Fred And Ginger Collection 1

Synopsis

Collection of eight classic Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers films. In 'Top Hat' (1935), Jerry Travers (Astaire) receives an inexplicably haughty response from Dale Tremont (Rogers) when he attempts to woo her, but that's because she has mistaken him for her friend's husband. Love's eventual triumph is charted through a number of classic song and dance routines, including 'Cheek to Cheek' and 'Top Hat, White Tie and Tails'. In 'Follow the Fleet' (1936), Astaire plays Bake Baker, a new recruit in the Navy who comes to the rescue of sisters, Sherry (Rogers) and Harriet Hillard (Connie Martin). Lucille Ball, Betty Grable and Tony Martin appear in minor roles, while the lyrics are supplied by Irving Berlin. Songs include 'Let's Face the Music and Dance', 'Get Thee Behind Me' and 'Let Yourself Go'. In 'Shall We Dance?' (1937), Petrov (Astaire), a Russian ballet dancer, and musical comedy star Linda Keene (Rogers) are thrust into a marriage of convenience - she wants the shotgun wedding to be followed by an even quicker divorce, so that she can marry the man she really loves and retire from the stage. Not surprisingly, though, the path to true love takes a few unplanned diversions. In 'Carefree' (1938), Astaire and Rogers team up in the story of a psychiatrist who falls in love with one of his patients. A light musical with lyrics from Irving Berlin such as 'Change Partners' and 'I Used To Be Colour Blind'. In 'The Gay Divorcee' (1934), would-be divorcee Mimi Glossop (Rogers) mistakes love-sick Guy Holden (Astaire) for a professional co-respondent hired by her aunt. She therefore treats him with disdain, but romance proves inevitable. In 'Swing Time' (1936), John 'Lucky' Garnett (Astaire) is due to be married, but his father-in-law to be says he has to earn $25,000 to prove that he is worthy. So he goes off to take some dance lessons, only to fall for his instructor, Penny Carrol (Rogers). The score won Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields an Oscar. In 'Flying Down to Rio' (1933), the first of the Astaire/Rogers collaborations, a love triangle is set up when heiress Belinha de Rezende (Dolores Del Rio), herself the object of crooner Julio Rubeiro's (Raul Roulien) affections, sets her cap at American Roger Bond (Gene Raymond). Famous for its finale, in which girls dance on the wings of moving airplanes. Finally, in 'The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle' (1939), is a nostalgic review of the lives of Vernon and Irene Castle. The internationally successful ballroom dancers wooed the hearts of America during World War One, before their careers were tragically cut short by an air crash. Classic numbers include 'Ron, Ron, Ron', 'Take Me Back to New York Town' and 'Little Brown Jug'.