The Gay Divorcee (1934)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Mark Sandrich

Writers:

J. Hartley Manners (unproduced play)
Dwight Taylor (musical play "Gay Divorce") ...

Release Date:

12 October 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

The King and Queen of 'Carioca'

Plot:

Mimi Glossop wants a divorce so her Aunt Hortense hires a professional to play the correspondent in apparent infidelity...

Plot Keywords:

Dance | Aunt | Dancer | Divorce | Astaire And Rogers

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 4 nominations

Cast

Fred Astaire	...	Guy Holden
Ginger Rogers	...	Mimi Glossop
Alice Brady	...	Aunt Hortense
Edward Everett Horton	...	Egbert 'Pinky' Fitzgerald
Erik Rhodes	...	Rodolfo Tonetti
Eric Blore	...	The waiter
Lillian Miles	...	Singer, Continental Number
Charles Coleman	...	Guy's Valet
William Austin	...	Cyril Glossop
Betty Grable	...	Dance Specialty

Also Known As:

The Gay Divorce (UK)

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Certification:

Canada:G (Ontario) | UK:U | USA:Approved (PCA #282)

Filming Locations:

Santa Monica, California, USA

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

Helen Broderick was asked to play the role of Hortense but was unavailable.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Hortense first meets Tonetti, she is wearing a black cape. When she goes back upstairs to warn Mimi that she might have the wrong man in her room, she doesn't have the cape on. Then when she returns downstairs and talks to Egbert, she's wearing the cape again.

Quotes:

Guy Holden: Can I offer you anything? Frosted chocolate? Cointreau? Benedictine? Marriage?
Mimi Glossop: What was that last one?
Guy Holden: Benedictine?
Mimi Glossop: No, the one after that.
Guy Holden: Oh, marriage?
Mimi Glossop: Do you always propose marriage as casually as that?
Guy Holden: There is nothing casual about it. In fact, I've given it long and sincere thought.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Fred Astaire: Puttin' on His Top Hat (1980) (TV)

Soundtrack:

The Continental

Fred & Ginger's first starring role as a team

After their hit dancing of the "Carioca" in "Flying Down the Rio," RKO gave the teaming of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers a star role in "The Gay Divorcée" in 1934. With few exceptions, the plots of the Fred-Ginger films were excuses to get to the important part - the dancing - but the story lines were always pleasant and the casting good. "The Gay Divorcée" was based on a Broadway musical (of which the only number retained is "Night and Day") and it appears that a few of its plot devices were adopted in later Astaire-Rogers films as well. One such plot device is that of mistaken identity. In this movie, Astaire (reprising his Broadway role) is mistaken for a professional correspondent hired to help Rogers get her divorce. Another device is that at first, Ginger is never interested in Fred - that goes here, too. And there's a stock cast in these films, namely, Edward Everett Horton and Eric Blore (and of course, he's always the butler and always very funny). Horton plays Rogers' attorney whose major problem is Rogers' aunt (Alice Brady).

What can be said about the dancing except that it's glorious? Fred and Ginger dance to "Night and Day" after Astaire sings it to her. For a supposed non-singer, Astaire could really put over a song - his voice is pleasant and he's so musical - no wonder composers wrote songs for him. Ginger is beautiful and spunky as Mimi, a young woman ducking Fred while she's trying to get a divorce. Betty Grable has a bit that showcases her in the number "Let's K-knock Kneez." There's also "I'm Looking for a Needle in a Haystack" delightfully sung and danced by Fred. Astaire's dancing is fantastic throughout.

It feels as if about half the picture is taken up with the elaborately staged production number, "The Continental." In later films, of course, the dancing would center more around Fred and Ginger, but it's a great part of the movie and certainly solidified these two as a top box office pairing.

For pure enjoyment, there's nothing like watching Astaire & Rogers in these movies.