Amazon.com video review:
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. In this second set, the pair is no longer restricted to frothy comedy revolving around mistaken identities; they occasionally explore deeper emotional threads with a bit of heartbreak. The first film is one many consider their most enjoyable, Swing Time, a dashing combination of great music, dance, and comedy. Favorite musical moments include the spectacular dance-studio number "Pick Yourself Up," the farewell ode "Never Gonna Dance," and the Oscar-winning "Just the Way You Look Tonight," from the team of Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields. Shall We Dance features brilliant songs by George and Ira Gershwin ("They Can't Take That Away from Me," "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" performed on roller skates) and a complex plot that has Fred and Ginger actually getting married before the final credits roll. The eighth and ninth entries in the series tried some different approaches, with Carefree more of a comedy vehicle for Ginger (yet still including some fine dances and Irving Berlin songs as well as their first onscreen kiss) and The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle portraying the pair as historical dancing stars and using a score of turn-of-the-century standards. This set also includes their 10th film, their 1949 reunion at MGM 10 years after their final film at RKO. While The Barkleys of Broadway falls short of their best work, it's a fond remembrance of the most glorious partnership in film history. --David Horiuchi
Amazon.com Essentials:
Perhaps because it was Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers's penultimate
picture together for RKO, or perhaps because it is more romantic comedy
than musical, Carefree tends to be a neglected entry in the
series. This is unfortunate, because it retains many of the elements that
made the duo so popular while also breaking new ground. Fred plays Tony
Flagg, a psychoanalyst who is asked by his friend Steve (Ralph Bellamy)
to try to figure out why his fiancée, Amanda Cooper (Ginger), keeps
breaking off their engagement. During the course of treatment, and in a
reversal of the usual pattern, Ginger falls for Fred and begins to
pursue him. The emotionally repressed doctor resists, leading to a
number of comic encounters, as well as a moment of genuine heartbreak.
Other innovations include Fred's dance on a driving range, a slow-motion
dream sequence (which was going to be shot in color until budget
concerns won out), Fred and Ginger's first screen kiss, and some of
Ginger's best turns as a comic actress. More familiar elements include
Ginger fronting the band at the start of a large company dance number
("The Yam," which failed to catch on as a dance craze), an expert if
skimpy Irving Berlin score including the lovely ballad "Change
Partners," and of course fabulous, high-flying dancing. Fred and Ginger
fans can't afford to miss Carefree. --David Horiuchi
