Top Hat (1935)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: A glamorous and enthralling Depression-era diversion, Top Hat is nearly flawless, with acrobatics by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers that make the hardest physical stunts seem light as air.
Top Hat Photos
Movie Info
Watch it now
Cast
as Jerry Travers
as Dale Tremont
as Horace Hardwick
as Madge Hardwick
as Bates
as Alberto Beddini
as Flower Salesman
as Flower Clerk
as Hotel Manager
as Flower Salesman
as Hotel Manager
as Call Boy
as Lido Waiter
as Thackeray Club Waiter
as Elevator Passenger
as Fisherman
as Dancer
as Dancer
Critic Reviews for Top Hat
All Critics (37) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (37) | Rotten (0) | DVD (3)
Finally, thanks more to Fred Astaire than any other single influence, the character of musicomedy in the cinema has now completely changed.
This one can't miss and the reasons are three -- Fred Astaire, Irving Berlin's 11 songs and sufficient comedy between numbers to hold the film together.
This 1935 musical finds Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers at the top of their form.
Because we are bound by gravity and the limitations of our bodies, because we live in a world where the news is often bad and the prospects disturbing, there is a need for another world somewhere, a world where Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers live.
The plot is involving, especially as it builds to its seemingly impossible-to-solve finale.
Audience Reviews for Top Hat
"Heaven, I'm in heaven". The fourth film to pair up legendary duo Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, "Top Hat" features some legendary songs by Irving Berlin ("Top Hat, White Tie and Tails", and "Cheek to Cheek") and some very charming dance sequences by the two stars. When Horace and Madge (Edward Everett Horton, Helen Broderick) seek to set up their two friends on a date, the woman, Dale (Rogers) mistakes Jerry (Astaire) for Madge's husband, Horace. As Jerry woos Dale, she can only resist as a good friend should when said friend's husband is making plays for her. Dale's friend, Alberto Beddini is a fashion designer with eyes on his model, but she doesn't take him seriously. Then there's Bates, the butler of Horace who always refers to himself as a small group ("we will take your hat for you, sir") and lives to antagonize his boss. It's a light romantic comedy to be sure, but between all the nonsense there's some amazing dance numbers. There's something so familiar to the Astaire/Rogers asthetic that it may as well be ingrained in our collective subconscious. It is elegance and class personified, a depression-escaping fantasy to be sure, but it is beauty and art, both basic and complex. That these two still resonate so deeply within our hearts and minds, nearly eighty years later, is a testament to just how great they really were.
Super Reviewer
Probably a classic in it's genre, but this rating is purely based on my personal taste. The balance between movie and music is excellent, the chemistry between Fred and Ginger is great. But I just didn't feel it. The decor and the clothing were hideous, and the movie a little too theatrical for my taste. This is my first and probably my last dance movie.
Super Reviewer
This is a funny movie of mistaken identity, starring Fred and Ginger, and including some dance numbers as usual, but I liked the comedy best.
Super Reviewer
Top Hat Quotes
| Bates: | Where do you want it, sir? |
| Horace Hardwick: | Want what, Bates? |
| Bates: | The steak, sir. |
| Horace Hardwick: | On my eye. |