List Price: $19.97 Our Price: $17.97YOU SAVE $2!
Buy it
DVD Swing Time
If you only had one Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers film to watch, this classic musical from 1936 would be your best bet. It was the dance duo's sixth film together, and director George Stevens handled the material with as much flair behind the camera as Fred and Ginger displayed in front of it. This time out, Fred plays a gambling hoofer who's engaged to marry a young socialite (Betty Furness), but when he's late for the wedding his prospective father-in-law sends him away, demanding that he earn $25,000 before he can earn his daughter's hand in marriage. When Fred meets Ginger in a local dance studio (where he pretends to be a klutz so she can be his instructor), he's instantly smitten and the $25,000 deal becomes a moot point. Featuring six songs by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields (including a splendid rendition of "The Way You Look Tonight") and some of the most elegant dance sequences ever filmed, this lightweight fluff epitomizes the jazz-age style of 1930s musicals, virtually defining the genre with graceful joie de vivre. --Jeff Shannon
Romance done up in delightful gossamer, that's what this film is; and one you'll most assuredly enjoy if you are at all capivated by (seemingly) spontaneous song and/or dance numbers brought to life on celluloid. And who better to oblige us than Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers? You have, no doubt, read several (remarkably repetitive) summations of this film, above, so I'll forgo having another go at it; rather than tax your patience any more. I will say, however, that I am of the opinion that one ought to be familiar with the greatest popular expressions of our culture (in addition to history, literature, etc.) and for this reason alone, Swing Time is worth seeing as one of the finest musicals put on film. I particularly relish one number wherein Astaire dances to 3 representations of his---greatly exaggerated---shadow. It's just one of many visuals that will linger with you once you have had the pleasure of taking in this romantic spectacle. To the list of those that have set the standard for moving picture entertainment---Lillian Gish, Chaplin, Keaton, The Marx Brothers, Hitchcock, John Ford, Frank Capra, John Wayne, Orson Wells and on & on---do be prepared to add Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers. After just watching Swing Time, I have done just that! PS: This film (amongst other Astaire & Rogers works) will be available on DVD in august 2005.) Cheers!
Stepping Lively
Growing up, I never was interested in the song and dance movies. There were aspects of the genre that I enjoyed in other movies such as "The Wizard of Oz". However, the "boy meets girl, boy dances with girl, the two fall in love" plot was never very compelling, at least as far as I'm concerned. However, I decided to take a chance and see one of the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers movies I'd heard so much about. I'm glad I chose "Swing Time" for my first impression.
My initial impressions were that the movie itself was just as predictable as I expected. The plot doesn't really need to be explained because it isn't the reason anyone would watch this movie. However, the song and dance portions were really worth watching. In fact, several of the numbers, alone, made for an overall excellent movie. I wasn't aware that "The Way You Look Tonight" debuted in "Swing Time". I liked the way the producers respected the song enough to weave the melody in and out after Astaire introduced it. I enjoyed some of the preliminary dances (and suffered through an unimpressive song or two). However, it was the dance routine honoring Bojangles that really impressed me. The dance includes a number of finely choreographed aspects including a well-coordinated evolving chorus line. However, it was Astaire dancing with three shadows that really impressed me. At first it seemed like it was three well-placed lights that created the apparent effect of Astaire dancing with himself. However, the slight and subtle differences made me realize that Astaire was dancing with the shadows of three others; perhaps himself recorded earlier and replayed against that back drop. This sequence, alone, makes it the movie worth watching. I also appreciated the slowly evolving reconcilliation dance of Astaire and Rogers towards the end of the movie. Although it quickly sprang into a lively routine, the beginning was quite touching in its' emotional expression.
I don't think that I am ready to spend a lot of time watching the old dance movies but I know I'll watch some more from time to time. It isn't such an outdated genre after all considering the more recent examples of "Saturday Night Fever", "Dirty Dancing" and "Fame" to name a few. However, watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers helped me appreciate how it all began.
The Penultimate Astaire and Rogers Film
"Swing Time" is the best of the 7 Astaire and Rogers films: the seamless integration of songs into an interesting and funny plot, a cast perfectly fitted to the their musical comedy roles, witty and droll dialogue, dazzling art deco sets, and of course the most delightful and artistically satisfying choreography-dancing ever captured on screen. If that sounds overblown it is not. This film should be considered one of the top 10 movies of all time. It didn't happen overnight. Fred Astaire, choreographer Hermes Pan, Ginger Rogers and a great team of musicians and artists at RKO lead by producer Pandro Berman worked together over several years and five earlier movies to reach the heights of musical comedy perfection with this film as their crowning glory.
Although famed comic straight man Edward Everett Horton is not in this movie "Swing Time" has many strong comic moments care of the always wonderful Eric Blore, Helen Broderick (Mother of Broderick Crawford), and Victor Moore. Years on the Vaudeville stage (Eric of course was on the variety circuit in England) has polished the comic timing of this trio. Keep an eye out for the repeating pants gag. Don't miss the reactions of the dog, cat and painting of Grandfather over Lucky Garnett's missed wedding.
