Wonderful, humorous and enchanting. “The Gay Divorcee” is features Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in their first film together as the main talent! Fantastic dance numbers and just an incredibly delightful film. Highly recommended!
Images courtesy of © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: The Gay Divorcee
DURATION: 105 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: Standard 4×3, Black and White, Dolby Digital Monaural
RATED: Not Rated
COMPANY: Turner RKO/Warner Brothers
RELEASE DATE: October 24, 2006
Directed by Mark Sandrich
Based on the musical play by Dwight Taylor, Kenneth S. Webb and Samuel Hoffstein and the unproduced play by J. Hartley Manners
Screenplay by George Marion Jr., Dorothy Yost and Edward Kaufman
Produced by Pandro S. Berman
Music by Max Steiner
Cinematography by David Abel
Edited by William Hamilton
Art Direction by Carroll Clark, Van Nest Polglase
Costume Design by Walter Plunkett
Starring:
Fred Astaire as Guy Holden
Ginger Rogers as Mimi Glossop
Alice Brady as Aunt Hortense
Edward Everett Horton as Egbert “Pinky” Fitzgerald
Erik Rhodes as Rodolfo Tonetti
Betty Grable as Dance Specialty
In one of their best loved, most charming song-and-dance comedies, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers demonstrate just how they became best known as America’s greatest dance team. Includes the Academy Award(R) winning hit “The Continental.” Year: 1934 Director: Mark Sandrich Starring: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Alice Brady
The RKO Radio Pictures years, known for its musicals starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in the mid-to-late 1930’s and later featuring other well known talent such as Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Robert Mitchum and several others.
But it was Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers that help put RKO Pictures on the map with their ten films they did together from 1933-1939, 1949. Although the two were featured in the 1933 film “Flying Down to Rio”, the two received fifth billing but it was due to that film, the two would receive top billing in “The Gay Divorcee”. Beginning with this film, Astaire who was granted the rare opportunity for complete autonomy over how dancing was featured on his films would lead him to become the innovator of having the stationary camera to film a dance routine in a single shot and that the song and dance routines were integrated into the plot of the film. Very different from what Busby Berkeley was doing at the time.
“The Gay Divorcee” was directed by Mark Sandrich (“Top Hat”, “Shall We Dance”, “Everything’s Ducky”) that is based on an un-produced play by J. Hartley Manners and a screenplay by George Marion Jr., Dorothy Yost and Edward Kaufman. The film would be nominated for an Academy Award for “Best Picture”, “Best Music, Score”, “Best Sound, Recording” and “Best Art Direction”. The film would win “Best Music, Original Song” for “The Continental”.
The screwball musical comedy is about Guy Holden (played by Fred Astaire) who is leaving to Europe with his friend/lawyer Egbert “Pinky” Fitzgerald (played by Edward Evertt Horton). While arriving in England, a woman named Mimi Glossop (played by Ginger Rogers) goes to greet her Aunt Hortense (played by Alice Brady).  Unfortunately, her aunt is being detained due to customs but while Hortense repacks her luggage, she doesn’t know that she has closed and lock part of Mimi’s dress inside it. With her aunt gone, Mimi’s dress is stuck and she tries to get help from porter.
Guy sees Mimi and it’s like love at first sight for him. He tries to help her by trying to pull the dress out of the luggage but instead rips her dress. He covers her up with his trench coat and hopes that she will return it with her name and number. Unfortunately, Mimi is not at all attracted to him at first and sees Guy as a nuisance.
Days have gone by and Guy receives his jacket back but now he wants to see Mimi once again. So, he goes all over London to find her to no avail. That is until he accidentally runs into Mimi’s car. She tries to outrace him but Guy manages to catch up to her and give his phone number to her and getting her name. He waits for days but yet no call from Mimi.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Guy, Mimi and her Aunt Hortense go to meet with his friend Egbert and to his shock, he is reunited with his former fiance Hortense. Hortense introduces Egbert to Mimi and then we learn that Mimi is actually married and trying to divorce her husband, a geologist that she has not seen for several years. Due to divorce laws in London, the only way she can divorce is if she is caught in an affair. So, Egbert comes up with an idea to set up a fake one night tryst at a hotel with a man/co-respondent who will use the phrase “Chance is the fool’s name for fate!”. A phrase that Egbert heard from Guy when he was thinking about Mimi.
All she has to do is have this fake adulterous situation seen by an investigator and that would be enough for her to end her marriage. So, Egbert hires Italian Roldolfo Tenneti (played by Erik Rhodes) to be the co-respondent and tells him the phrase but forgets to tell him the room number of where to meet Mimi. Egbert also forgets to hire the investigators and Roldolfo can never get the phrase right and ends up trying to say the phrase to every woman around.
