Rating: 
Summary: IN CONCURRENCE WITH AMAZON.COM REVIEWERS: THE BEST!
Review: The Best! because there seems to be more musical numbers than in the others I have seen, but also this film contains more comedy as well. It could stand on its own as a fine comedy if the music were taken away. And vice versa.Edward Everett Horton appears more relaxed and as if he is having more fun in this film than in "The Gay Divorcee." And its good to see the other players from this film: Erik Rhodes as the dress designer (Tonetti in "The Gay Divorcee,") and Eric Blore as the valet (the waiter in "The Gay Divorcee"). Helen Broderick is appropriately droll and world-wise as Horton's wife, and I read that Lucille Ball plays the salesgirl in the flower shop. I frankly didn't recognize her (will have to watch it again, something that isn't hard to do!). As for Fred Astaire, take away his singing, and his acting is supurb. Take away his acting, and his dancing is superb, etc., etc. It's easy to underestimate his talent because he makes it all look so easy. But he was surely our greatest all-around musical star. Ginger Rogers is more subdued in this film, perhaps due to the part. She is strikingly beautiful, and holds her own with Astaire all the way. The Best! But the others I have seen (about three) are also terrific. You can't go wrong with this team and their wonderful backup players.
Rating:
Summary: IN CONCURRENCE WITH AMAZON.COM REVIEWERS: THE BEST!
Review: The Best! because there seems to be more musical numbers than in the others I have seen, but also this film contains more comedy as well. It could stand on its own as a fine comedy if the music were taken away. And vice versa. Edward Everett Horton appears more relaxed and as if he is having more fun in this film than in "The Gay Divorcee." And its good to see the other players from this film: Erik Rhodes as the dress designer (Tonetti in "The Gay Divorcee,") and Eric Blore as the valet (the waiter in "The Gay Divorcee"). Helen Broderick is appropriately droll and world-wise as Horton's wife, and I read that Lucille Ball plays the salesgirl in the flower shop. I frankly didn't recognize her (will have to watch it again, something that isn't hard to do!). As for Fred Astaire, take away his singing, and his acting is supurb. Take away his acting, and his dancing is superb, etc., etc. It's easy to underestimate his talent because he makes it all look so easy. But he was surely our greatest all-around musical star. Ginger Rogers is more subdued in this film, perhaps due to the part. She is strikingly beautiful, and holds her own with Astaire all the way. The Best! But the others I have seen (about three) are also terrific. You can't go wrong with this team and their wonderful backup players.
Rating: 
Summary: A Hollywood Classic
Review: The film Top Hat, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, was released in 1935. At this point in time "Astaire - Rogers" were a big item at RKO primarily because they were a top notch dancing team who not only made a lot of money for the movie company but also kept them from going out of business. They complemented one another with their ease of dancing, singing and acting together. They worked well with one another and were 'the' big hit of the '30s. Top Hat resembled the Gay Divorcee in a number of ways: The plot was similar, the way the romance evolved and the ever present appearance of Edward Everett Horton, Eric Blore and Erik Rhodes. In the movie, Fred Astaire is a dancer who falls head over heels for Ginger Rogers who has no interest in him. She mistakenly believes that he is the husband of her best friend, actress Helen Broderick (of course, we don't understand why she never met her best friend's husband - this could only happen in the movies). Fred Astaire pursues and follows Rogers to Venice. This pursuit is sprinkled with some of Irving Berlin's most excellent songs including "Isn't This a Lovely Day," "Cheek to Cheek," and "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails." No one, since Fred Astaire, has been able to do the latter song justice. In essence, it belonged to him. A very important characteristic contained in the nine films of Fred and Ginger made for RKO-Radio Pictures was the art deco created by Van Nest Poglase. It was an enchanted world of make-believe where the audience became so engrossed with the movie, they forgot about the real world and the troubles that engulfed their lives as the Depression lingered on. The film Top Hat marked Irving Berlin's entrance to the world of the Hollywood Musical. The movie earned more than $3,000,000 for RKO and was a huge success all over the country. It was a movie of rich people and money, men who always wore evening dress and of women who wore stain dresses and costly furs. It was gaudy, it was unbelievable, it was Hollywood. I did not live during the depression, so I cannot truly appreciate or understand what the audience felt in their need to escape reality while they watched the picture. In my opinion, it was phony, corny, unrealistic and with a confusing plot. The only thing that I really enjoyed was the dancing and the music, which I felt made the movie a hit. I honestly feel that Ginger Rogers was the best partner that Fred Astaire ever had. According to Ted Sennett in his book 'Hollywood Musicals,' "Astaire's later partners, for all their dancing skill, lacked the delicious air of conspiracy, the sense of amused wonder, that she brought to her films with him."
