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I'll tell you why so serious

Good movie but grossly overrated

Excellent but underrated film

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

"They Can't Take That Away From Me," "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," and other Gershwin tunes allow Astaire and Rogers to strut their stuff. These movies are always about an excuse to dance, so this silly plot doesn't really matter. Fred is a ballet instructor who falls in love with Rogers' character and talks her into working for him. At first she isn't impressed but things start to settle. They travel on an ocean liner and someone starts a rumor that they are actually married. She is furious (as she is in just about every one of their films together). They have decided to get married and then divorced, to get the rumors off their backs. There is a silly, contrived scene at the end which doesn't matter because we know they will be back together, no matter what.

Poor Fred Astaire. When I was growing up they were still debating who was the best dancer. Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire?Kelly's film have been all spruced up by MGM, they were shot in colour as they were made later. Fred still remains in these creaky, black and white RKO pictures with scratchy audio and inferior picture quality that desperately needs to be remastered.I recently watched Singin in the Rain with my young son, he recognised some of the songs because he sang some of them at school. That was enough of a pull for him to keep watching the film.When I got him to watch Shall we Dance, he got bored, in fact so was I. Astaire plays Petrov a faux Russian ballet dancer chasing a musical comedy star, Ginger Rogers, across the ocean with a series of misunderstandings about them being a married couple and broad double takes from some of the supporting cast.There is an innovative dance sequence with Astaire (Slap that Bass) and a group of black musicians set in a ship which stands out a lot more now and I guess it would had been daring for the time.Astaire gets to mix some ballet with tap dance but Ginger is rather sidelined here and the screwball comedy part is groan inducing. Still a few classic songs are included in the film but I felt they were too good for this film.

Surely one of the silliest and most improbable plots in all the Astaire-Rogers series –-and that's saying a lot! — this 1937 film still features many delights: foremost among them of course are the dances of Fred solo and with Ginger, and the now classic songs of the Gershwin brothers. Amazingly, some of the best of these, the immortal "They Can't Take That Away from Me" for example, take up only a minute or two of screen time, as if the producers at RKO couldn't wait to get them over with so they could get back to the story. More time in the film is given over to the confused and outraged antics of floor manager Eric Blore than to some greatest songs in the great American Song Book. The film ends, however, with a breath-taking bit of pure exuberance, American dancing at its very, very best. The quarreling lovers are reunited singing and dancing to the title song. "Shall we dance or keep on moping?" As then and now a very good question. Absurd plot line and bad jokes aside, a film classic well worth watching again and again.

My second film starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers {following the magnificent 'Top Hat (1935)'} confirms what I had initially suspected: I don't think I'll ever get sick of these guys! Throughout their careers, the pair co-starred opposite each other on no less than ten occasions, and 'Shall We Dance (1937)' marked their seventh collaboration. Brimming with catchy, stupendously-entertaining musical numbers, and a lightweight screwball storyline highlighted by a slew of accomplished comedy performers, the film was the brainchild of George Gershwin, who wrote the score, and his older brother Ira Gershwin, who penned the lyrics. Director Mark Sandrich returned, once again, to helm the production, which offers little different from the previous Astaire-Rogers pictures, but, in doing so, gave audiences precisely what they wanted. The society inhabited by Petrov and Linda Keene glitters with wealth, class and elegance, presenting American audiences – still suffering the effects of the Great Depression – with a sophisticated fantasy world in which they could immerse themselves.Notably, the film was the first in which Fred Astaire experimented with the blending of ballet and tap-dancing, his character expressing the desire to "combine the technique of ballet with the warmth and passion of this other mood." In this, Astaire proves moderately successful, though he obviously appears most comfortable when tappin' away on a hardwood floor, and it would eventually fall to Gene Kelly to perfect the combination in such films as 'An American in Paris (1951)' and, of course, 'Singin' in the Rain (1952).' Astaire's efforts are culminated in a wonderful and elaborate ballet-hybrid stage show, which features the title song, a Depession-era number that appeals to the audience to look on the brighter side of life by slipping on a pair of dancing shoes, and which concludes with a brief reprisal of "They All Laughed (At Christopher Columbus)" – an ode to the triumphant nature of love against all adversity. "Slap That Bass" is an unusual but gratifying mixed-race musical number, in which Astaire watches an African American jam-session in the engine room of their ship, demonstrating that happiness lies not with those with money, but rather with those possessing "rhythm."The story itself often wanders into rather silly territory {only Hollywood could possibly think to dispel marriage rumours by actually getting married}, but there is more than enough fun to go around. Edward Everett Horton is absolutely hilarious as Jeffrey Baird, Petrov's (Astaire) proud and indignant ballet manager, who not only detests the tap-dancing of which Astaire is so fond, but also disapproves of his budding relationship with Linda Keene (Rogers). Horton's reaction to seeing the scandalous nighttime photograph of the pair - a silent and completely unexpected offscreen pass-out - made me laugh so hard that I started to choke on my glass of water. Jerome Miller is also exceedingly likable as Linda's scheming manager, despite his suspect motivations in aiding Petrov's plight to marry her. Also amusing is Eric Blore, whose accommodating hotel manager Cecil Flintridge finds himself tormented by the conflicting gossip about the two stars' marital status, and later encounters much trouble trying to have himself bailed out of gaol. 'Shall We Dance' makes for an immensely enjoyable musical evening, and you'll find yourself humming "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off" for days afterward.