Top Hat (1935)

A single wrong assumption can send things spinning in all kinds of directions. Mark Sandrich's "Top Hat" stars Fred Astaire as Jerry Travers, an American dancer in London whose late-night tapping wakes fashion model Dale Tremont (Ginger Rogers) in the room below. Sparks fly, and Jerry is instantly smitten, following her around town. But Dale soon mistakes Jerry for Horace Hardwick (Edward Everett Horton), his fussy producer and the husband of her friend Madge (Helen Broderick). Horrified to be courted by what she believes is a married man, Dale flees to Venice, where she agrees to marry her dressmaker, the flamboyant Alberto Beddini (Erik Rhodes). From London to Venice, the misunderstandings pile up, with Eric Blore adding to the fun as Horace's meddling valet, Bates. Irving Berlin wrote the score especially for the film, and it's packed with classics: "Isn't This a Lovely Day (to Be Caught in the Rain?)," "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails," "The Piccolino" and, of course, "Cheek to Cheek," featuring Rogers' famous feathered gown. The most successful of Astaire and Rogers' films together, it was the second-highest-grossing film of 1935 and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. You'll be dancing along whether you mean to or not.