Top Hat (1935)

Why it's here:
We needed more musicals! We needed to see the iconic dance team of Astair and Rogers. There is nothing better than Top Hat for that.

Specs:
Just over an hour and a half, black and white; available on dvd

Our family's average rating (on a scale of 1-10):
8.13

More about the film and our reaction to it:
You just never know how your kids are going to respond to a movie. I was sure they'd both be into it. They both really respond to Cary Grant, and Fred Astair always seemed to me like Cary Grant on wheels, just light airy flirty and cool. They liked Astair well enough, but weren't blown away enough by his dancing the way I wanted them to be! Astair dances in my favorite style - so light and graceful, so easy on the eyes. My younger child was far more interested in this film than the older, but he tends to have more patience for things like singing and dancing.

In any case, this is a wonderful film. I can almost picture it being in color (though it was black and white), the costumes and sets are vibrant and classy and really have a sparkly feel about them. The plot relies upon a fair amount of innuendo and involves misunderstandings about cheating husbands. Its good to know that going in... There's also a fair amount of threatened violence too ("for the man, the sword! for the woman, the kiss" is a line we still repeat).

I love the film and would recommend it generally. If it happens to strike a chord with those at your house it might be a big hit. If not, oh well, its still great to see Astair and Rogers. Everyone should.

Iconic shot: