Amazon.com
Fans of classic movie musicals will be in heaven with two five-video sets of the films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, the quintessential dancing duo. Fred and Ginger weren't always stars--the former Broadway hoofer and studio chorus girl were cast as the second-tier "comic" couple in three of their early films (
Flying Down to Rio,
Roberta,
Follow the Fleet), and the pace drags whenever they're not on the screen. The high points of the first set are
The Gay Divorcee, which proved that the pair could carry a film, and
Top Hat, generally considered their definitive movie. All the films mix light romantic comedy (usually centered around mistaken identities and ending, inevitably, in blissful wedding promises) with elegant dinner wear and surreal sets intended to transport '30s audiences away from the Depression to such locales as Rio, Paris, and Venice. But of course the real reason to watch these films is the sensational dancing set to great songs by the likes of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and Jerome Kern, numbers that are not merely entertaining but also innovative for their time in that they reveal character and advance the plot. The quintessential romantic duet "Night and Day," the grand ensemble number "The Continental," the definitive tuxedo setting "Top Hat, White Tie, and Tails," the famously feathery "Cheek to Cheek," and the epic show-within-a-show "Let's Face the Music and Dance" are some of the best musical moments ever set to celluloid.
--David Horiuchi
Product Description
This five-tape set includes
Flying Down to Rio,
The Gay Divorcee,
Roberta,
Top Hat, and
Follow the Fleet.
