The pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in "Flying Down to Rio" was so successful the studio wanted another pairing. Fred had appeared in the Broadway production of "The Gay Divorce", so when RKO purchased the film rights, things fell into place, despite Fred's fear of becoming defined as half of a dance partnership (as he had been with his sister, Adele).The title was changed to "The Gay Divorcée", because it was unwholesome by the day's standards to suggest that divorce could be a happy state of affairs, but individual people can be happy despite divorce.The story is very simple: a woman (Ginger) wants a divorce, but her leech of a husband won't cooperate, so her attorney stages an assignation with an actor so that her husband will be goaded into granting the divorce.All other aspects of this film are superior. The sets, the photography, the singing, the dancing, the choreography, the wardrobe, and especially the music by Cole Porter. Eric Blore (as a waiter) adds levity. Erik Rhodes (as tenor and gigolo Rodolfo Tonetti) gives a strong, but nuanced performance.Watch for the complex production of "The Continental", which won the first Oscar for Best Original Song.

Based on a stage musical but with most of Cole Porter's score jettisoned - except for the enduring "Night and Day" - THE GAY Divorcée tells a story familiar to most musical comedies of that period of a divorcée (Ginger Rogers), her pursuer (Astaire), an incompetent lawyer trying to manage the divorce (Edward Everett Horton), a husband who turns out not to be quite what people expect (William Austin), and a professional co-respondent with a broad Italian accent (Erik Rhodes). The plot exploits what were perceived as the draconian divorce laws prevalent in Britain, whereby a couple could only part if one of them was caught in flagrante delicto by a detective, and the case reported to the authorities.As with most Astaire/ Rogers musicals, however, the book takes second place to the music, dancing and comedy. There are at least two memorable sequences in the film - the "Night and Day" interlude sung by Astaire and the lengthy "Continental" sequences that broadens out into a full-scale dance number involving a series of dancers elaborately costumed in black and white and shot from the air by director Mark Sandrich. Verisimilitude falls by the wayside here: the sequence is supposed to take place at a hotel in "Brightbourne," England, a genteel seaside resort modeled on Brighton. No one would even conceive of staging a sequence so elaborate in such a venue. Bur no matter; we can enjoy the dancing, as well as Lillian Miles' spirited delivery of the (lesser known) verses to the song.THE GAY Divorcée also manages to integrate the comedy into the music. This is chiefly due to a clutch of effective supporting performances: Everett Horton is a master of camp, waving his hands about frantically while pretending to be a 'serious' lawyer. He is far more at home trying to dance in the "Let's K-nock K-nees" number with Betty Grable, ludicrously attired in shorts. Alice Brady as Hortense is perpetually absent-minded - except when it comes to men. She has a delicious comic routine at the beginning of the film as she arrives in Britain and confuses the chief customs inspector (E. E. Clive) who tries and fails to investigate precisely what she has concealed in her luggage. Eric Blore's rubber-faced expressions are put to effective use as a waiter with a fondness for mispronouncing words, especially "whimsical." THE GAY Divorcée evokes a long-lost world of white tuxedos, gorgeous evening gowns and perpetual leisure, in which Americans were perceived as representatives of a sophisticated world that far transcended that of their British counterparts. Apart from one or two notable exceptions (Blore, Clive), the British characters in this film are either buffoons or untrustworthy - the kind of people that behave shamefully, unlike Astaire's main character. Director Sandrich does not stress this point too emphatically, but we are made well aware that this is an American representation of pre-1939 Britain.Even after eighty years, the film still remains one of Hollywood's high-points in the musical canon.

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.