Dancing Into Top Hat

Irving Berlin’s Top Hat, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, is nearly the perfect film to introduce children to black and white movies. What’s not to love in this classic story of boy meets girl, with a case of mistaken identity and plenty of fancy footwork thrown in for good measure.

Your kids will be humming along to one of the best musical scores in history with such classics as “Top Hat, White Tie and Tails,” “Isn’t It a Lovely Day (to Be Caught in the Rain)?” and “Cheek to Cheek.” Four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, this 1935 film has lost none of its staying power all these years later.

Glorious costumes accentuated by the two-tone colors made my kids quickly forget the film is not in color. Ginger’s infamous feathery dance dress makes quite the splash even in black and white, and Fred’s tuxedos have that touch of class that makes every girl wish they were in his arms swirling around the dance floor.

While some of the humor flew right past their wee heads, the children thoroughly enjoyed the magnificent dancing sequences. As one of my girls said, “I want to dance like that.” And who can blame her when Astaire is the hoofer and Rogers is his partner?

Next up: National Velvet

Splash Into Million Dollar Mermaid

One of my all-time favorite Esther Williams’ vehicles, Million Dollar Mermaid tells the true, Hollywoodized version of Annette Kellerman, the Australian swimmer who introduced a one-piece bathing suit to America in 1902. The film follows Annette from a crippled child who swam to strengthen her legs to a worldwide swimming champion who became the toast of New York with her water-ballet shows at the Hippodrome.

Directed by Mervin LeRoy, the splashy water-ballet sequences are pure joy to watch, especially with Esther Williams’s superb stylized swimming. This is a great movie for kids to watch, especially girls, because of the music and the girls swimming around in beautiful bathing suits.

My girls love this movie (in fact, one of them asked to watch it again today), especially as it fulfills one of their dreams to be mermaids. Even my oldest son (a three-year-old) said he would like to watch the “mermaid movie” again.

While a bit thin on the plot, children can easily follow the story line and the water scenes tug at their imagination, especially if they’ve seen The Little Mermaid and other animated water pictures.

Highly recommended viewing for children, I encourage you to check out Million Dollar Mermaid for your and your family soon.

Next up: Top Hat.

Ah, Lassie, Transport Me to Brigadoon!

I recently introduced my children to the wonders of Brigadoon, the 1954 Vincent Minnelli musical starring Gene Kelly and Van Johnson as two Americans who stumble upon the village of Brigadoon when lost in the mountains of Scotland. There, the two encounter Cyd Charisse and other locals who awaken every 100 years to go about their business.

The lovely Lerner score and book is packed with gems, from tender ballads (“Waiting for My Dearie,” “Almost Like Being in Love,” “Come to Me, Bend to Me”) to rousing, toe-tapping numbers (“Go Home With Bonnie Jean” and “The Chase”).

My girls loved the pageantry and dancing, sitting silent and enthralled by the bright colors and swirling skirts.

Our copy of Brigadoon is on an obsolete format called laserdisc, and is letterboxed, which allows the viewer to see all the nuances of the filmmakers vision. However, my girls are used to watching full screen cartoon movies, so this format can be disconcerting to their eyes. My eldest commented, “Why isn’t the movie on all of the screen?” when it first started. After a while, though, even she was transported to that mystical city of Brigadoon.

Next up: Million Dollar Mermaid.