I've never been a fan of the "song and dance" flicks that became so popular in the 1930's after the Great Depression hit. I've generally understood their popularity...people didn't want to think about how crappy life was, and movies were a cheap way to provide an escape. You could plop yourself down in a seat, and for two hours you were treated to rich people who literally danced through life. Their only problem was catching the eye of that beautiful girl across the room, or landing that handsome man in the tux. Not really my type of escapism. I managed to make it this far through life without ever watching a Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers film.

Recently, however, I started to get a twinge of guilt. How could I really judge these films without ever having sat through one? So I watched Shall We Dance, the Astaire/Rogers vehicle from 1937, which I heard was one of their better collaborations. The story revolves around Peter P. Peters (Astaire,) a ballet virtuoso who vows to a friend that he will meet and marry Linda Keene (Rogers,) a showgirl whose photos have won his heart. In order to avert the affections of a ballet diva he doesn't like, Peter insinuates that he is secretly attached. He then arranges a cruise to New York on the same ship as Linda, where he hopes to bump into her. And he does. However, rumors have already started spreading that they are secretly married, and now they must dance from lie to lie until they are finally (and truly) a happily married couple. My observations:

1) The first 3/4 of the film has surprisingly few song and dance numbers for a "song and dance" flick. However, the final act is one big musical number, which I guess makes up for the scarcity in the earlier acts.

2) Rogers and Astaire are, indeed, a really good on-screen couple.

3) I never noticed before that Ginger Rogers is kind of hot. This helped.

4) Although I enjoyed Shall We Dance more than I thought I would, it's still not my cup of tea.