Fred Astaire. Ginger Rogers. 1935. The movie is Top Hat. Early in the film Fred and Ginger dance in a pavilion during a rain storm. I was about to say that the scene is just about perfect, but that's silly, it is absolutely perfect.

Speaking of silly, before you watch the scene, take a look at how it fits into the light romantic comedy plot, as described in imdb.com:

While staying in a London hotel with his English theatrical backer, Horace Hardwick, American musical revue star Jerry Travers wakes up Dale Tremont, Horace's downstairs neighbor, with his compulsive tap dancing. Upon seeing the furious Dale, Jerry falls instantly in love and, in spite of her snubbing, daily sends flowers to her room. Then, while posing as a hansom cab driver, Jerry delivers Dale to her riding lesson in the park and romances her in a pavilion during a rain storm.

There's nothing silly about the dancing, of course.  Watch how it begins with another kind dance—romantic pursuit—with the two seated on a bench in the shelter of the pavilion.  Cue the thunder and rain.  Fred sings to Ginger (accompanied by an invisible orchestra, of course), "Isn't this a lovely day?"

Ginger turns away from him, but we see her face, and follow her emotions. She stands up and walks away, he follows her, she turns back to look at him. She sits again on the bench, he sits next to her. We see in Ginger's face that she likes the song and is beginning to like Fred. When he stands up and does a little turn and whistles part of the tune, Ginger responds by whistling the next part.

Then, of course, she stands up and follows him onto the dance floor. Fred has his left hand in his pocket. She puts her left hand in her pocket. She's wearing riding pants. She is his equal, and she's about to prove it. As we all know, Ginger did everything Fred did, "backwards and in high heels."

The other famous line is from an RKO report about an early screen test by Astaire that reportedly read:  "Can't sing. Can't act. Balding. Can dance a little." Astaire's version of the report was "Can't act. Slightly bald. Also dances."

Judge for yourself. TCM has the video of this scene from Top Hat. It's sweet, it's humorous, it's romantic, it's Fred and Ginger, and it's perfect. Enjoy!

Tags: dance, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Top Hat

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