Astaire & Rogers Collection, Volume 1 (Top Hat / Swing Time / The Barkleys of Broadway / Follow the Fleet / Shall We Dance) (5-DVD)

Starring: Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers Director: George Stevens & Mark Sandrich

DVD Features:

Disc 1: BARKLEY'S OF BROADWAY:

Encoding: Region (unknown)
Package Type: Keep Case
Aspect Ratio: Full Frame - 1.37

Audio:

• Mono 1.0 French
• Mono 1.0 English

Additional Release Material:

• Vintage Short Annie Was a Wonderm and Classic Droopy Cartoon Wags to Riches
• Featurette: Reunited at MGM: Astaire and Rogers Together

Disc 2: SWING TIME

Encoding: Region (unknown)
Package Type: Keep Case
Aspect Ratio: Full Frame - 1.37

Audio:

• Mono 1.0 English

Additional Release Material:

• Featurette - The Swing of Things: Swing Time Step by Step
• Audio Commentary - Commentary by John Mueller, Author of Astaire Dancing
• Musical Short Hotel a la Swing and Classic Cartoon Bingo Crosbyana

Disc 3: SHALL WE DANCE

Encoding: Region (unknown)
Package Type: Keep Case
Aspect Ratio: Full Frame - 1.37

Audio:

• Mono 1.0 English

Additional Release Material:

• Audio Commentary - Commentary by Kevin Cole and Hugh Martin
• Musical Short Sheik to Sheik and Classic Cartoon Toy Town Hall
• Featurette - They Can't Take That Away from Me: The Music of Shall We Dance

Disc 4: FOLLOW THE FLEET

Encoding: Region (unknown)
Package Type: Keep Case
Aspect Ratio: Full Frame - 1.37

Audio:

• Mono 1.0 English
• Musical Short Melody Master: Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra and Classic Cartoon Let It Be Me
• Featurette - Follow the Fleet: The Origins of Those Dancing Feet

Disc 5: TOP HAT

Encoding: Region (unknown)
Package Type: Keep Case
Aspect Ratio: Full Frame - 1.37

Audio:

• Mono 1.0 English

Additional Release Material:

• Comedy Short Watch - The Birdie with Bob Hope, Classic Cartoon Page Miss Glory
• Audio Commentary - Commentary by Fred Astaire's Daughter Ava Astaire McKenzie and Film Dance Historian Larry Billman
• Featurette - On Top: Inside the Success of Top Hat

Description by OLDIES.com:

Includes:

Top Hat: The pair's best remembered film features Fred's signature Top Hat, White Tie and Tails, the incomparably romantic Cheek to Cheek and more in Irving Berlin's tip-top score.

Swing Time: One of the team's greatest! The Jerome Kern / Dorothy Fields score goes from jubilant (Pick Yourself Up, Bojangles of Harlem) to sublime (the Oscar-winning The Way You Look Tonight, A Fine Romance).

The Barkleys Of Broadway: Fred's unstoppable with Shoes with Wings On in the duo's last - and only - color movie. Not to be missed: the pair's memorable revisit to They Can't Take That Away From Me.

Follow The Fleet: All hands on deck! Irving Berlin's songs include Let Yourself Go, We Saw the Sea, the Duo's zany I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket skit and their sublimely powerful Let's Face the Music and Dance.

Shall We Dance: A George and Ira Gershwin score has Fred tapping to Slap That Bass in a luxury liner's Art Deco engine room, and the duo's Let's Call the Whole Thing Off skate routine. Pure bliss!

Product Description:

Five Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers films combine on this collection.

THE BARKLEYS OF BROADWAY: Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, whose last joint project had been made 10 years before, come together one final time for this film. The magical pair play performers Josh and Dinah Barkley, whose act -- and marriage -- break up when Dinah decides to become a "serious actress". Among the unforgettable numbers are: "They Can't Take that Away from Me" (which Astaire and Rogers first performed in 1937's "Shall We Dance"), "Shoes With Wings On", "Swing Trot" and "You'd Be So Hard to Replace."

FOLLOW THE FLEET: When he is rejected by his lady love, a song-and-dance man enlists in the navy. The estranged couple later meet again and join forces to solve the romantic difficulties of another star-crossed pair. An Astaire-Rogers musical featuring some of Irving Berlin's best songs including: "Let's Face the Music and Dance," "Let Yourself Go," "We Saw the Sea." Typical but delightful.

SHALL WE DANCE: Astaire and Rogers engage in romantic antics aboard a luxury ocean liner while dancing their way through such Gershwin tunes as "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," "They All Laughed," "They Can't Take that Away From Me" and many others. Academy Award Nominations: Best Song ("They Can't Take That Away From Me").

SWING TIME: he fifth sublime teaming of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, SWING TIME is regarded by many as their finest film. The tenuous plot, which mainly serves to connect the brilliant dance numbers, concerns John "Lucky" Garnett (Astaire), a gambler and professional dancer. When Garnett arrives late to his wedding, his prospective father-in-law implements a punishment, insisting that Garnett raise $25,000 before he can marry Margaret Watson (Betty Furness). Still in tails, he hops a freight for New York, where he gets involved in a scrape with dance instructor Penny Carrol (Rogers). After following her to the dance studio, Lucky poses as a neophyte in need of training. Penny's boss Gordon (Eric Blore), happens to witness Lucky's incompetence, in the "Pick Yourself Up" number and is about to fire the young woman for nonperformance when Lucky launches into a dazzling display of terpsichorean skill. Impressed, the studio owner offers to get them an audition at the famed Silver Sandal nightclub. Arguably the peak of the Astaire-Rogers partnership, the dancers' nearly perfect blending of song, dance, wit, and decor only improves with time. Especially memorable are the subtly erotic tempo shifts of "Never Gonna Dance" and the coruscating technical command of "Bojangles of Harlem," a tribute to the great African-American tap dancer.

TOP HAT: One of the best musicals by the Astaire-Rogers team. Features top tunes by Irving Berlin including "Cheek to Cheek," "Top Hat" and others. Academy Award Nominations: 4, including Best Picture.

Plot Keywords:

Classic | Dance | Essential Cinema | Romance | Vintage

Cast and Crew: