gkeith_1
Spoilers. Observations. Opinions. Excellent. Biopic of pre Great War famous dancing couple. Who else better to portray them than Fred and Ginger?Maggie and Walter were excellent. I always love Zowie and the other dogs. Good to see the real Lew Fields. Ginger's costumes were divine. I hated to see all of the hair cutting, however. Postwar period may have been bad for theatricals, so Vernon's and Irene's careers may not have survived, anyway. Changing tastes may have had a great effect, but in a bad way. The Castles were correct for the time, however, and they introduced a lot of great dances. I am a degreed historian, actress, singer, dancer, fashion designer, film critic and movie reviewer. I am very interested in theatrical history.
utgard14
Musical biography of husband and wife dance team, Vernon and Irene Castle. Not a comedy like Fred & Ginger do so well but a sweet romantic drama. Fred pretty much plays his usual self, maybe less cocky. Ginger, however, gives a softer more innocent performance than in her other films with Astaire. She was starting to branch out as an actress at this point and she would continue to do so throughout the 1940s. There's also some fine support from Walter Brennan and Edna May Oliver.I put off watching this film for many years because everything I read about it made it seem dull and lacking in any of the things I expect to see from an Astaire/Rogers film. While it's true this movie is not like any of their films up to this point, it's still quite good. It also isn't lacking in song & dance numbers, as I had been led to believe. There are quite a few enjoyable period numbers, although not as elaborate as their more well-known films. Ginger's "The Yama Yama Man" is one of her weirdest and oddly most fascinating screen moments. Astaire & Rogers fans will enjoy it most, but I think it's accessible to anybody who can enjoy older films.
richard-1787
I can see how fans of the previous Astaire - Rogers musicals would have been disappointed with this movie. It's really barely a musical - virtually no new musical numbers - and there isn't that much dancing in it. Most of what there is isn't of the sweepingly romantic style that the couple had done so well in their previous movies. This is more of a drama with an occasional dance step and, frankly, not a particularly interesting one, as the Castles, at least as presented here, didn't have any interesting problems in their lives.What I did find interesting was the end, the part devoted to World War I. If you put it in the context of its era - the movie was released in 1939, as war loomed up once again over Europe - the last part can be seen as part of the interventionist propaganda that Hollywood produced from 1939 until Pearl Harbor, and which included such much better pictures as Casablanca, some of Erol Flynn's movies, and even Mrs. Miniver. The joy of the French when America enters the war "because now it will come to a quick end" was certainly meant to suggest that if America only intervened in any new European conflict, it too would end quickly. (That's not how it worked out, but who could have known that in 1939?) There isn't a single memorable number in this movie, either in terms of the music or the dancing. And the story just isn't that interesting. Astaire - Rogers fans could skip this one, as could others, and feel that they have missed very little.
MartinHafer
BEWARE--SPOILER AHEAD--READ AT YOUR OWN RISKThis film is one of the most unusual Astaire-Rogers musicals because for once the story is about a real couple, Vernon and Irene Castle--famous dancers in the early part of the 20th century. So we have a musical bio-pic, though in many other ways it's very similar to the rest of the films Astaire and Rogers made together. Once again, there are strong supporting comic players (Edna May Oliver and Walter Brennan) and plenty of ballroom-style and tap dancing. But what truly makes this different is that the film is forced to stick to the main facts about the people they are portraying, so there is no fairy tale happy ending, since Vernon was killed towards the end of WWI. Those who want the happy ending and demand the Astaire-Rogers formula remain intact will be disappointed, but I was actually pretty impressed that the story DIDN'T include some sort of sappy ending or ended on a cliché. While not a great film, the acting, dancing, direction and writing were just fine and I do respect the fact that it is not just the "same old story".
AD
