Shall We Dance is a 1937 musical comedy film starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The film was directed by Mark Sandrich and it was the seventh film to feature Astaire and Rogers together.
Director: Mark Sandrich
Production Company: RKO Radio Pictures
Distributor: RKO Radio Pictures
Cast: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton, Jerome Cowan, Ketti Gallian
US Box Office: $3,187,500 ($127,100,000 adjusted for inflation)
Film Format: Black & White
Genre: Musical, Comedy
Release Date: May 7, 1937
Plot Summary: Peter P Peters (Fred Astaire) is an American ballet dancer living in France. Peter has a crush on tap-dancer Linda Keene (Ginger Rogers), much to the chagrin of his manager Jeffrey Baird (Edward Everett Horton). Though Linda doesn’t like Peter at first, the two finally start to fall in love on a cruise back to America. However, the two go through all sorts of comedic shenanigans, and Peter’s behavior almost ruins the relationship after he accidently starts a rumor that he and Linda are already married, which spreads like wildfire and gets covered by the national news media. Can Peter make things right with Linda before he loses her for good?
Production: In mid-1936, RKO producer Pedro S Berman was inspired by the recent success of the Broadway musical On Your Toes (1936) by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart to create a Broadway-style musical film for RKO with a well-known composer. Berman managed to attract the Gershwin brothers to the project. George (the musical composer) and Ira (the lyricist) were well known for the Broadway shows they developed music for. As Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers had appeared together in a number of successful musicals for RKO, Berman decided to develop the project around the two of them. This was only the second film that the Gershwins worked on, after Delicious (1931).
The Gershwin brothers began composing the music for the film several months before production began, and even before the film received its title. According to George Gershwin, the brothers were looking for the “right phrase” to call the film. Director Vincent Minnelli, who was friends with the brothers, came up with the title of the film, Shall We Dance?, which Berman and the Gershwins liked. The question mark would later be dropped once production began. Screenwriters Allan Scott and Ernest Pagano wrote the script around the songs that the Gershwins developed for the film. Berman chose Mark Sandrich to direct the film. Sandrich had directed three of the previous Astaire-Rogers films: The Gay Divorcee (1934), Top Hat (1935), and Follow the Fleet (1936).
Berman chose Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, two of RKO’s biggest musical stars at the time, to play the lead roles in Shall We Dance. Shall We Dance was the seventh film to feature the two of them together. During his days working on Broadway, Astaire had starred in two productions composed by the Gershwin brothers: Lady Be Good! (1924) and Funny Face (1927). Margot Grahame was originally cast in the supporting role of Lady Denise Tarrington, but she was later replaced by Ketti Gallian.
Shall We Dance was shot over the course of four months from December 24, 1936 to March 22, 1937. The film was shot entirely on-set at RKO Studios in Los Angeles. Berman had originally wanted George Balanchine to choreograph the musical numbers, but Balachine had to drop out of the project because of his prior commitment to the Metropolitan Opera. Director Mark Sandrich then tried to hire Russian choreographer Leonide Massine for the ballet sequences, but Berman chose Harry Losee instead, in spite of his background in modern dance, he was assigned to the ballet sequences. The scene where Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dance on roller skates in the park (for the “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” song) required thirty-two hours of preparation, and took about 150 takes over the course of four days to get right. At the end of the dance the two fall into the grass and appear to be uncomfortable as they get up. They were actually in pain due to all of the previous failed takes! The other dance sequences in the film went much smoother. Rehearsals for the dance scenes in Shall We Dance took about 300 hours in total.
Fun Facts and Trivia: In separate interviews both Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers have stated that “They Can’t Take That Away from Me” was one of their favorite songs to have danced to. The song was later reused in The Barkleys of Broadway (1949), the last film to pair the two of them together. Edward Everett Horton (Jeffrey) and Eric Blore (Cecil Flintridge) appeared together in two of the previous Astaire-Rogers dance films: The Gay Divorcee and Top Hat. Two of the songs that the Gershwin brothers completed for Shall We Dance were cut from the film. “Hi-Ho” was meant to be the opening number of the film, but wasn’t used because filming the intended scene for the song would have been too expensive. The song was eventually published in 1967. “Wake Up Brother and Dance” was published in 1937 along with other songs from the movie, but wasn’t included in the film to make more room for the “Shall We Dance” number. The song later and appeared in Kiss Me, Stupid (1964) with its title changed to “Sofia.” The woman who dances on stage near the the end of the film, before the final dance scene with Fred and Ginger, was played by real-life ballerina and actress Harriet Hoctor.
Reception: Shall We Dance performed well at the box office and it made a profit for RKO. However, the film was not as successful as the previous Astaire-Rogers musical films, namely Top Hat and Swing Time. This signified that audience interest in the films was beginning to wane. Shall We Dance received generally good reviews at the time of its release. Ann Ross of Maclean’s Magazine gave the film a positive review, she thought that it was better than the previous few films starring the duo.
Shall We Dance has still received some positive reviews in retrospect, though it is one of the more forgotten Astaire-Rogers films. Ken Hencke of Mountain Xpress gave the film a positive review, and noted that while Shall We Dance was not one of the best Astaire-Rogers films, it was still enjoyable. Rory L Anderson of Film Threat gave the film a negative review, he thought that the dance scenes were good, but he was very critical of the plot. In 2004 the song “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” was ranked as the 34th best song in the American Film Institute’s list of the top 100 best songs in American films.
Oscars: Shall We Dance was nominated for one Oscar at the 1938 Academy Awards ceremony: Best Song for “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” (music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin). The film lost the award to “Sweet Leilani” from Waikiki Wedding.
Why You Should See It: Shall We Dance is a pretty good musical comedy film. The songs and the dancing in the film are really good. The dancing in the “Slap That Bass” scene (Astaire in the ship’s engine room) and the “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” scene (Astaire and Rogers roller-skating in the park) are standout moments. The Gershwin brothers deserve credit for the music, and Fred and Ginger were both great dancers. The film has some really funny moments as well. Everett Edward Horton is frequently hilarious in his supporting role.