Log in / Create an account | Account

• Home
• Blog
• Film Shop

  Other Sections

  Publishers

  Directors

  Actors

  Collections

  Genre Sections

  • Action & Adventure 2607 titles
  • Animation 703 titles
  • Blu-ray 2926 titles
  • British Film 7498 titles
  • Classic Movies 3601 titles
  • Comedy 4725 titles
  • Contemporary Film 12259 titles
  • Crime 2127 titles
  • Documentaries 1939 titles
  • Erotica 298 titles

  • Exclusives & Rarities 87 titles
  • Family Films 922 titles
  • Gay & Lesbian 326 titles
  • Horror 1460 titles
  • Musicals & Music 976 titles
  • Science Fiction & Fantasy 2034 titles
  • Silent Film 124 titles
  • Stage 525 titles
  • World Cinema 2776 titles
• TV Shop
• Cinema
• Must Watch
• Community
• Bestsellers
• New Releases
• Special Offers

Composer George Gershwin's last words were reportedly 'Fred Astaire'. Fellow tunesmith Irving Berlin considered him 'pure gold', while Jerome Kern was convinced that 'Fred Astaire can't do anything bad'. Novelist-cum-critic Graham Greene opined he was the 'nearest approach we are ever likely to have to a human Mickey Mouse', while Katharine Hepburn slyly summed up his g... [+]

Composer George Gershwin's last words were reportedly 'Fred Astaire'. Fellow tunesmith Irving Berlin considered him 'pure gold', while Jerome Kern was convinced that 'Fred Astaire can't do anything bad'. Novelist-cum-critic Graham Greene opined he was the 'nearest approach we are ever likely to have to a human Mickey Mouse', while Katharine Hepburn slyly summed up his glorious partnership with Ginger Rogers by suggesting 'he gives her class and she gives him sex'.

Astaire was a stage legend when a Paramount scout scrawled on seeing his 1928 screen test: 'Can't act. Can't sing. Balding. Can dance a little.' How wrong he was! Astaire had an easy charm that offset his acting limitations and lack of hair, while his light voice had a lyricism that was matched by the finesse of his movement. Few performers interpreted songs with more intuitive insight, while his partnership with Hermes Pan produced some of the most iconic choreography in screen history.

Amazingly, three of his timeless RKO teamings with Ginger Rogers are unavailable on DVD, but relish the ones that are, particularly Top Hat (1935), Swing Time (1936) and Shall We Dance (1937). However, don't be fooled into thinking that Fred's post-Ginger career was an anti-climax.

A Damsel in Distress (1937) was hailed a disappointment on its initial release, but the PG Wodehouse story zips along pleasingly, while the dance numbers have a playfulness that was often missing from the Rogers romcoms. Moreover, he found plenty of able partners to keep in step with, most notably Eleanor Powell in Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940), Rita Hayworth in You'll Never Get Rich (1941) and You Were Never Lovelier (1942) and Cyd Charisse in The Band Wagon (1955), while he formed charming romantic attachments with Judy Garland in Easter Parade (1948), Leslie Caron in Daddy Long Legs (1955) and Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face (1957).

And he could hold his own against an inveterate scene-stealer like Bing Crosby in Holiday Inn (1942). Indeed, after being lured out of a premature retirement, Astaire also proved himself a capable dramatic actor in pictures as different as On the Beach (1959), The Notorious Landlady (1962) and The Towering Inferno (1974). But no matter what the movie, Astaire was always a pleasure to watch. [-]