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

I love Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals. This set (and Vol. 2) has all 20 of them. What a dea!

I won't waste time reviewing the individual films since it's already been established, many times over, that they are all cinematic treasures. Further, if you didn't already know this, it's doubtful you'd be here looking to buy this DVD set. So, I'll confine my review strictly to the quality of the set. First of all, I was very impressed with the restoration. These films are all around 70 years old, the original prints never had proper storage, and even the best of VHS prints showed the flaws one would expect. It's amazing what they were able to do in the restoration process. I did not experience visual or audio problems with any of the DVDs in this set. The audio was clear, the visual was crisp. I was singularly impressed, and kept feeling like I was watching a film that had just been made, such was the quality improvements over the VHS prints I previously owned. Additionally, "Top Hat", which was often edited in it's VHS and television formats, is shown here in its entirety, and it was thrilling to discover even small bits of new footage.Secondly, there was a solid effort at providing special features that I highly appreciated, since most classic films that are released to DVD fail to include any. It would have been preferable to have audio commentary on all 5 of the films, but 3 is better than none. "Swing Time" by far has the most interesting and astute audio commentary. "Top Hat" has the worst. The inclusion of Astaire's daughter as a commentator makes sense, but probably wasn't the wisest choice. She admits early on in the commentary that she doesn't know all that much about her father's films and, indeed, her comments offer nothing new or insightful. Meanwhile, Larry Billman, the other commentator, simpers at her and repeatedly thanks her - even for the most mundane comments - every time she speaks, which gets very annoying, very fast.The classic cartoons and shorts they've included are okay. They are supposed to have some slight connections, such as including actors from one of the Astaire-Rogers films. However, at times, it is baffling to try to figure out what possible connection there could be.All of the "Making Of" type featurettes are wonderful - and there is one included for every film. It is particularly thrilling to see the rehearsal footage - in color, yet! - included on the "Shall We Dance" DVD.Overall, this DVD set is an excellent purchase. It includes brilliant restorations, audio commentaries, and featurettes. It is well worth the purchase price, and an excellent gift idea for any Astaire-Rogers fan, or a fan of dance, in general. It's only half of the Astaire-Rogers films, but they're done so well, they leave you eagerly awaiting the final installment.

It was a foregone conclusion that I was going to give this set a five-star rating even before I opened it, because my two all-time favourite films are Top Hat and Swing Time (why try to choose between those two?) In order to maintain my anticipation, I began by watching what I consider to be one of the weaker films in the package - Follow The Fleet - and it was a reminder that 'weaker' is a relative term. In fact, just watching that film was enough to help me answer that age old question 'What was so special about Fred and Ginger?'Fred's other partners included dancers who were better as virtuosos than Ginger (e.g. Eleanor Powell in 'Broadway Melody of 1940' - which I strongly recommend) and of course hardly any film survives of his other famous partnership, that with his sister Adele. Anybody who's read a little film history will, at this point, be ready to repeat that famous line: 'He gave her class, she gave him sex.' Sounds good, but it isn't true. Ginger did not lack class. As for sex appeal, Cyd Charise, for one, was more overtly sexy than Ginger and, yes, her dances with Fred in The Band Wagon are classics, but they don't have that special Fred and Ginger magic.But, if you haven't already, watch 'Follow The Fleet'. If you've, never seen it before, you'll probably be thinking that it's a fairly good film for its time, with some nifty dancing, until you reach the grand finale, 'Let's Face the Music and Dance', which takes the film into a different zone. In a show within a show, a couple meet on the balcony of a casino, both on the verge of suicide, only to find hope in each others' arms. It sounds corny, but it works, because they make you believe in it. Watch Ginger's face when Fred sings: they're not dancing at that stage, and you'd think she has nothing to do but to listen - but you see the emotions on her face, setting the tone for the dance that follows. Dancers express themselves with their whole body, of course, but not many dancers could express themselves with their face in quite the way Ginger does - that, I would say, is the secret ingredient that makes this dance into a moment of magic.You may not agree: there's so much else to pick on - the music, the sets, the choreography, the rhythm - all of them contribute to that magic, but wherever it came from, the magic is there.So here's the point of this review. Even one of the 'lesser' films in this collection contains a moment of genius that defies definition. Now think what the best films in the collection must be like.

A superb collection of Fred and Ginger's films. Great songs (some of my favorites) and amazing dance routines.The interviews which are part of the "extras" after each film throw very interesting light on how the films were made and how the stars practiced.A couple of the extra short films on the DVDs are very good, some are not so good - but I bought the package for Ginger and Fred, not the bonus stuff.If there is anything less than perfect about them, the plot lines are not that great, and Fred ain't that great an actor (but it's all about the dancing and singing really.)

My wife has mentioned many times that she would love to have the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers dance movies. She just loves the old time classic movies and Astaire/Rodgers are her favorites. Well, I happened to do something right for a change and remembered her words this Christmas season. I ordered the DVDs and the gift was a huge hit! However now, I have to sit and watch them with her . . . give me the Jason Bourne series! Thanks for getting this gift to me in time for it to be under the Christmas tree!