Jerome Kern wrote the score full of wonderful melodies but supposedly the orchestrations were punched up considerably with heavy swing influence by Fred (Astaire was an accomplished pianist...see his piano solo in "Follow the Fleet"), Robert Russell Bennett, and Fred's life long piano accompanist and arranger Hal Borne. Fred and musical team wanted the music and the dancing to show off the new swing-jazz style of big band music sweeping the nation. To this score add the heavy syncopated rhythms of Fred and Ginger's tap work and you have compelling and masterfully sophisticated musical numbers with a beat you can't get out of your head. The peak of the swing theme is Fred's BIG dance tribute to the jazz-dancing of Bojangles. Fred's tap work and the "tacky" piano are the writhing rhythmic spine of this supremely creative number where Fred partners with 30 girls at once and out-dances even his own shadow. Contrasting with these swing-jazz numbers are the 3 love songs in the film. Two of these are famous pieces: "The Way You Look Tonight" delivered by Fred, which pulls Ginger and the audience to him like a magnet and the cleverly sarcastic " A Fine Romance" duet. Just listen to the sublime glockenspiel and tubular bell intro to "Fine Romance". Both songs do more to move the plot along than an hour of dialogue and are more marks of the greatness of this musical. The third song is the less known "Never Gonna Dance" with charming but somewhat nonsensical lyrics by Dorothy Fields although there is the ingenious convergence of the `lucky' coin theme in Lucky Garnett's singing of the loss of Penny. Fred's delivery is truly heart wringing.
The songs all masterfully set up the dance routines which also move the story forward as no other dance numbers in the history of Broadway seem able to do. There is a re-occurring theme in the three Fred and Ginger dance duets. Most everyone recognizes the hopping waltz step appearing in each routine but the hauntingly beautiful choreography of "Never Gonna Dance" also repeats the `learning to walk' intro to "Pick Yourself Up" but this sultry and sentimental reprise is a bluesy butterfly metamorphised from the earlier number. The piece finishes with Lucky and Penny headed towards the door just as they ended the first two dances, but this time Lucky halts at the threshold unable to follow Penny.
With all good musical comedies guy gets girl and Fred and Ginger sing interlaced renditions of "Just The Way You Look" and "A Fine Romance" finishing and fading out just as they kiss. Which reminds me that in the middle of the film we see Fred and Ginger's very first screen kiss (after 5 movies together). And no one can sell the effects of that blissful moment better than the beautiful and intensely thrilled Ginger Rogers in a dress and body to die for.
If you were unhappy or depressed when you sit down to watch this film you will feel, at the end, at least for a little while, as if you too could dance on clouds.
Even the best Fred and Ginger musicals are merely lavish excuses for some of the most elegant dancing ever put on screen, and Top Hat is no exception. The story is a silly but timeless tale of mistaken identity that compounds itself to extremes. Fred Astaire is the famous American hoofer Jerry Travers, in London preparing for a new show with his befuddled producer Horace Hardwick (the always entertaining Edward Everett Horton) when he falls for Dale Tremont (Ginger Rogers), a lovely, wisecracking American girl as light on her feet as Jerry. Dale believes Jerry to be Horace, the husband of her best friend Madge (Helen Broderick) and rebuffs his advances by marrying her dressmaker Alberto (Erik Rhodes), but in the best tradition of musical comedy, true love finds its own way.... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Fred Astaire - Ginger Rogers Director(s): Mark Sandrich DVD Release Date: Released the 16 August 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $19.97 Your Price: $15.98YOU SAVE $3.99!
Buy it
This silky smooth film noir pits gruff police detective Dana Andrews, stiff and blunt in his street-bred manners, against a cultured columnist and acidic wit (Clifton Webb at his prissiest) in a battle of wits during a murder investigation. The cop is a romantic hiding under a hard-boiled exterior who falls in love with the beautiful victim through the portrait that hangs in her apartment. Gene Tierney, whose heart-shaped face mixes the exotic with the girl next door, brings the poise and calm of a model to her role as the object of every man's gaze and the target of a killer. Laura, handsomely shot in dreamy black and white, is the first and best of Otto Preminger's cool, controlled murder mysteries. In the gritty world of film noir it remains the most refined and elegant example... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gene Tierney - Dana Andrews Director(s): Rouben Mamoulian - Otto Preminger DVD Release Date: Released the 15 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.98 Your Price: $8.98YOU SAVE $6!
Buy it
The Band Wagon (1953) marked the culmination of a series of near-autobiographical pictures Fred Astaire made for MGM following his return from premature retirement in the late '40s. Astaire plays Tony Hunter, a fading film star (his big hit: Flying Down to Panama) who decides to return to his former glory, the Broadway stage. (In 1931, Astaire had starred on Broadway with sister Adele in The Band Wagon, a revue that lent some of its songs to this film.) His playwright-songwriter friends (Nanette Fabray and Oscar Levant) hook him up with Broadway's hottest director, Jeffrey Cordova (a nicely hammy Jack Buchanan), who proves that the "new" theater traditions can be an awkward fit with the old. Hunter also finds himself at odds with his prima ballerina leading lady (Cyd... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Fred Astaire - Cyd Charisse Director(s): Vincente Minnelli DVD Release Date: Released the 15 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $26.99 Your Price: $24.29YOU SAVE $2.7!
Buy it
