Shall We Dance 1937 RKO Studios

Shall We Dance

RKO – 1937

This movie guide-book will be my longest.  There is a LOT to say.  Maybe this one is my favorite.  Keep reading.

The script was written by Allan Scott.  George and Ira Gershwin wrote the music.  Of all the Astaire and Rogers movies, this one might have the very best music of all.  No one expected George Gershwin to die young, but he did, before the film was released.  For that reason alone, this film is a treasure.

There are several ballet sequences in this movie that range from hokey to very weird.  Even though it’s such awkward ballet to watch, it doesn’t detract much from this film because the rest of it is so strong.

The troupe includes Edward Everett Horton and Eric Blore, back again being silly, along with Jerome Cowan as a impresario and some starlet who shows up as a crazy temptress with an accent.  To be fair, Fred affects an accent at times in this one too.  To be really fair, so did Ginger in the “Roberta” movie.  I suppose that was a fun and zany little comic device in the 1930s.

Petrov (FA) is a famous ballet dancer in Paris who really wants to be a tap dancer by his real identity of Pete Peters from Philadelphia PA.   Linda Keene (GA) is a famous stage dancer enjoying success in Paris before she returns to New York to marry a nice-enough dude whom she really doesn’t love. 

Petrov begins with a solo tap dance in his room with a big gorgeous record player (back then called a “hi-fi” which was short for "high-fidelity" which meant that the recorded sound actually sounded faithfully close to the real-life sound, which was cutting-edge technology back in the 1930s. Yes, it is similar to "wifi" and the word "wifi" is actually a little joke on that old hi-fi word). The record player has had a mechanical piece strategically removed by his impresario who doesn’t approve of this type of dancing.  That’s the comedy of the dance, Pete trying to fit his dance to the faulty music.  It’s cute.

He has a crush on American performer Linda Keene, and uses a 1930s version of YouTube on a smart phone to watch her dance.  It’s called a flip-book, which he keeps in his pocket.  A flip-book was a real thing.  You can make your own on a stack of sticky notes with little action drawings – a craft project for you!

Dumb ballet notwithstanding, there are so many things to love about this movie.  The plot is sort of a mistaken identity story – or at least mistaken publicity for a couple of famous stars. 

I love the scenes aboard ship as they travel from Paris to New York.  George Gershwin wrote the incidental dog-walking music specifically for this, and it’s delightful.  Typical of Gershwin, to write perfect and innovative music, and this one is now published and performed under the name “Promenade.”  The dogs are great, too.  It’s almost like a dance, and it definitely moves the story forward.

Here’s a great thing about this film.  Fred!  He’s super-charming in this one, partly because they finally got his make-up right.  In the earlier films they sometimes over-did his face.  Plus, by now we are completely used to his unusual face and are completely won over by his charm, so we are doomed from the beginning.  As soon as he disarms Linda on-board ship as his real self Pete Peters, we are gone.  Aren’t we?

My favorite moment:  Pete (FA) sings “Beginner’s Luck” and it’s a heart-melter.

While aboard ship, Pete heads down to the engine room for a jam session with a jazz band that happens to be there.  Even in an ocean liner’s engine room there is plenty of room to tap dance on a shiny floor.  This dance not only moves the story forward, it moves the art form forward.  Genius.  It even moved society forward, as he was jamming with black men during segregation years.

My favorite moment:  Watch him leap like a gazelle onto the machinery.  Count his turns.  FYI:  He was 38 years old, which is considered old for a dancer.

Once in New York, we’re back to amazing Art Deco hotel room sets with shiny floors and impossibly high ceilings.  Plot continues to develop.  Eventually we get to a song and dance called “They All Laughed” which features Linda Keene (GR) on vocals before adoring fans.  It’s a fun little song, and she’s wearing a really interesting dress.  It’s pretty cute, and it's pretty long for the fancy dancing she has to do.  Petrov joins her and they develop on the spot into the perfect pair.   This is an important dance to definitely watch twice.  Their faces!

My favorite moment:  Toward the end, he really hauls her into a couple of arm spins in a change of momentum that ramps-up their potential energy to land them on top of the piano.  Physics 101.

Now, the next dance is a highlight of motion picture history.  The song, a brand new one introduced here, is “Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off.”  “You say tomayto and I say tomahto; you say potayto and I say potahto….”  You’ve heard it, yes?  It’s cute.  It’s rumored that in real life, Fred said “either” with a long “i” and Ginger said it with a long “e” which inspired lyricist Ira Gershwin to pull together a song that he’d been toying with for a decade.  The lyrics are brilliant.  Take a look:

“For we know we need each other, so we better call the calling-off off.”

For we

Know we

Need each other

So we

Better call

The calling-off

Off

If this song isn’t cute enough, then they dance in Central Park – on roller skates!!!  Real skating and there are very few cuts in the filming.  They are honest-to-goodness tap dancing on skates.  Yes, Gene Kelly did it later in one of his movies, but this was a first.  Ginger said that the ending hurt as much as it looked like it would.

During the Winter Olympics, dancing on skates (ice skates) appears much more advanced, obviously.  However, A&R weren’t skaters!  And most skaters aren’t also singers and actors.  There wasn’t a whole lot of skate dancing yet in the 1930s.

My favorite moment:  Watch Ginger almost lose it.  Fred saves her balance before she takes a spill.

The standard classic “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” is introduced to the world in this movie by Fred Astaire.  It is a vocal only.  Linda (GR) just stands there and listens, emotionally, as Pete sings a wistful goodbye.  What a gorgeous song!

The plot itself resolves well in the final moments of this movie.  However, the end dances are a little strange.  Goofy ballet thing.  Nice dance by Fred, but with the weird mask thing.  You’ll know it when you see it. 

My favorite moment:  Linda speaks Russian.  Ha ha.

There it is.  Even with its downside, there are still many wonderful things about this artistic endeavor.  Enjoy!