Tagline: Singing! Dancing! Romancing!
Swing Time movie storyline. Another of the greatest Astaire-Rogers dance musicals, their sixth film together, with lyrics and music by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields. Hoofer / gambler “Lucky” Garnett (Fred Astaire) is late to his marriage to hometown socialite Margaret Watson (Betty Furness). Her father Judge Watson (Stevens) challenges his prospective son-in-law to return only after earning a fortune of $25,000 in the big city.
In a local dance studio, Lucky falls in love with instructor Penny Carrol (Ginger Rogers). After many romantic misunderstandings, complications and difficulties in the contrived plot, he finds his real life’s partner. Songs and dances include: “Pick Yourself Up,” “The Way You Look Tonight,” “Waltz in Swing Time,” “A Fine Romance,” “Bojangles of Harlem” (Astaire’s only blackface number in a tribute to Bill Robinson), and the lengthy, romantic dance duet “Never Gonna Dance” in the finale.
Swing Time is a 1936 American RKO musical comedy film set mainly in New York City, and starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It features Helen Broderick, Victor Moore, Betty Furness, Eric Blore and Georges Metaxa, with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Dorothy Fields. The film was directed by George Stevens.
Swing Time (1936)
Directed by: George Stevens
Starring: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Victor Moore, Helen Broderick, Eric Blore, Betty Furness, Georges Metaxa, William Bailey, Harry Bowen, Bill Brande, Ralph Brooks, Ralph Byrd
Screenplay by: Howard Lindsay, Allan Scott
Cinematography by: David Abel
Film Editing by: Henry Berman
Costume Design by: Bernard Newman
Art Direction by: Van Nest Polglase
Music by: Jerome Kern, Robert Russell Bennett
Distributed by: RKO Radio Pictures
Release Date: September 4, 1936
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