Trailer
Plot summary
Dancer Jerry Travers meets his friend and producer Horace Hardwick at the conservative Thackeray Club in London and Horace invites Jerry to spend the night in his hotel. Jerry is excited with the show and has a "dance attack", tap dancing in Horace's room and disturbing guest Dale Tremont who is lodged in the room below. Dale goes upstairs to complain about the noise and meets Jerry and they flirt with each other. The next morning, Dale mistakes the single Jerry for the married Horace and becomes upset with her flirtation. When she learns that Horace is the husband of her friend Helen Broderick, there are many complications and confusions in the lives of the two friends.
Cast
- Nick Thompsonas Italian Police Officer (uncredited)
Show all 20 cast
- William A. Boardwayas Club Member (uncredited)
- Tex Brodusas Hotel Guest (uncredited)
- Phyllis Coghlanas Dancer (uncredited)
- Lorinne Crawfordas Dancer (uncredited)
- Oliver Crossas Hotel Guest (uncredited)
- Jack Ellisonas Dancer (uncredited)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Top Hat (1935)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Ginger Rogers insisted on wearing her own ostrich-feather dress for the 'Cheek to Cheek' routine, and Fred Astaire was horrified when he first saw it shed clouds of feathers on the day of the shoot. Astaire lost his temper and yelled at Rogers, who burst into tears, whereupon her mother charged at him 'like a mother rhinoceros protecting her young.'
- Fred Astaire complained that the first drafts of the Top Hat script were 'patterned too closely after The Gay Divorcee' and that he was cast as 'a sort of objectionable young man without charm or sympathy or humor.' Allan Scott was hired by director Mark Sandrich to do rewrites and never worked with original screenwriter Dwight Taylor.
- The Hays Office demanded only minor changes, including altering Alberto Beddini's motto from 'For the men the sword, for the women the whip' to 'For the women the kiss, for the men the sword', probably the film's most quoted line of dialogue.
- Irving Berlin could not read or write music and picked out tunes on a special piano that changed keys by itself, so he needed an assistant to write his piano parts. Hal Borne, Astaire's rehearsal pianist, did this for Top Hat and worked nights with him at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.
- For the "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails" number, Fred Astaire compromised on his one-take philosophy. Director Mark Sandrich said they went to huge lengths to make the number look like one take when it was several. It also marks Astaire's first filmed dance using a cane as a prop.
- The film's Venetian canal set was built across two adjoining sound stages, with the canal waters dyed black and the main piazza coated in red bakelite. The fantasy Lido of Venice was on three levels with dance floors, restaurants and terraces, all decorated in candy-cane colors.
