Nous sommes en 216 av. J.-C. Après avoir anéanti les légions romaines, le général carthaginois Hannibal marche sur Rome à la tête de son armée, tandis qu’à Rome même, le dictateur Fabius Maximus espère enfin se marier à la belle et indépendante Amythis, sa fiancée depuis 7 ans.
Wealthy American Jervis Pendleton III (Fred Astaire) has a chance encounter at a French orphanage with a cheerful 18-year-old resident, Julie Andre (Leslie Caron). He anonymously pays for her education at a New England college. She writes letters to her mysterious benefactor regularly, but he never writes back. Her nickname for him, "Daddy Long Legs", is taken from the description of him given to Andre by some of her fellow orphans who see his shadow as he leaves their building.
Sid (John Raitt) has just been hired as superintendent of the Sleeptite Pajama Factory in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He soon falls for Babe (Doris Day), a worker in the factory and member of the employee union's leadership. At the company picnic they become a couple, but Babe worries that their roles in management and labor will drive them apart. She is correct. The union is pushing for a raise of seven-and-one-half cents per hour to bring them in line with the industry standard, but the factory's manager is giving them a runaround. In retaliation, the workers pull a slow-down and deliberately foul up the pajamas, but when Babe actually sabotages some machinery, Sid fires her.
A group of high school cheerleaders have sex with the opposing team's players to make them too tired to play football properly, allowing their team to win an unprecedented series of games.
The highly fictionalised story sees 'Schani' dismissed from his job in a bank. He puts together a group of unemployed musicians who wangle a performance at Dommayer's cafe. The audience is minimal, but when two opera singers, Carla Donner and Fritz Schiller, visit whilst their carriage is being repaired, the music attracts a wider audience.
Janie Barlow (Joan Crawford) is a young dancer who is reduced to stripping in a burlesque show. Arrested for indecent exposure, she's bailed out by millionaire playboy Tod Newton (Franchot Tone), who was attracted to her while slumming at the theatre with his society pals. When she tries to get a part in a Broadway musical, Tod intercedes with director Patch Gallagher (Clark Gable) to get her the job: he'll put his money into the show, if Janie is given a part in the chorus. Even though he needs the money, Patch is resistant, until he sees Janie dance and realizes her talent.
Aspiring ballerina Meg Merlin idolizes the head of her dance school, Ariane Bouchet, so much so that she often neglects her own studies just to watch Ariane dance. Only the intervention of kindly Mr. Paternos keeps her from being expelled.
The Company is composed of stories gathered from the dancers, choreographers, and staff of the Joffrey Ballet. Most of the roles are played by company members. While a small subplot relates a love story between Campbell's character and a character played by James Franco, most of the movie focuses on the company as a whole, without any real star or linear plot. The many company stories woven together express the dedication and hard work that dancers must put in to their art, although they are seldom rewarded with fame or fortune.
Peter P. Peters (Fred Astaire), an American ballet dancer billed as "Petrov", dances for a ballet company in Paris owned by the bumbling Jeffrey Baird (Edward Everett Horton). Peters secretly wants to blend classical ballet with modern jazz dancing, and when he sees a photo of famous tap dancer Linda Keene (Ginger Rogers), he falls in love with her. He contrives to meet her, but she is less than impressed. They meet again on an ocean liner traveling back to New York, and Linda warms to Petrov. Unknown to them, a plot is launched as a publicity stunt "proving" that they are actually married. Outraged, Linda becomes engaged to the bumbling Jim Montgomery (William Brisbane), much to the chagrin of both Peters and Arthur Miller (Jerome Cowan), her manager, who secretly launches more fake publicity. Peters and Keene, unable to squelch the rumor, decide to actually marry and then immediately get divorced. Linda begins to fall in love with her husband, but then discovers him with another woman, Lady Denise Tarrington (Ketti Gallian), and leaves before he can explain. Later, when she comes to his new show to personally serve him divorce papers, she sees him dancing with dozens of women, all wearing masks with her face on them: Peters has decided that if he cannot dance with Linda, he will dance with images of Linda. Seeing that he truly loves her, she happily joins him onstage.
Une jeune danseuse, Ruby, arrive à New York dans une école de danse. Un violoniste virtuose d'origine anglaise, Johnnie, vit sans papiers dans la même ville et joue dans le métro pour payer son loyer. Le film raconte leur rencontre et comment ils travailleront ensemble et avec l'aide d'une troupe de danseurs de rue, pour créer une performance chorégraphique et musicale, mêlant danse classique et hip-hop.
In Ireland, Jerry Kelly (George Murphy) marries his sweetheart, Nellie Noonan (Judy Garland) over the objections of her ne'er-do-well father, Michael Noonan (Charles Winninger), who swears never to speak to Jerry again, even though he reluctantly accompanies the newlyweds to America, where Jerry becomes a policeman, and all three become citizens. Michael continues to hold his grudge against Jerry, even when Nellie dies while giving birth to little Nellie.
Loïe Fuller (Soko) est une jeune Américaine vivant seule avec son père dont le seul horizon est celui des ranchs et les seules relations des cowboys frustes. Elle dessine ses rêves d'une autre vie. La mort brutale de son père la décide à changer le cours de sa sordide existence. Après un séjour houleux auprès de sa mère dans une institution religieuse, elle part à Paris et invente un nouveau style de danse réinventant l'utilisation du costume dans la chorégraphie. Elle fait un parcours éblouissant, mais sa rencontre avec Isadora Duncan (Lily-Rose Depp) va bouleverser sa vie. Elle éprouve pour celle-ci une attirance passionnée et va la propulser sur le devant de la scène, au détriment de sa propre carrière.
Jean-Claude Delsart (Patrick Chesnais) est huissier. Quinquagénaire divorcé, il vit seul et sa seule occupation le week-end est de visiter son vieux père acariâtre (Georges Wilson) à la maison de retraite et dont il a repris l'étude. Un jour, il est victime d'un malaise bénin et le docteur lui conseille de faire du sport. Jean-Claude s'inscrit alors à un cours de tango qu'il lorgne, chaque jour, par la fenêtre de son bureau. Il y rencontre Françoise (Anne Consigny), conseillère d'orientation. Malgré la différence d'âge, la profession de Jean-Claude (huissier) et le mariage prochain de Françoise avec son fiancé, ils sont irrésistiblement attirés l'un vers l'autre.
The film tells of novice American dancer Irene Foote (Ginger Rogers) who convinces New York-based British vaudeville comic Vernon Castle (Fred Astaire) to give up slapstick comedy in favor of sophisticated ballroom dancing.