I just bought the first Astaire & Rogers DVD collection and watched SWING TIME first because of the reviews and I have to say that I was underwhelmed by the musical. It's not awful but it's not the greatest from the duo. The story is especially silly even for a Fred/Ginger film: gambling and marriage?!? What annoyed me about this musical is the lack of, hmm, songs. The first song occurs 25 minutes into the film. After watching the first 25 minutes, I wondered if this was a musical at all. 50 minutes into the film, there were only 3 songs (and only two of those were dance numbers and average ones at that). Because of this, the film dragged. The pacing is all wrong. SWING TIME has a screwball comedy story but the unusual slow pace (it's almost 2 hours long) betrays its intentions. Halfway through it and I was about to give up. And the Bojangles dance number is, sorry to say, a total misfire, because, thematically speaking, it has nothing to do with the rest of the film. It looks totally out of place. It just doesn't jibe.
With that said, there are a couple of great songs in it, including "A Fine Romance." A lovely song indeed. And Fred and Ginger are always great to look at when they do their dance routine even if, alas, are few and far in between here.
The main problem with SWING TIME is the director: George Stevens. Not known for musicals but mainly for big, epic mythical American films (A PLACE IN THE SUN, GIANT and SHANE), SWING TIME feels at times over-directed (certainly for such a flimsy story-line) AND undernourished (certainly regarding its musical aspect).
I really wanted to like SWING TIME but I didn't care much for it. Now I'll watch TOP HAT and SHALL WE DANCE, which are much more enjoyable than this average affair.
With that said, there are a couple of great songs in it, including "A Fine Romance." A lovely song indeed. And Fred and Ginger are always great to look at when they do their dance routine even if, alas, are few and far in between here.
The main problem with SWING TIME is the director: George Stevens. Not known for musicals but mainly for big, epic mythical American films (A PLACE IN THE SUN, GIANT and SHANE), SWING TIME feels at times over-directed (certainly for such a flimsy story-line) AND undernourished (certainly regarding its musical aspect).
I really wanted to like SWING TIME but I didn't care much for it. Now I'll watch TOP HAT and SHALL WE DANCE, which are much more enjoyable than this average affair.