Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

There are movies that are meant to make you think, and movies meant to shock and keep you in suspense. Forget that. This is pure entertainment. Wonderfully cast, beautiful sets and art direction...and then, the dance. The magnificent Night and Day is meant to be absorbed and cherished as that one moment when everything was perfect. Just enjoy. Nothing recent comes close.

The Gay Divorcee, is technically Fred Astaire and Ginger Roger's second film (if you count Flying Down to Rio) and it's a fun little romantic comedy musical. It follows Ginger Rogers who travels to England to get a divorce from her husband, and meets Fred Astaire. Ginger's lawyer suggests that she be spotted with another man in order to get her husband to divorce her, and she mistakes Fred Astaire as the man who she is to be spotted with. The truth comes out, and they dance together. Of course, everything works out in the end.The plot is a bit stronger than Flying Down to Rio, and I liked the characters a lot more. You can really sympathize with Ginger Rogers as she feels ignored by her husband and is desperate for a divorce. Fred Astaire is a suave professional dancer, and falls in love with Ginger. The humor in this movie works. I think the scenes with Ginger's lawyer and her aunt are funny, and Erik Rhodes, the man who Ginger is to be spotted with is hilarious. Some of Fred Astaire's lines are funny.This is a classic movie musical, and it has the usual tropes. Near instant romance, miscommunication that could be solved with a two minute conversation, and elaborate dance numbers. Of course, the dance numbers were excellent. "The Continental" is a fun, beautiful dance sequence. Betty Grable's "Knock Knees" number is entertaining. "Night and Day" is a beautiful sequence with a beautiful dance by Fred and Ginger. And that's really why you watch these movies. Not for the practically non-existent plot, but the dance scenes.Overall, The Gay Divorcee is nowhere near the best musical ever made. It's not even the best Astaire/Rogers film. But it's still a fun, enjoyable, happy movie to watch.

The movie musical had been a Hollywood staple since the dawn of the talkies, but after a few years the novelty of the all-singing picture was wearing off and the studios had to refresh the genre with new tricks and, most crucially, popular stars. Old hand Al Jolson had reinvented his image, Bing Crosby was a fresh-faced newcomer, but most successful of all was the duo of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. This was their second appearance together, and the first where they were the lead players and main attraction.The two of them were rather different in background. Astaire had already been an established star on the stage and having worked with Ziegfeld was very much in touch with that passing generation of theatrical extravaganza, but he was a newcomer to cinema. Rogers on the other hand already had two-dozen movie credits to her name, and had gained a reputation in small roles, often as a catty, antagonistic chorine. But despite their differences they have in common an approach to dancing that, despite professional precision, brings out a lot of personality. And both can act. Ginger would later prove herself to be an excellent dramatic actress, and is steady enough here. Fred just has an easygoing charm that seems as effortless as his dancing. In a non-musical, these two would seem an odd pairing – it's when they dance we see them click. But these were early days yet, and in The Gay Divorcée they lack that sense of familiarity around each other that would make their later romances seem so right.This was also the first time Astaire and Rogers were put before director Mark Sandrich, the man who helmed their most successful features together. Sandrich keeps a sort of gentle rhythm going throughout the picture with some delicate camera moves, such as the opening sweep through the restaurant onto Astaire's dancing fingers. His approach to the musical numbers was always oblique yet effective. For "Needle in a Haystack", the song is born out of a dialogue scene, with the camera still in its place, the sofa in the foreground separating us from Astaire, who (very unusually) is framed in profile. After one verse, the angle changes to place us in front of him. The camera then follows him as he gets up and selects a tie from a valet, and the dance just segues out of that movement. Sandrich's ability to make the songs flow seamlessly in and out of the non-music scenes was a key part in the ongoing revolution in how musicals were made.One thing that makes a musical like The Gay Divorcée seem somewhat archaic is its plot. It's a comedy of errors that might have been quite good had it been fully developed as one, but the way the narrative twists to fit a song it becomes obviously artificial. It also suffers from an unpleasant quality of many romances of the era, in that the "romance" basically consists of the man stalking and harassing the woman until, against all probability, she falls for him (and not even the suave Mister Astaire can stop this from appearing creepy). The only thing that saves this from being a handful of noteworthy song-and-dance routines strung together with a limp story is the often witty dialogue and the way it is delivered by a wonderful supporting cast. Just as Fred and Ginger established their screen persona, so too did Edward Everett Horton become the fussy, mother-hen sidekick, Eric Blore the chirpy, intrusive butler and Erik Rhodes the bungling would-be Latin lover. These three are all excellent and, with the romantic interplay between Astaire and Rogers not quite as fizzing as it should be, dare I say they even overshadow the two leads? (Yes, I do dare say).

Guy Holden (Fred Astaire) meets Mimi (Ginger Rogers) and pursues her for marriage. However, unknown to him, she is already married and is planning a set-up involving a hired co-respondent to facilitate her divorce. She mistakes Guy for the hired gigolo which makes for an amusing scene in her bedroom. However, events work out so that everyone is happy at the end.As with all the Fred and Ginger films, there are great songs and dances. They have 3 dances together, 2 of them with the songs "Night And Day" and "The Continental", and a routine at the end of the film. The other songs are "Needle In A Haystack" sung by Fred, and "Don't Let It Bother You" sung by a chorus of showgirls at the beginning of the film. The film also has Betty Grable singing and dancing in "Let's K-nock K-nees" alongside Edward Everett Horton and you just can't help but wonder how she and Fred Astaire may have done as a dance team. Not that Ginger Rogers is bad.The supporting cast are all good, especially Erik Rhodes as "Rodolfo Tonetti" - "Your wife is safe with Tonetti......he prefer spaghetti". It's a story of misunderstandings and it has genuine funny moments and funny lines delivered by the whole cast. Watch it and enjoy the magic of the 1930's - great sets and some black-and-white escapism. The story is ripped-off with pretty much the same cast in a film that they did the following year - "Top Hat" - but that film isn't as amusing or as good as this one.