Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD Brand: Warner Brothers EAN: 0053939757026 Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, Original recording remastered, Subtitled, NTSC Label: Turner Home Ent Manufacturer: Turner Home Ent Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Turner Home Ent Region Code: 1 Release Date: October 24, 2006 Running Time: 93 minutes Sales Rank: 57367 Studio: Turner Home Ent Theatrical Release Date: March 29, 1939
Product Description: Who else but the fabulous Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers the greatest dancing team of all time could portray Vernon & Irene Castle the renowned ballroom dancers of the years preceding World War I? Fred and Ginger dance up a storm as they dramatize the careers of the Castles. The pair first unite when Irene persuades Vernon to give up his corny vaudeville clowning to cultivate his obvious dancing abilities. After some lean years a sharp agent sponsors the team and their rise to fame is phenomenal. Soon they are setting Paris aglow with their stunning routines. Then the first World War intervenes and brings a shocking tragedy. Vernon is killed in a crash on a training field in Texas abruptly ending theCastles' reign on the dance floor. Astaire and Rogers are at their most appealing.Running Time: 103 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSICALS/MUSICALS UPC: 053939757026 Manufacturer No: T7570
Amazon.com: The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle was the last of nine films Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made together for RKO Pictures, and it is unlike any other. For the only time, Fred and Ginger play historical characters--the legendary dancing duo that was all the rage between 1912 and 1916--and a married couple, no less. Instead of their usual innovative, plot-driving dances, Fred and Ginger perform pastiches of what the Castles made famous--the fox trot, polka, and tango. And rather than an original score of great American standards by Berlin, Kern, or the Gershwins, the film uses a collection of period tunes, including 'By the Light of the Silvery Moon' and 'Waiting for the Robert E. Lee.' No, this is not Top Hat, but fans will enjoy the film anyway. Vernon and Irene Castle is an affectionate tribute to a bygone era and to a team that Fred said was 'a tremendous influence' on his career. As portrayed in the film (which was based on Irene Castle's memoirs and input), Vernon Castle is a small-time vaudeville comedian when he meets and marries Irene. The two not only manage to forge a career as proper, respectable dancers, they become the essence of style, setting national trends for dance, fashion, and even women's hairstyles. The film briefly touches on Fred and Ginger's usual themes of pursuit and union, but mostly they are warm and tender together as they deal with real-life problems, perhaps portraying the earlier films' characters after those 'happily ever after' fantasy endings. And as we watch the Castles' performing career rise and decline, straight through to the film's touching last shot, we realize that Fred and Ginger are saying farewell, which makes The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle an appropriate finale to the most glorious partnership in Hollywood history. --David Horiuchi
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Rating: - Not the typical Fred & Ginger film
We will probably never see a dancing duo like Astaire and Rogers again. Fred's ability to make intricate dance steps look as effortless as breathing, and Ginger's addition of beauty and grace as she matched him step for step are a wonder to behold. Thank goodness we have their routines caught forever on film!
And it's with some sadness that this, their final film together, doesn't have nearly the amazing dance numbers we had come to expect from their previous offerings. Don't get me wrong, the dancing is still excellent, but it's just not the Fred-and-Ginger style we know and love. Of course that should probably be expected as they are here playing not two fictional characters, but a real couple, Vernon and Irene Castle, who took the dancing and fashion world by storm just several decades prior. A solid storyline holds this film together, and the end product is enjoyable in it's own way and is definitely ... Read More
Rating: - Not to Astaire/Rogers formula but very good
While "The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle" is the last and least typical of the incomparable films which Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made together at RKO studios in the 1930s, it should not be dismissed because it does not follow the usual formula. The dancing duo's box office standing had been diminishing so it was logical that RKO broke formula.
The film is an exquisitely made biography of the famous husband and wife dancing team, more comparable to the sorts of films Alice Faye was making at 20th Century Fox and even Jeanette Macdonald and Nelson Eddy at MGM. The stars have much more 3 dimensional acting roles than usual which they perform beautifully. The nostalgic tunes, jaunty dance routines and excellent period detail ensure fine entertainment, a first rate production in every way and senstively directed by H C Potter.
The print of the film is excellent but there are two awful extras, ... Read More
Rating: - Astaire, Rogers, and the first Tom & Jerry cartoon
This is not my favorite Astaire-Rogers movie. Their connection with each other was never more touching, but the dancing -- recreating the specific steps of the Castles -- by definition doesn't have the ingenuity that makes Fred & Ginger so special.
However, there is a feature on this DVD, that is interesting: 1940's Puss Gets the Boot is the first Tom & Jerry cartoon. Though the cat is named Jasper and the mouse is unnamed, this first pairing of directors Hanna and Barbera became so popular (the toon was nominated for an Academy Award) that the characters' names were changed and the series was officially born one year later.
Rating: - Dancing During a More "Innocent" Era (DVD Review)
Their ninth film together and the last for RKO, Fred & Ginger (F&G) play real life characters Vernon and Irene Castle. Since the story is set in the 1910s, which is comparably a more "innocent" era, the dancing is not as sophisticated but just as elegant, because it's F&G. A typical biographical account, it takes you through various trials and conflicts throughout their lives. The movie has more comedy in the beginning but becomes more serious at the end, especially when Vernon joins the Royal Air Corps during World War I. All the characters are lovable, and you wish you could be there. It's also the only F&G movie where the principles are concerned about having enough money to make ends meet.
In the vintage musical short "Happily Buried" two presidents of competing waffle iron companies want to marry each other but cannot agree on the shape of the iron in the merged company. As a publicity stunt, ... Read More
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- Not the typical Fred & Ginger film
- Astaire, Rogers, and the first Tom & Jerry cartoon
