Opening Night screening…Top Hat

The Screening Room @VTIFF officially opens with Top Hat, the fourth and finest pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and indisputably one of the greatest musicals ever made. In fact, we’d even say that the “Cheek to Cheek” sequence is one of the pinnacles of American artistic achievement in the 20th century, as sublime a union of music and dance as you’re likely to see, ever. Why open with Top Hat? Because…fun, that’s why. Frothy as a great cappuccino, as luxurious as a Lamborghini, and as elegant as Cary Grant in a tuxedo, Top Hat is pure joy in celluloid (now digital) form. There’s a plot and it’s ridiculous, but that’s okay, because there’s sublime dancing by Fred & Ginger and heavenly songs by Irving Berlin. It’s that rare thing: a movie that everyone can love.