Top Hat

"Cheek to Cheek" (music: Irving Berlin) is one of the most famous and beautiful Rogers & Astaire dance numbers and without a doubt the pivotal point of the film: hypnotic minutes of seemingly effortless floating and of the organic interaction of two dancers. Yet, the film begins with Astaire virtually "footloose" and a nighttime tour-de-force ("No Strings") tap dance that robs Rogers of sleep. Her complaint to the hotel manager is the beginning of an amusing farce of mistaken identity that quickly shifts from rainy London to Venice, or rather to an absurdly stylized confectioner's studio version of the lagoon city. Here, Rogers and Astaire navigate their way through a multitude of misunderstandings, continuously encouraged by four glorious comic sidekicks (Edward Everett Horton, Helen Broderick, Eric Blore and Eric Rhodes). (mg)