Top Hat

Top Hat (1935) is one of RKO's biggest hits and the Fred Astaire–Ginger Rogers picture you can watch online on iFILM. Directed by Mark Sandrich, it was the fifth film the pair made together and the one that locked them into Hollywood legend. The "Cheek to Cheek" number alone would have been enough — but the whole film delivers.

American performer Jerry Travers is rehearsing late at night in a London hotel, loud enough to wake Dale Tremont in the room below. She comes upstairs to complain. He falls for her on the spot. The trouble is that Dale mistakes Jerry for her friend's husband, and that misunderstanding follows them from London to Venice through ballrooms, gondolas, and increasingly tangled explanations. Jerry keeps dancing and keeps pursuing. Dale keeps almost believing him.

The American Film Institute placed "Cheek to Cheek" among the top 100 songs in cinema history. Top Hat was among the year's top box-office earners in 1935 and remains the clearest argument for why Astaire and Rogers worked so well — his precision, her timing, and the chemistry that made the screwball mix with the musical effortlessly. Stream Top Hat (1935) on iFILM.