After a couple of featured parts in some other films, RKO finally teamed Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and made them the leads of The Gay Divorcee. The film was a hit and Astaire and Rogers went on to star in a series of RKO films for about the next 6 years.
Nobody watches a musical for the plot and this one is as about as silly as they come with Astaire falling in love with Rogers, who is trying to get a divorce from her cheating husband. Lots of mistaken identity scenes as only screenwriters in the 1930's could come up with in between the dance sequences.
Astaire was known for being a perfectionist and he would patiently work out the dance routines during pre production. Astaire was also insistent that that the dances would be photographed with the least amount of editing in order to showcase the performers better. The songs were a mixture of different composers, the big production number "The Continental," was written by Cole Porter. Frankly "The Continental" could have used a dance director like Busby Berkley, at times the dancers seem to be lumbering around.
Viewed today the film seems a tad primitive, the comedy scenes are kind of a chore to sit through, but the art-deco sets are fun to see and the dancing is still very good.
The film was written by George Marion Jr., Dorothy Yost and Edward Kaufman, the film runs 107 minutes.
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