"-feminist ideology, I felt bad when Dale "marries" Beddini. Ofcourse it made sense in the comical way in the end, and I applaud the writers for that. Then little one-liners here and there make the film very enjoyable, especially those with Madge and Horace. I liked the way it portrayed the upper class and their absurd habits, whether it's the pin-dropping silence in the London Thackeray Club where if a pin did drop, it would probably cause a scene, or the acceptance of a spouse's infidelty with pride and joy practically.


         This is a very famous film, and I think I've always known about it. But the first time I remember being distinctly aware of it was at the bittersweet ending of Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo. Astaire and Rogers dance Cheek to Cheek, and the whole world seems to melt. They were great leads and I have unfortunately not seen any other films of theirs, even though I have spent hours on Youtube watching their various dance numbers. Fred Astaire is a funny-looking guy, but his smile is absolutely infectious and I liked how he was cavalier throughout the film, even at times when other actors might have looked desperate. Ginger Rogers is absolutely beautiful, but she too has a quirky look about her that makes her all the more engaging. There is no doubt why these two are such famous Hollywood onscreen sweethearts, they seem to belong with each other- in dance and just plain conversing. And boy can they dance and sing!

          The other cast members were very good also. I particularly loved the Hardwicks, played by Edward Everett Horton and Helen Broderick. I think that were it not for the dance numbers, they would've stolen the show from Astaire and Rogers. They were hilarious, Horace with all his little blunders and foolhardy and Madge with her sardonic acceptance of Horace's cheating habits. Bates played by Eric Blore was funny too; his way of talking about himself in plural reminded me of Gollum a lot. Now it might be my fault, but Beddini seemed very gay to me and I was surprised when he proposes to Gale. But I suppose that because for so many years when a similar character has been portrayed onscreen who has always been gay, it led me to believe that and if I had seen the film when it first came out, I wouldn't have thought otherwise.


        Now I must talk about the music. The divine Irving Berlin provided the music for this film. I think Top Hat is one of the most famous musical numbers there is, and with good reason. It's so upbeat and catchy and smooth that one cannot help but fall in love with it. I loved Cheek to Cheek and the Piccolino too. The dancing was choreographed by Astaire and Hermes Pan. It was absolutely splendiferous obviously, and just makes me want to tap dance too. So very bad.

        The clothes were gorgeous, especially those of Rogers. I, for one, loved the ostrich feather-ed dress and the way it moved when she danced with Astaire. Bernard Newman was the stylist for the film. Carroll Clark was the art-director of the film. I loved the sets, especially the stage during Top Hat and all of Venice, which just seemed like a gigantic ballroom floor made for Astaire and Rogers to dance so prettily around. I officially want the Big White Set to make a comeback now.


         All in all, it was one thoroughly enjoyable film, a solid reminder of the screwball comedy-musical days of Hollywood. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are Hollywood legends and noone can ever ever replace them. Do watch!