Review of Swing Time (90)

Plot
A performer and gambler travels to New York City to raise the $25,000 he needs to marry his fiancée, only to become entangled with a beautiful aspiring dancer.

Jason’s Thoughts
There are a handful of movies on this list that I am not looking forward to and Swing Time was one of them. As always, though, I went into watching with an open mind and this movie was a pleasant surprise.

The overall story is very contrived (who drives a convertible with the top down while it is snowing?), but that is not the main attraction of the movie. The main attraction is the music and dancing. The story really is secondary and is used as a vehicle to take the audience from one dance routine to another. As far as the dancing goes, there is no question in my mind that Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were talented dancers.

With all of the great dancing going on during the film, I was able to look past the hokey plot and ended up being entertained by it. I was also amazed to see that most of the dance routines were captured with a single camera shot. In this day and age of Hollywood blockbusters and special effects, it was nice to take a trip back in time to see how things were once done with very little editing and the absence of CGI.

Sure, Swing Time is a simple movie, but it is an entertaining one. And during the time of the Great Depression, isn’t that really what America needed?

Crystal’s Thoughts
I haven't exactly been looking forward to the "classics" on the movie list though I know we should really appreciate these movies. And give me some credit, I am one of the biggest fans of Gone with the Wind (are we ever going to get to that one on the list!?!). I didn't mind Ben-Hur either, and now, after viewing yet another oldie, I think I am finally open and excited for them. Swing Time showed extraordinary camera work, talented acting and a fun, creative story line.

While it is amazing to see how much film has advanced (yes, you could tell the sets were "sets"), this certainly wasn't a poorly made film for its time either. Of particular interest to me was how real the snow was when the scenes outside were shot. No, it didn't look so glamorous when shot from the inside coming down, but when Penny and Lucky are out playing in the snow, you could feel the coldness of it and imagine yourself throwing a snowball along with them.

And certainly this cannot be changed, but I would absolutely love to see this film in color. Penny wore the prettiest of costumes, and I am sure they were breathtaking saturated in color. The amount of music (yes, I know, it’s a musical) present in the movie drove me a little crazy at times, but I enjoyed how the songs kept with the storyline and weren't just added for the musical factor. Overall though, I can finally write that this movie fits into the AFI's best of the best list.

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