My Favourite Ginger Rogers Movies...as told by Letterboxd Reviews
Happy 111th Birthday Ginger Rogers!
In honour of Ginger's birthday—and this woman's brass and independence has always meant so much to me—I'm sharing my favourite Ginger Rogers movies with my thoughts as told by Letterboxd reviews.
Enjoy!
The Major and the Minor (1942)
"A delightfully sassy farce! Ginger Rogers shines in this role, getting a ton of mileage out of this role within a role and being able to strut her stuff. Very witty and a good first directorial effort by Wilder." — Ryan Silberstein
"It’s a real testament to the combined skill and charm of Billy Wilder, Ray Milland, and Ginger Rogers that The Major and the Minor somehow never seems remotely inappropriate despite the premise." — mollystyrene
"Obviously implausible and sweetly cartoonish, but somehow it is exquisitely intelligent." — Matteo
Vivacious Lady (1938)
"Jimmy Stewart and Ginger Rogers invented meeting, falling in love, and getting married all within 24 hours!!! — eely
Bachelor Mother (1939)
"I don’t think I’ve yet watched a Ginger Rogers film where she DOESN’T have amazing chemistry with her co-star. She and David Niven are delightful together, and I love the premise of this film so much. Plus that ending…. Maury Povich just can’t compete with these old school 'I’m not the father!' antics." — Vincent Price was 6'4
"I adore David Niven in this. Granted, he could read the phone book and I would love it, but still. He and Ginger Rogers are such an incredible pair and I wish they had made more films together. They both have a very subtle sense of humor that plays well off of each other. Some of these shots where they’re even just looking at each other are hysterical due to how expressive both of them are. This film only gets better with rewatches." — Bre
Fifth Avenue Girl (1939)
"Okay but this was so much cuter than I was expecting!! I had so much fun watching this! I love Katherine and Michael and also Ginger’s lack of eyebrows and crazy hairdo — annabelle
"Worth it to see Ginger Rogers chase a man with a kitchen knife and threaten him with 'I think I'll cut you a new mouth' – that’s cinema, baby! — lilacwood
Romance in Manhattan (1935)
"You know those movies you instantly fall in love with within thirty minutes of your fist viewing? Yeah, this is an instant favorite." — reed X
"Sweet little trifle about a Czech immigrant (Francis Lederer), an unemployed chorus girl (Ginger Rogers) and her younger brother (Jimmy Butler). Everyone is just fine, and Lederer, in some shots, is impossibly beautiful." — baileymarkham
"Delightful feel-good story full of loveable, kind-hearted souls. Terrific chemistry." — Neil Pechart
Roberta (1935)
"Similarly to how I've started feeling about romances in Gene Kelly movies, it's a refreshing change of pace for Fred and Ginger's characters to already have a relationship before the movie, allowing their synergy to feel justified." — Robin
Stage Door (1937)
"Stage Door is one of those rare things, a film with almost perfect dialogue. Delivered at a mile a minute, it's brilliantly constructed, full of double entendres and subtle barbs that zing from character to character." — Ethan Lyon
Kitty Foyle (1940)
"What I love about Ginger Rogers’ performance here is that she brings a lot of subtleties within her facial expressions. It really resembles the dramatic performer within her. If you didn’t know, Ginger Rogers was primarily known for her classic comedic timing and very impressive dancing sequences. What you may not have known is that she was actually an acclaimed dramatic actress. It’s quite a difficult transition to go from that to this, but she nails it. While it isn’t the greatest Best Actress winner or near it, it’s definitely one of the more interesting ones to look at." — Sam Meltzer
"Kitty Foyle is the film that won Ginger Rogers her one and only best actress Oscar. The movie might be better known, though — for its association with a dress." — theriverjordan
I'll Be Seeing You (1944)
"WHAT JURY would put GINGER ROGERS in PRISON I don’t care what she did or how many men she killed she should have gotten away with it." — eely
"A forties film that discusses PTSD and the stigma of people who have gone to prison? You're doing amazing, sweetie. (Even if the characters fell for each other really fast and didn't have a lot of personality.)" — Lizy
Such a unique post -- I loved reading these comments. My favorite Ginger Rogers movies are her earlier ones, like Finishing School, Upperworld and, especially, Stage Door.
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