Dorothy Fields's colloquialism was perfectly suited to her adult view of sexuality, which is delightfully embodied in "A Fine Romance." The first verse, sung by Rogers to Astaire in Swing Time, is the quintessance of her style, at once slangy and elegantly-turned -- not to mention warm-blooded: "We should be like a couple of hot tomatoes, / But you're as cold as yesterday's mashed potatoes."
Terry Teachout, "The Two Female Giants of the American Songbook," Commentary, Sept. 2021
One's favorite Astaire/Rogers film depends on how much one enjoys the comedy of these "musical comedies," often embodied by Eric Blore and Edward Everett Horton, and whether one prefers Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin or George Gershwin. The dancing, choreographed by Astaire and Hermes Pan, is always wonderful, though there is never quite enough of it.
In Swing Time the comedy is often ineffective -- Eric Blore has only a small part with too many reaction shots and Horton is completely absent; director George Stevens works hard and mostly unsuccessfully to get laughs with Helen Broderick and Victor Moore but the two actors do most of the laughing themselves. The dancing, however, is lovely and so are the songs by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields, especially "Pick Yourself Up" and "A Fine Romance." The dances are effective in expressing the increasing love between Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire in spite of their betrothals to others and are closely interwoven with the often absurd plot. There is also a dance for Astaire in blackface "Bojangles of Harlem" which might make one uncomfortable today but is an impressive homage to dancer Bill Robinson, as Arlene Croce says, "it is homage, not impersonation." The comedy might not be at the level of the Rogers/Astaire films directed by Mark Sandrich (especially Shall We Dance, 1937) but the dancing is exquisite.
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