Smokescreen | Swingtime (1936)

This year’s Smokescreen series ‘Scene Stealing Style’ looks at how art direction, the look and feel of a film can help to tell the story. You may not have heard of the films on the list but each is iconic, and in its own way set standards and shaped later generations of film making.

Ginger Roger and Fred Astaire, two icons of the silver screen star in the magical musical Swing Time a touchstone for Hollywood elegance, style and taste. It was one a several musicals the duo would make in the 1930s, and there is no denying the electric chemistry and their joy of performing. Swing Time is one of their best films, with witty dialogue and a convoluted plot that serves mainly to link the extraordinary dance sequences together. Astaire was a perfectionist who believed that every dance should be filmed as one continuous take, with few if, any cutaways, a rarity in today’s cinema of fast cuts and changing angles. It meant both performers had to be at their best, with Ginger Rogers doing ‘everything Fred did – backwards and in heels.’

Director: George Stevens

Starring: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers

Run Time: 103 mins

Rating: PG

In partnership with The Establishment Bar Dubbo. Tickets include a 'Buy one, get one free offer' at the Establishment following the film.

Don’t miss out on this year’s Smokescreen Series get your season pass for $75: https://www.123tix.com.au/.../smokescreen-season-pass-2024.

Smokescreen runs from February to November on the First Saturday of the month at WPCC.