Top Hat(1935)- User Reviews

I got this movie expecting it to be just average, but I easily fell in love with the corny plot, phenomenal dancing, and catchy music. It even throws in humor that I found myself chuckling at, which is rare in most movies I watch.

Story- A pretty simple story of a dancer who runs into a random girl and falls in love. The story revolves around Astaire trying to appeal to this girl and the same time, get rid of her Italian lover, who she travels to Italy with. Its not a great story, but it works for what this movie is trying to achieve. It uses a lot of screwball humor, with Astaire messing around and acting like a clown, and the butler saying the most random and crazy comebacks. I mean the lines are just so memorable like "It looks like we've stepped into a hornets nest" and the butler replying, "Just put some butter on it", and of course when he insults the foreign police officer and keeps calling him an idiot, and he says gracias and bows down after every insult, and then arrests him for harassing an officer before he leaves. Its just things like this that make the movie much better than movies today, and I am as much a Jim Carrey or Will Farrell fan as the next man, but the humor in Top Hat is golden and still holds today.

Acting- Starring musical icons Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers, both were at the top of their class in singing, and both produced many top billboard hits. It also includes great support actors who make this movie the classic that it is. The guy who plays Bates is just hilarious and has an amazing voice.

Visuals- You have some of the best dancing and this movie was actually filmed pretty good for back in the 30s, it even lives up to todays standards, no black dots or anything and sound quality is great. I would never guess this movie was that old, it was way ahead of its time by at least 10 years.

Overall- Its a must see for anyone, it puts most movies today to shame, and plays on innocent, but funny comedy. The dancing and music is great, and some of the greatest songs every composed by Irving Berlin. I think teachers should start exposing these movies to kids through history classes instead of showing them mindless action/drama movies based on history like Cinderella Man or Flyboys. Movies like this show history more accurately than any movie today can, and are fun to watch.

Direction- A pretty straightfoward movie that speaks for itself. It mainly plays on humor to back up the corny plot, but the plot does work. I was disappointed the movie ended so abruptly because I wanted to see more, I wish they would have made a sequel.