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful Song and Dance
Review: The score by Irving Berlin sounds wonderful, even 64 years later. Fred and Ginger dance and sing to perfection. What spoils this film is the silly, predictable plot. I can watch the singing and dancing time and time again but I have to fast forward through the rest. A 40-minute version of the film with the highlights would be perfect. Nevertheless, I strongly recommend this film.
Rating:
Summary: Funny though kitsch
Review: This film is a cult film with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The plot is as light as a feather and the scene is as ritzy, and unluckily kitsch, as a Riviera hotel in Venice. It is all based on a quiproquo that each character uses as much as possible to entertain us with some light comedy. But the real and maybe only interest of this film is of course tapdancing. The only new element is that it is used as a dramatic spring to exacerbate the irritation of the young lady and develop the quiproquo. For once the tapdancing is not a decoration but a dramatic item. That's probably why this film has definitely survived oblivion. We must admit that the valet is by far also a good asset with his humor and impertinent remarks and we find it justified and funny for him to get a ticket, and even be arrested, for disguising as a gondolier, which is a national crime of the utmost magnitude in Venice. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
Rating:
Summary: What fun!
Review: This is one of my favorite Astaire-Rogers musicals! The plot is silly, but made me laugh! And of course, the dancing is wonderful. Ginger has some pretty neat dresses in this one, and the Top Hat, White Tie and Tails number is one of the best!
Rating:
Summary: one of the half-dozen funniest movies you will ever see
Review: This isn't just another Hollywood classic. This isn't just another showcase for the fancy footwork of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, or anyone else. Nor is this just another zany 'thirties comedy, peopled with some of the best (was Edward Everett Horton ever better?) Simply put, this is one of the four or five funniest American movies you will ever see. Ignore it at your peril. And don't say I didn't mention, for reasons of completeness, IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, HORSE FEATHERS, DUCK SOUP, SOME LIKE IT HOT, and ADAM'S RIB, also. You know of one better than these? Than DO let us know . . .(France's MR. HULOT, maybe. . .) After that, you have to move on to England, with KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS, THE BELLES OF ST. TRINIANS, THE LADYKILLERS, etc. Until then, the previous list should suffice.
Rating:
Summary: Astaire & Rogers Like Angles Dancing In Heaven!
Review: This most memorable teaming of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers is the perfect example of Depression Era escapism. People had no money to pay apartment rent or buy groceries, but any spare dime would be taken to the cinema for an 85 minute escape from the bleek reality. When "dancing cheek to cheek", the couple looks like a pair of angels dancing in heaven! -- This film, like many in its day, was created merely for glamourous entertainment. Don't look for any deep plot or clever dialog, but emerse yourself in the artificial beauty of 1930s Hollywood.
Rating:
Summary: Top Hat Top Entertainment
Review: This was the first Astaire ROgers film I saw. I saw it on TCM, but only the last ten minutes. Since then, I've not only seen the whole thing, but I've bought it. GInger was never cuter than in Lovely Day, the team was never more seductive then inCheek to Cheek, with Ginger looking as light as a feather. (NIght and Day is a close second) Ginger's rendition of the Piccolino would run the depression out of an undertaker. I love it!
Rating:
Summary: How can we forget this cosmicall couple?
Review: Top hat is one of the top ten musicals in any time. Its charm is so fine , so human that still beats you besides this film dates from 1935. Astaire and Rogers make a couple hard to find ; the rapport among them was an artistic fact. You think in Gene Kelly , for instance in Singin n the rain and you feel the absence of the female counterpart¨ Cheek to cheek , Isn{t a lovely day to be caught in the rain? . Top hat , White ties, and tails Piccolino and other songs from this mythical composer Irving Berlin become themselves in other actor.
This film inspired Fellini in Ginger and Fred and more recently it was employed as a smart emotional link in The green mile.
Captivating and overwhelming. A film for all the eternity!
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