Fred Astaire is the kind of guy that took to show business at a young age and was simply seen as a natural in many ways. His moves and his ability to create a lasting impression with what he could do was the stuff of legend, and even now his name resonates when someone talks about the movies, dancing, or anything in-between since he’s used as a comparison more often than not. There have been those that have said that there will never be another like him and they might be right even as the nature of dancing continues to change throughout the years, becoming something far different than what existed in Astaire’s day. But one thing that’s obvious is that in the movies and in person there’s nothing that can be used to deny that he and many others with him helped to create and stabilize the foundations of dance as they exist now.
Here are some of the best movies from his storied career.
5. Silk Stockings
It’s kind of interesting to see how far a person will go to get what they want sometimes and when it’s concerning the theater the bar seems to be raised much higher since there’s a great deal on the line as far as reputation and fame and fortune go. Canfield does everything within his power to get the composer he wants for his next picture, including bribery on the scale of what might be deemed illegal at this point. When the same person that has sent three bumbling operatives that Canfield easily maneuvers around sends another person, a woman this time, Canfield still works his magic and eventually convinces her to fall in love with him.
4. Easter Parade
You can’t always replace someone by training another person to act and be like them. The great thing however is that eventually Don realizes this and stops trying to treat Hannah like she’s Nadine, as it’s not bound to work. When he finally comes to realize that he and Hannah are able to mesh when they do their own thing however he finally begins to realize that he has feelings for her. This is almost derailed when Don and his ex, Nadine, dance on stage, something that Hannah takes rather personal. When Don explains to her just what happened and why though, Hannah decides to forgive him the next day.
3. Swing Time
Love is a strange thing since it comes and goes at times without much warning. Those that can’t stand each other one moment might be the best of friends and then lovers in the next. But Lucky, his nickname, is kind of ironic since it swings both ways, ends up falling for his dance instructor and trying to avoid her thanks to the fact that he’s already engaged to be married. When he does this however she notices and becomes rather cross with him, even going so far as to accept the affections of another man that’s been trying to woo her. When the whole thing is explained however both she and Lucky decide to get together and finally make it work.
2. Royal Wedding
A lot Astaire’s movies have to do with the complexities of relationships and falling in love but they tend to resolve themselves in one way or another through the actions of those that closely involved with the matter and the help of those around them. In this instance the end sees a double wedding as a result of two couples falling in love and managing to cut through every possible difficulty might see in tying the knot. Astaire’s movies are definitely light-hearted for their time and grant the audience a great deal of joy, but it seems as though in this era they might be taken a different way.
1. Top Hat
It almost seems that if a man pursued Dale the way Jerry did in this movie that he’d be called a stalker or perhaps worse, but back in these days it was seen as a man in love trying to woo the woman of his dreams. The fact that she thought he was the husband of her friend and was disgusted by his behavior is kind of funny really since in her mind he was being something of a pig and didn’t deserve her attention. But thankfully as the movie went on things were finally sorted out and the two were allowed to experience the kind of connection that Jerry wanted all along and things worked out pretty well.
The movies back in the day were certainly built upon ideas that today might be seen a bit wrong or even spiteful in some ways, but back then and even now if you don’t mind adjusting your thought processes as is needed, they’re still classics. Fred Astaire was one of the greats after all, so it’s hard to say anything too bad about him.
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