The Gay Divorcee (1934)

The Gay Divorcee is the second film featuring an Rogers and Astaire pairing. It also marks the beginning of a collaboration between the duo and director Mark Sandrich, who directs five out of the ten films they star in. The Gay Divorcee itself is adapted from a stage musical which was adapted from a book, both of which were called The Gay Divorce. The film is notable for being the first film in which Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are given starring roles together as well as setting the tone for the kinds of movies they would continue to star in together. That is, the musical romantic comedy. The Gay Divorcee is not a great film, but it is quite good. The chemistry between Rogers and Astaire, the quick witted dialogue, and the musical elements all work very nicely together to create a pretty solid piece of entertainment.

The Gay Divorcee is about a woman named Mimi (Ginger Rogers) who wishes to get a divorce seeing as how she's been married for two years to a geologist who makes no effort whatsoever to actually see her. She journeys to London with her Aunt Hortense (Alice Brady) to visit a lawyer in London (Edward Everett Horton) who informs her that London laws require the husband to sign off on the divorce. To aid her in her wishes, however, the lawyer sets her up in seaside hotel to be caught with a hired correspondent so that her husband would indeed wish for a divorce. Meanwhile, a friend of the lawyer Guy Holden (Fred Astaire) had developed an infatuation with Mimi on her initial trip to London, but he's unaware of her marriage or her plans for divorce. While at the seaside hotel, Mimi mistakes Guy Holden for the correspondent hired to pretend to tarnish her wedding vows, still unbeknownst to Mr. Holden. The rest of the plot takes off from there and hits all of the notes you'd expect it to, but even though The Gay Divorcee has all the trappings of a cliched romantic comedy, it's actually very well executed.

For starters, the music and dance sequences in The Gay Divorcee are quite good. One of the most memorable would be Cole Porter's "Night and Day" which was the only song carried over from the stage version. Coming in a close second would be the grandiose presentation of "The Continental" written by Herb Magidson and Con Conrad which was the first song to receive the Best Original Song Academy Award. These are the only songs which are accompanied by Astaire and Rogers dance sequences. "Night and Day" is an intimate dance shared between the two while "The Continental" is an over 20 minute sequence with several other dancers joining in on the fun. Magidson and Conrad were also responsible for the song "Needle in a Haystack" in which Fred Astaire sings and dances in regards to trying to find the girl he has grown so fascinated with. "Don't Let it Bother You" and "Let's K-nock K-nees" are songs written by Mack Gordon and Harry Revel for the film, and the later is notable for its performance from Betty Grable, but neither do much to move the plot along. Overall, the music serves the film well, and it wouldn't be a true Astaire/Rogers film without their dances, but sometimes I think what I like the best about this movie is its sense of humor.

Guy's facial response to Mimi's sudden change in attitude.

This comedy elements in this movie do feel like a play at times, which makes sense given its adaptation from one, but this works to the film's advantage in some ways as it does have some snappy dialogue and amusing set-ups. Some of my favorite quick lines are "Whumsical is more whimsical than whamsical," "Men don't pine. Girls pine. Men just suffer," and "Be feminine and sweet, if you can blend the two." As for the situational comedy, I find it amusing that Guy Holden spends a couple weeks trying to track down this mysterious girl in London only to rear end her car because he was too distracted looking for her. I like the way the scene plays out when Mimi talks about Holden's career which she assumes is a sort of male escort while he makes comments that relate to his career as a dancer: "I bring pleasure to thousands of people." The shift when Mimi realizes she was mistaken is also quite well handed, and I personally consider Astaire's reaction to be priceless. Now, I do think appreciating some of the comedy requires a a bit an acquired taste because the pacing is a little slower, and most jokes are followed by silence, presumably to give the audience an opportunity to laugh.

Overall, The Gay Divorcee is a solid second film for Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. It set the precedence for their romances on film. The movie has good music, good dancing, and good laughs, and its too leads have a great deal of chemistry. Flying Down To Rio was the movie that introduced the duo to the world, but I think The Gay Divorcee was the first indication that they would be legends of the silver screen.

My Rating (out of 5):