Coming up on Saturday at the Described Movies: Top Hat, A Family Affair, and Helltown.

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From this Saturday at 12am Eastern, that’s 5pm Saturday in NZ, 3pm in Sydney and 5am in the UK, and repeated every four hours throughout the day, it’s the described movies Top Hat from 1935, A Family Affair from 1937, and Helltown from 1937.
Top Hat is a 1935 American musical screwball comedy film in which Fred Astaire plays an American tap dancer named Jerry Travers, who comes to London to star in a show produced by Horace Hardwick ( Edward Everett Horton).
He meets and attempts to impress Dale Tremont ( Ginger Rogers) to win her affection.
The film also features Eric Blore as Hardwick's valet Bates, Erik Rhodes as Alberto Beddini, a fashion designer and rival for Dale's affections, and Helen Broderick as Hardwick's long-suffering wife Madge.
The film was directed by Mark Sandrich, and was written by Allan Scott and Dwight Taylor, with songs by Irving Berlin.
"Top Hat, White Tie and Tails" and " Cheek to Cheek" have become American song classics.
It has been nostalgically referred to — particularly its "Cheek to Cheek" segment — in many films, including The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), The Green Mile (1999), and The Boss Baby (2017).
Astaire and Rogers made nine films together at RKO, including: The Gay Divorcee (1934), Roberta (1935), Top Hat (1935), Follow the Fleet (1936), Swing Time (1936), Shall We Dance (1937), and Carefree (1938).
Top Hat was the most successful picture of Astaire and Rogers' partnership (and Astaire's second most successful picture after Easter Parade), achieving second place in worldwide box-office receipts for 1935.
While some dance critics maintain that Swing Time contained a finer set of dances, Top Hat remains, to this day, the partnership's best-known work.
Top Hat was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in its second year, 1990, as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Directed by: Mark Sandrich.
Screenplay by: Allan Scott, and Dwight Taylor.
Story by: Dwight Taylor.
Produced by: Pandro S. Berman.
Starring: Fred Astaire, and Ginger Rogers.
Cinematography: David Abel.
Edited by: William Hamilton.
Music by: Irving Berlin.
Production Company: RKO Radio Pictures.
Distributed by: RKO Radio Pictures.
Release dates: 29 August 1935 (New York City, premiere).
File Length: 99 minutes.
Country: United States.
Language: English.
Budget: $609,000.
Box office: $3.2 million.
A Family Affair is a 1937 American comedy film.
It was the first of 16 movies now known as the Andy Hardy series, though Andy Hardy, played by Mickey Rooney, did not become the main character in the series until a few more instalments had been made.
The movie features Lionel Barrymore as Judge Hardy and Spring Byington as his wife, who are Andy's parents.
Barrymore and Byington were replaced in their roles by Lewis Stone and Fay Holden in the subsequent films.
In this film, the highly respected judge must deal with family and political problems.
It was based on the 1928 play Skidding by Aurania Rouverol.
Directed by: George B. Seitz.
Written by: Kay Van Riper, and Hugo Butler.
Based on: Skidding 1928 play by Aurania Rouverol.
Produced by: Lucien Hubbard, and Samuel Marx.
Starring: Lionel Barrymore, Cecilia Parker, Spring Byington, Eric Linden, and Charley Grapewin.
Cinematography: Lester White.
Edited by: George Boemler.
Music by: David Snell.
Distributed by: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Release date: 12 March 1937.
File Length: 69 minutes.
Country: United States.
Language: English.
Budget: $178,000.
Box office: $502,000.
Born to the West (reissue title Hell Town) is a 1937 American Western film starring John Wayne, Marsha Hunt, and John Mack Brown.
Filmed in black and white and based upon a Zane Grey novel, the movie incorporates footage from an earlier and higher budgeted silent version, a common practice of the era.
The picture features fast chases, gunfights, unusual poker gambling, and peppy light dialogue for the love interest.
Directed by: Charles Barton.
Written by: Stuart Anthony, and Robert Yost.
Produced by: William T. Lackey, and William LeBaron.
Starring: John Wayne, Marsha Hunt, and John Mack Brown.
Cinematography: Devereaux Jennings.
Edited by: John F. Link Sr.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures.
Release date: 10 December 1937.
File Length: 57 minutes.
Country: United States.
Language: English.
Any questions, comments, or ideas for future described movies: e-mail me: anthony at mushroomfm dot com (e-mail address written that way to cut down on
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Enjoy the movies,