The Gay Divorcee (1934)

The Gay Divorcee is an American comedy romance film first released in 1934, directed by Mark Sandrich.  The film stars Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Alice Brady, Edward Everett Horton and Erik Rhodes.  Our overall rating for this film is: very good.


After a brief stay in Paris, the celebrated American dancer Guy Holden travels to England with his friend, Egbert Fitzgerald, a lawyer who has agreed to temporarily take the reins at his father’s London law firm.  As he passes through customs, Guy meets an attractive young American woman, Mimi, and becomes obsessed with seeing her again.  Having contrived to meet Mimi in London, he soon loses sight of her but cannot get her out of his head.  Meanwhile, Egbert has accepted a divorce case and takes Guy with him down to Brighton to arrange for his client to be discovered making love to a man who is not her husband, thereby providing grounds for divorce.  The divorcee in question is none other than Mimi and the co-respondent is intended to be an Italian dandy named Rodolfo Tonetti whom Egbert has hired.  Things take a complicated and near-disastrous turn when Tonetti goes astray and Mimi mistakes Guy for her co-respondent...

It would be stretching it to say that it was Hollywood alone that got America through the worst of the Great Depression but, by regularly turning out frothy musical extravaganzas such as this, the wizards in Tinseltown certainly helped to ease the pain.  The Gay Divorcee is the film that cemented one of the silver screen’s legendary partnerships, that of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, the most famous dancing duo in history.  The pair had previously appeared together briefly in a dance routine in Flying Down to Rio (1933), but it wasn’t until they were reunited in a film of their own that they found enduring fame, and a massive audience.   

This film was loosely adapted from a popular Broadway musical entitled The Gay Divorce, which had featured Fred Astaire starring opposite Claire Luce.  The Hays Office (Hollywood’s over-zealous self-censorship department) insisted that an extra ’e’ be added to the last word of the title, since it was considered improper to suppose that a divorce could ever be a happy affair.  The only Cole Porter number of the original show to make it into the film was Night and Day, which became a popular hit.

The centrepiece of the film is a stunning 17-minute long dance routine that featured 40 couples, accompanying the hit song The Continental (written by Con Conrad and Herb Magidson).  No film had previously included such a protracted dance number and the song was the first to win the Best Song Oscar.  (The Film was nominated for Oscars in four other categories, including Best Picture and Best Art Direction.)

At the time, RKO were unsure whether Astaire and Rogers could carry the film, so two comedy heavyweights, Alice Brady and Edward Everett Horton, were hired to share the load.  The former two provide the glamour and romance; the latter were there simply to make audiences laugh.  It was a winning combination and RKO employed the same unbeatable team in a similar film, Top Hat (1935), also directed by Mark Sandrich, and scored another notable success.

It is not difficult to see why The Gay Divorcee was so popular.  With its marvellously choreographed song and dance routines and extravagant Art Deco sets, the film positively reeks of style and decadence.  And for those looking for humour, the film has it in abundance, with Astaire knocking out the gags as effortlessly as he taps his feet.  Here’s the ultimate feel-good film, one that is guaranteed to chase away the blues and transport you to happier climes, an invitation to moonlight and romance...

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