In the classic Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers film “Shall We Dance,” Astaire stars as Peter P. Peters, an American hoofer who has been masquerading as a Russian ballet star named Petrov. Having built up a fairly decent following for himself in Europe, he’s tired of the ballet scene and wants to do something different. Jeffrey, owner of the ballet troupe, is rather dismayed when he finds Peter tap dancing.
Star of the stage Linda Keene (Ginger Rogers) has been touring Europe as well and it’s time for her to return to the States. The ballet troupe is sailing as well, and Peter decides it’s time he and the lovely Linda meet. She has no interest in becoming acquainted with a Russian ballet star, and she’s quite vocal about it. Peter overhears her generalizations about dancers and Russians in general and lays it on thick when he meets her, but later, when she comes to know him for himself, they get along quite well.
That is, until the media takes an innocent comment and turns it into a big mess. In order to get rid of a pesky female admirer, Jeffrey tells her that Peter is married. She tells the media, and when the photographers see him dancing with Linda, they put two and two together and make forty-seven. Soon headlines appear on every front page that Petrov and Linda Keene are secretly married. As hard as they try to deny it, no one believes them, so finally they decide to get married so they can file for divorce. However, once married, and after straightening out some of their differences, they decide not to worry about the divorce after all.
This movie was the vehicle that launched “They Can’t Take That Away from Me,” the song we all are familiar with. The stars also dicker over “tomato” and “tomahto” in “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off.” We see a great roller skating dance routine and we also see some lackluster ballet performances—including one where the prima donna literally bends over backwards. That was . . . creepy. Beyond that, however, the film was very enjoyable and it’s a must-see if you’re an Astaire/Rogers fan.
This film was not rated.
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