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DVD Royal Wedding/Second Chorus
Royal Wedding Fred Astaire dances on the ceiling in this 1951 Alan Jay Lerner musical for MGM, directed by Stanley Donen (Singin' in the Rain). The appealing story finds Astaire as part of a brother-and-sister act (along with Jane Powell) that travels to London at the time of Queen Elizabeth II's wedding. Astaire and Powell each find romances that threaten to break up the act, but that's mostly fun window dressing in a movie better known for some truly creative sequences made vivid by Donen, including Astaire's famous dance with a hat rack and his duet with Powell, "How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You (When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life)?" --Tom Keogh
Second Chorus Second Chorus has one little gem of a moment that has found its way into many Fred Astaire highlight reels. Astaire sings and taps "I Ain't Hep to That Step but I'll Dig It" then tries to coax Paulette Goddard onto the floor. She declines twice, then joins him in a joyous dance. The rest of the movie is not as enticing. Astaire and Burgess Meredith portray trumpet players vying for a spot in Artie Shaw's orchestra and for the affections of Goddard. The interplay among the three stars has its charms, and there's plenty of toe-tapping big-band music from Shaw, who plays himself in a substantial part and wrote the Oscar-nominated "Would You Like to Be the Love of My Life" with Johnny Mercer. Filmed in 1940, Second Chorus pales in comparison to the nine-film Astaire-Ginger Rogers partnership that had just ended. Astaire doesn't dance enough, and a tedious subplot involving Charles Butterworth stretches the movie about 15 minutes too long. No great surprise that like Royal Wedding, Second Chorus has slipped into the public domain and is generally available in poor-quality prints. --David Horiuchi
Unfortunately the release of this DVD with such poor visual and sound quality is appalling. One expects sharpness, one gets a version worse than one sees on television. Don't bother buying this version!!
One of the most famous tap numbers in film history distinguishes Broadway Melody of 1940, the fourth and final installment in MGM's Broadway Melody series. When Clare Bennett (Eleanor Powell, who had appeared in Broadway Melody of 1936 and 1938) needs a new partner for her hit Broadway show, small-time hoofers Johnny Brett (Fred Astaire in his MGM debut) and King Shaw (George Murphy) get their big chance. But due to a case of mistaken identity, King, rather than the more talented Johnny, gets the job, and the girl. Astaire and Powell can't match the chemistry he had with Ginger Rogers at RKO, but she was the best technical dancer he was ever teamed with, and the sense of fun they share is infectious. Their above-mentioned tap duet to Cole Porter's "Begin the... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Fred Astaire - Eleanor Powell Director(s): Norman Taurog DVD Release Date: Released the 22 April 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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They don't make the most obvious screen couple--if you squint, you might think Stan Laurel had gotten together with Lauren Bacall--but their differences only serve to make this effervescent musical all the more entertaining. You'll Never Get Rich is the first of two that Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth made together (followed by You Were Never Lovelier). Astaire, who stars as choreographer-turned-soldier Robert Curtis, has rarely been looser, and Hayworth, as dancer Sheila Winthrop, has rarely been more graceful. As in Royal Wedding, Astaire also engages in some fancy solo footwork. Robert Benchley and Frieda Inescort provide priceless support as Robert's philandering boss and his clever wife, and Cole Porter composed the music, including "So Near and Yet So Far,"... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Fred Astaire - Rita Hayworth Director(s): Sidney Lanfield DVD Release Date: Released the 21 October 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Fred Astaire took one of his final musical turns in this delightful 1957 comedy, a cold war update of the classic Ninotchka. Cyd Charisse, having previously wrapped her endless legs around Fred in The Band Wagon, plays the Greta Garbo role: a humorless Soviet functionary who sternly refuses the allure of Paris… for a while, anyway. Like some of the first widescreen musicals, Silk Stockings feels a little slowed down by the horizontal format, but nothing can dim the sparkle of Astaire and Charisse, nor quench the razzmatazz of Janis Paige. Paige and Astaire assess the current state of movies by singing that films today need "glorious Technicolor, breathtaking CinemaScope, and Stereophonic sound!" In the hands of Cole Porter, that phrase becomes wonderfully... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Fred Astaire - Cyd Charisse Director(s): Rouben Mamoulian DVD Release Date: Released the 22 April 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Fred Astaire dances on the ceiling in this 1951 Alan Jay Lerner musical for MGM, directed by Stanley Donen (Singin' in the Rain). The appealing story finds Astaire as part of a brother-and-sister act (along with Jane Powell) that travels to London at the time of Queen Elizabeth II's wedding. Astaire and Powell each find romances that threaten to break up the act, but that's mostly fun window dressing in a movie better known for some truly creative sequences made vivid by Donen, including Astaire's famous dance with a hat rack and his duet with Powell, "How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You (When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life)?" --Tom KeoghMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): Fred Astaire - Jane Powell Director(s): Stanley Donen DVD Release Date: Released the 06 April 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Fred Astaire plays a fashion photographer based on real-life cameraman Richard Avedon, in this entertaining musical directed by Stanley Donen (Singin' in the Rain). The story finds Astaire's character turning Audrey Hepburn into a chic Paris model--not a tough premise to buy, especially within this film's air of enchantment and surrounded by a great Gershwin score. Based on an unproduced play, this is one of the best films from the latter part of Astaire's career. --Tom KeoghMore Info about this DVD Director(s): Stanley Donen DVD Release Date: Released the 10 April 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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