So, on the day she is to meet with the co-respondent, Guy sees her and as a man in love, tries to please her and then he says his usual phrase: “Chance is the fool’s name for fate!”. Immediately, Mimi thinks that he is the co-respondent and is disappointed that this man who was following her around is a guy who does this type of job for a living.
Guy tries his best to win her heart but in her mind, she thinks he is just being sweet to her because it’s his job.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“The Gay Divorcee” is featured in standard 4×3 (1:33:1 aspect ratio) and featured in black and white. Warner Brothers did a great job in featuring this classic film digitally remastered. The film looks very good for a 75-year-old film and there is occasional dust that can be seen and there is a fine layer of grain. But blacks are nice and deep and grays and whites come out quite nicely. There is some flickering due to the original source negative but for the most part, it is not too distracting. Overall, picture quality for this film is quite good and you can tell how this film fares compared to the 1934 short films included on this DVD. “The Gay Divorcee” looks very good!
As for the audio, audio is presented in monaural Dolby Digital. So, it’s pretty much a Dolby Digital 1.0 center channel driven film. Dialogue is clear but personally, if you have a modern receiver and a pretty good audio setup, some may prefer to watch the film with audio directed to all audio channels.
Subtitles for the film are presented in English, French and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“The Gay Divorcee” comes with the following special features:
- Show Kids – (19:58) A colorful short film from 1935 in which the Palace Theater owned by Mr. Jenkins is trying to stay afloat during the Depression and may close. But his 12-year-old son tries to bring in audiences with his own show.
- Star Night at the Coconut Grove – (19:33) A festive color short from 1934 featuring MGM performers such as Bing Crosby, The Debutantes and special guest Mary Pickford and Eduardo Durant and many more.
- Classic Cartoon “Shake Your Powder Puff”– (5:59) A black and white animated cartoon from 1934 directed by Friz Freleng. Featuring animals, the composer tries to conduct his vaudeville show
- Audio-Only Bonus: “Hollywood on the Air” Radio Promo – (13:46) An audio radio promo for “The Gay Divorcee”.
- Theatrical Trailer – (1:18) The original theatrical trailer in its original glory with all scratches and dust galore.
I am making an effort to watch all Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers films and the film I decided to start out with is their first major film together “The Gay Divorcee” from 1934 and what a fantastic film this one turned out to be.  For one, the choreography of the dancing is remarkable. From the first initial dance number from Fred Astaire, you know you’re in for a visual treat and this film does not disappoint.
The comedy and storyline are coherent and immediately, you can’t help but be amazed by the amazing chemistry between both Astaire and Rogers. Despite the two not wanting to create this “musical team”, I can see why audiences wanted to see these two together. They both click and as Astaire is fantastic with his dance moves, Rogers compliments him. Also, there is such class and grace between these two performers that it shows onscreen and makes you appreciate their dancing. It’s really enjoyable to watch.
Of course, for many people “The Gay Divorcee” is famous for its dance numbers.
From Astaire’s solo performance of “Needle in a Haystack” in which he dances and sings to “Let’s K-nock K-nees” featuring Betty Grable (pre-World War II pinup girl) and Edward Everett Horton was enjoyable. Although, Horton is not much of a dancer, Grable’s addition for this short segment was quite refreshing to see. But this is the first choreographed number with a number of people on the beach boardwalk and is fun to watch.
But it’s when you see the two together, that is when you see the magic of these two individuals. Their performance of Cole Porter’s “Night and Day” was delightful and perfectly choreographed and you can’t help but admire their dance performance. Classy and sexy, a wonderful scene.
But of course, the scene that will just make the viewer watch in awe and literally be mesmerized is the 20-minute performance of “The Continental”. Wonderful choreography and also cinematography for this scene alone. Absolutely fantastic!
And we go back to the actual acting. Astaire’s dancing definitely adds flair to the film but he does a good job with playing the dapper Guy Holden and a man in love. Ginger Rogers compliments Astaire’s dancing but it’s her acting that truly shines and just the look on Mimi’s face after the first dance with Guy is quite romantic. And of course, the supporting roles by the talent such as Alice Brady as the perky but naive Aunt Hortense, Edward Everett Horton playing the forgetful lawyer and Erik Rhodes playing the hilarious Italian Roldolfo Tonetti. A charming cast and a memorable film. Overall, “The Gay Divorcee” is a fantastic film and a film definitely worth watching.
It’s important to note that all ten Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers films can be found in the “Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers Ultimate Collector’s Edition” which is highly recommended! Otherwise, you can find “The Gay Divorcee” DVD (and other popular Astaire and Rogers films) from various online or Big Lots stores for $3-$6 each.
“The Gay Divorcee” is highly recommended!