The Golden Ages 1935 - 1937 • "32 Days of Movies" Day 4

The fourth chapter in "32 Days of Movies", an audiovisual tour through 366 films.

(2015 update: included Vimeo embed after the jump)

View "Chapter 4: The Golden Ages"


The Golden Ages

It was a time of barnyard concerts in eye-popping color, giant silhouettes dancing in sync, and exotic swashbucklers vying for the attention of a beautiful woman. No wonder the thirties are considered the golden age for the American film industry, as much of the Hollywood mythos was established in this period. Yet my title is plural for a reason; with the technological hurdle of sound now overcome, this was a global golden age, not limited to Hollywood. France, Britain, and Japan all have something to offer in this entry, in a diverse array of forms: stop-motion fairy tales, humanist dramas, and shocking thrillers. Tomorrow the focus will narrow somewhat but today about half the films hearken from beyond the cozy confines of sunny California.

Astaire and Rogers

Many months in the making, this post is actually relatively simple: it chronicles every Astaire-Rogers dance in every Astaire-Rogers movie. If you had asked me as recently as this summer, "Whom do you prefer - Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire?" I would have positively responded, "Kelly." Though I still admire him, my new reaction to Astaire, whose appeal I didn't really "get" (connecting more with Kelly's athletic hoofing than Astaire's more genteel, seemingly effortless tapping), has shifted completely. Actually, it was Ginger Rogers who gave me my entry into the world of Astaire-Rogers, or Fred and Ginger, as we think of their characters. Taken with her in Stage Door, and then in Carefree, I was soon making my way through all ten of the duo's musicals, many of which were aired on TCM this fall, the others of which I caught up with on Netflix. So much has been written about them, and I have so little to offer in the technical department, that my own thoughts are kept to a minimum, a few observations followed by the videos. None of Fred's solos are included; often they are wonderful, even highlights of the films in question, but I decided just to focus on the pairings (with a few exceptions, all of which feature both of them acting if not dancing). The clips (a few of which contain multiple dances) appear after the jump. [update 5/1: originally this post featured You Tube clips, but they were deleted so quickly that, frustrated repeatedly, I gave up trying to be comprehensive...for the time being. Now I have replaced the original clips with selections ripped, cut, and posted by me. Enjoy.]