Weekend Watch 1/12-1/13

What I’m watching this weekend: Shall We Dance (1937)- 1 hr 56 mins

On a bit of a Fred and Ginger kick, this week I’m planning on carving out some time to watch one of my favorites. But who am I kidding?! All of Fred and Ginger’s films are favorites and all of their dance numbers are iconic. It really is hard to pick just one. Of the 10 films that they made together, each has something special that makes them really impossible to compare. In Carefree (1938), there’s “The Yam” dance, where Astaire continually turns and lifts Rogers over a room full of tables, and, in this particular film, they tap dance on roller skates!

Both are performing in Paris. Rogers is the tap dancing singer Linda Keene. Astaire plays Petrov, a famous ballet dancer who has grown smitten with Keene and, through her, tap dancing. When Linda decides to return to New York, Petrov boards the same ship under the pretext of performing at the Met.

The two spend a lot of time together and grow fond of one another. However, when a rumor spreads like wildfire that they are secretly married, the two decide to actually get married and then seek a divorce, but their plans might have to be called off as rumors of their romance start becoming fact!