Customer Reviews

Astaire Dancing The Musical Films by John Mueller

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Probably the best book on Fred Astaire's career, this has everything, including frame-by-frame analyses of each of his dances. Mueller is obviously a fan, and sometimes finds things to praise in films that are actually pretty dull ("The Sky's the Limit," "Belle of New York"). But unlike most movie books, this one is fully thought-out, beautifully written, and just about exhaustive. Even the footnotes and appendices make entertaining reading.

i have many students that are researching astaire's film career. when i tell them to get this book, they stare blankly at me. i tell them it is THE seminal book about astaire. still, i get blank stares.

when i realized i have always borrowed it from the library, though, i felt like a bit of a hypocrite. and now that it is out of print, i feel like the stupid, cheapskate hypocrite for not having ever invested in it.

i can right that wrong now, thanks to amazon.com.

for someone who has never so much as done a time step or a pull back, mueller adroitly and adoringly supplies detailed movement anlaysis on astaire's great, hidden and even not too important numbers in each of his film musicals. he provides impartial perspectives on every partner astaire ever had from ginger rogers and cyd charisse to betty hutton and joan fontaine.

once again, it is one of maybe five books any dance enthusiast should own.

Astaire Dancing is a wonderful tribute to the great Fred Astaire. The book profiles the grace and beauty that Astaire brought to film through his iconic choreography and various dance partners. A wonderful book with loads of pictures!

Mueller's book is uniquely about Fred Astaire's dancing movies.
All of them. One for each chapter. He covers almost every dance, and analyzes them in such detail as only a dancer, perhaps, can appreciate. I read this book a chapter a day, and watched almost all the movies. The book can be tedious in its detail, but his comments on the dances you've seen and the stories behind the scenes add to your understanding of the films and how they were made. He sees things you don't see in a first viewing of a film. Mueller's commentary can also be heard in several of the film DVDs as a special feature. He says less about Astaire's singing: he was a great interpreter of so many standards that were written for him. There was none better in expression of the lyric. Perhaps someone should write a book on his singing, which was a part of his great artistry.

Book is fully illustrated with photos in strips almost like flip-books to accompany descriptions of Astaire's routines. Full of surprises. I would never have thought to describe Fred dancing to Puttin' on the Ritz as angry or hostile, but it's true! Have another look.

for astaire fans who already own a number of books on him, it becomes apparent that some writers are so pro- ginger rogers that no other astaire partner can compare. that does not help the astaire fan who loves ALL of fred's work-- over 30 musicals total.

these writers seem to (consciously or unconsciously) compare ALL of fred's later work to the fabled fred-ginger rko series, instead of judging each film on its own merit. even ginger HERSELF gets severely criticized for being 10 years older in "the barkleys of broadway" 1949.

mueller is one of these writers. he trashes every celebrated post-rogers partnership... rita hayworth, eleanor powell, cyd charisse. he thoroughly trashes both leslie caron's and audrey hepburn's dancing abilities. he likes joan leslie and jane powell because they are "similar" to ginger... he feels astaire's work with vera-ellen in "the belle of new york" is his "most creative" and very best work (astaire himself considered it a failure), but then he trashes fred & cyd's legendary 'girl hunt ballet' from "the bandwagon".

in short, whatever most film historians/critics have lauded as important, pivotal partnerships & films in astaire's later career have been totally discounted by this writer... seemingly on purpose. and mueller is strangely critical of astaire himself. with a clinical, surgical skill that makes me quite uncomfortable, mueller picks astaire and his career apart, as if he were an insect... in a way that i think no FAN of fred would ever do.

it's a shame. there are astaire fans out here that feel his work with ginger was great, his post-rogers musicals were just as incredible, entertaining, and important, and that astaire throughout his career was a master.

this is a huge book that is well researched, but filled with the author's opinions throughout. i walked away from this book feeling mueller has no right to sit in judgement of fred's illustrious career and tell the reader what fred did right and what fred did wrong, i mean, who IS this guy anyway??

one must remember this book's opinions are not held by most critics, and take them with a grain of salt...unfortunately, the facts and mueller's opinion are all mixed in together... you will have to pick your way through them.

you should be able to read a book, savor the information, and make your own conclusions.

a far more entertaining, objective, and journalistic type of book would be "Starring Fred Astaire" by stanley green. this is the best astaire book i've ever read.