20. Black Widow (1954)
Having built a career on youth and good humour, Rogers is hard to credit as a haughty star who callously dominates her husband in this lavish murder mystery shot in full colour and CinemaScope. That said, the glamour suits her well and she has a late scene that is a real showstopper.
19. Magnificent Doll (1946)
Who better than America’s sweetheart to play the woman who defined the role of first lady, Dolley Madison? Scripted by novelist Irving Stone and directed by Frank Borzage, Magnificent Doll is earnest, but gorgeous. Rogers rises to the challenge, especially in her climactic speech to an angry mob.
18. Storm Warning (1951)
Somehow, Rogers starred alongside fellow Republicans Doris Day and Ronald Reagan in this thriller about kicking the Ku Klux Klan out of a small midwest town. On race relations, this politically squeamish film pulls its punches, but effectively conjures an oppressively violent atmosphere, as Rogers’ naive out-of-towner faces gruesome reprisals after witnessing a Klan killing.
17. Bachelor Mother (1939)
Rogers’ fans knew well that she was the only child of a single mother, which gave this sparkling department store comedy a little extra piquancy. David Niven plays the charming son of the shop’s owner (Charles Coburn), who falls for Rogers’ salesgirl after he wrongly suspects she has had a baby out of wedlock. Turns out the boss is desperate for a grandkid.
16. Lady in the Dark (1944)
No one really wants to see Rogers playing repressed, so her portrayal of a perplexed magazine editor undergoing psychoanalysis doesn’t promise much. Hold tight, though, for the musical fantasy sequences: most of all, Rogers performing Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin’s The Saga of Jenny while wearing scarlet sequins at the circus.
15. I’ll Be Seeing You (1944)
A subdued romance for wartime, starring Rogers as a prisoner out on furlough for Christmas who falls in love with Joseph Cotten’s shell-shocked soldier. It’s an often unlikely but very heartfelt drama, with a tender, unshowy performance from Rogers. If you suspend just a little disbelief it is emotionally very rewarding.
14. Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
“The depression, dearie.” Even aged 21, Rogers knew how to cash in on a tiny role. Her playful deployment of pig Latin in the opening number, We’re in the Money, chimed with the musical’s surreal tendency and streetwise plot. And it earned Rogers a closeup worth a million bucks. See also her spiky turn as Anytime Annie in 42nd Street.
13. Monkey Business (1952)
The eternally youthful Rogers grows up just enough to play the sexy, sharp wife of Cary Grant’s absent-minded chemistry professor in this Howard Hawks screwball comedy. But when they accidentally imbibe a de-ageing potion, they regress delightfully to a boisterous second childhood. Rogers always regretted turning down Hawks and Grant for His Girl Friday, but she makes up for it here.
12. The Major and the Minor (1942)
Rogers proves herself game for a comedy challenge in Billy Wilder’s first US film. Her character pretends to be a child in order to pay half fare on the train, which causes complications when she bumps into Ray Milland’s handsome major en route. Rogers walks a fine line with aplomb and even finds a cameo for her renowned momager, Lela.
11. The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)
When Judy Garland dropped out of this Technicolor MGM musical, Astaire was reunited with his old opposite number; the story of a showbiz marriage gone sour became a belated final comment on their 1930s partnership. The grace and sorrow that Rogers brings to the reprise of their favourite song, They Can’t Take That Away From Me, is a fitting tribute to their hits.
10. Primrose Path (1940)
Rogers plays a girl from the wrong side of the tracks with an alcoholic father and a sex-worker mother who falls in love with Joel McCrea’s respectable cafe owner in this class-based romantic drama directed by Gregory La Cava. For laughs, Rogers sashays through the diner’s tables slinging wisecracks between plates of fries.
9. Roxie Hart (1942)
This is not a musical, and yet Rogers’ jazz-age murder suspect taps her toes through her testimony in this fast and funny crime drama – even if the Hays Code meant the plot of the original 1926 play had to be contorted for the screen. Fun to see Rogers playing such a disreputable, disruptive type after being celebrated as the perfect partner.
8. Vivacious Lady (1938)
Rogers and James Stewart were dating, and it shows. She plays a nightclub singer, and Stewart a professor; they fall in love on a dreamy night in New York, but their precious romance may not survive his family’s disapproval. The undoubted highlight is an impeccably choreographed catfight between Rogers and her romantic rival, played by Phyllis Kennedy.
7. Tight Spot (1955)
In this 50s noir, Rogers dresses down and plays against type as Sherry, a gangster’s moll described by a cynical cop as “a smart-talking, brassy, third-class citizen”. Sherry is sprung out of jail by the DA to testify against a mobster; Rogers is shockingly believable as a character far from her sweet and wholesome persona.
6. Follow the Fleet (1936)
This nautically themed Fred-and-Ginger comedy features some of their best duets, including Let’s Face the Music and Dance, plus Rogers’ only solo tap number in their films together, for Let Yourself Go. Rapidly improving as a dancer, Rogers is superb in the precision clowning of I’m Putting All My Eggs in One Basket, mastering both the steps and the comic mis-steps.
5. Kitty Foyle (1940)
Rogers won the best actress Oscar for playing a shopworker searching her soul as she chooses between being the mistress of the rich man she loves, or marrying another. Kitty is a child of her age, and this melodrama aspires to state-of-the-nation commentary about the limits of the American dream for working-class women, while she cherishes a keepsake snowglobe like a distaff Citizen Kane.
4. Shall We Dance (1937)
Backwards, in high heels – and on roller skates? Rogers makes it all look effortless in two comedy numbers, They All Laughed and Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off. This collage of dance techniques has many fabulous moments (and ballet spoofs) but Rogers is wonderfully affecting one foggy night on the ferry as Astaire serenades her with They Can’t Take That Away from Me.
3. Swing Time (1936)
For the perfectionism of Pick Yourself Up, the bittersweet A Fine Romance in the snow, and the twirling staircase routine for Never Gonna Dance (which required 47 bruising takes), this is top-tier Ginger’n’Fred. Not least because each number is performed with both wit and elegance. You can see why this was Rogers’ own favourite among their collaborations.
2. Stage Door (1937)
This was RKO’s big chance to show Rogers could do serious acting, and it comes off beautifully: the dialogue shines rather than the dancefloor. Rogers crackles opposite Katharine Hepburn in a witty ensemble drama set in a theatrical boarding house. Her comic chemistry with Hepburn et al is dynamite, but the film’s emotional climax is unexpectedly devastating.
1. Top Hat (1935)
No film better exemplifies the delicate magic that fizzed between Rogers and Astaire than this lighthearted caper of misunderstandings and mixed emotions punctuated by some of Irving Berlin’s most irresistible songs. Rogers’ dress may have been shedding ostrich feathers all over the dancefloor in their climactic duet, Cheek to Cheek, but she doesn’t miss a step.
Ginger Rogers: All That Sass runs at BFI Southbank until 30 April, and Top Hat is released in selected cinemas on 7 April.
