Astaire & Rogers Collection, Vol. 1 (1949)

Top Hat

I am absolutely thrilled with my purchase. Very good value for money, and very well restored and remastered. "Top Hat" being my favourite, for the music timing and comedy.I really love the music and dancing, especially
"Dancing Cheek to Cheek". I am also impressed with the special fearures of naratives and the scene selections in all the movies! July 29, 2008

Style, Grace and Dancing

Ginger was brilliantly effective. She made everything work for her. Actually, she made things very fine for the both of us and she deserves most of the credit for our success". --Fred Astaire

"I adore the man. I always have adored him. It was the most fortunate thing that ever happened to me, being teamed with Fred: he was everything a little starry-eyed girl from a small town ever dreamed of."-Ginger Rogers



Those fans of the television show Dancing with the Stars owe a large debt to the dancing talents of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Now, the idea of ballroom dancing has been out there long before Astaire and Rogers danced as a duo. However seeing them on film is seeing dance at its best. When you talk the idea of dance , this is what great dancers strive for. I give these films straight TENS across the board.

This five DVD collection is the best of their cinematic pairings. Included in this set is the films Top Hat, Follow the Fleet, Swing Time, Shall We Dance and The Barkleys of Broadway (their last film together). To me, this is cream of their motion picture crop. One would wish their first film Flying down to Rio, which show their electric chemestry, would be in this collection...however it is not!

Most younger viewers may get turned off by the films in glorious Black & white...It isn't just this film, its most films and TV in black & White. To me this just highlights the music and the dancing. Fred & Ginger were, and in my mind,still are icons of modern dance, These films proved that point

Lets talk for a second about the music. Top Hat and Follow the Fleet had scores by the great Irving Berlin. Jerome Kern (who later wrote Showboat) musicly teamed by Dorothy Fields for the film Swing Time. Shall We Dance had a film score from the Gershwin Brothers. The music was a classic era of jazz and lush music you could sing over and over.

This 1930's and 1940's films had a light storyline, always leading into the music. These pieces of musical cinematic fluff were great because the music also had chemestry. The music seem like a third partner in their dance. This is why these films worked so well and still have a certain magic today

Most of their films have historial audio commentary tracks. One would have wished either Astaire or Rogers were alive to share their cinematic memories, but alas this never happened. It is just a treat to see these two dancing and captured on dvd

Bennet Pomerantz, AUDIOWORLD November 15, 2007

Astaire & Rogers Collection, Vol. 1 (Top Hat / Swing Time / Follow the Fleet / Shall We Dance / The Barkleys of Broadway

Loved them all. Brings back memories of good times. Well worth the price in memories and escaping into the past if only momentarily. July 25, 2007

JAR

I love Fred Astaire Movies, classic movies there's nothing like these type of movies. excellent.... May 15, 2007

GREAT MOVIES!

ARRIVED NEXT DAY I ORDERED THEM! VERY GOOD QUALITY OF MOVIES. February 24, 2007

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