16th
Top of the World
If anyone has not seen Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dance together, as I had not until this morning, watch Top Hat (RKO). It’s a gorgeous film with gorgeous people. No story whatsoever, a chance mistaken identity fosters a string of funny, (yes funny, even in a musical) events.
It astounds me that Fred Astaire can be considered a romantic lead. His nearly bald head at age 30, his long, lanky frame, his pointed chin do not add up to be the tall, dark and handsome that we expect from a film star.
But he manages to win Ginger Rogers and the audience over with his insatiable charm. His wittiness and his refusal to take himself seriously make me fall in love with him in every film but with Ginger Rogers, he is unbelieveable.
I don’t know what it is about the pair of them, but they are gorgeous together. Maybe neither of them fall into the romantic lead- she’s too funny, he’s too average-looking.
They’re stunning, and I want them to go on dancing “cheek to cheek.”
