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Review: For fellow Fred and Ginger fans, who have been waiting for years for these marvellous movies to appear in DVD format, I would say that the waiting was well worth it. The quality of the prints used is superb, really as good as one could hope for and much better than the prints used for the VHS tape releases. Fred Astaire’s daughter, Ava, apparently selected the four movies chosen and gives a brief introduction to each one. These introductions are interesting but some additions would be even better. When these movies were shown on BBC television in the 1980s, they were preceded by a couple of films that gave much background material about these movies with contributions by many of the key participants, who were then still alive. These included Fred and Ginger themselves plus Pandro S Berman and Hermes Pan. Perhaps these background films could be resurrected and included in the next DVD set release. Ava Astaire’s choice of four movies is Top Hat, Follow the Fleet, Shall We Dance and Carefree. All are indispensable for any serious Fred and Ginger fan but I regret that my personal favourite, Swing Time, was not included. However, for sheer style, music, dancing and singing these musicals have never been surpassed and they will be watched with pleasure by future generations, when many of today’s dreary blockbusters are forgotten. At less than £8 each from Amazon, they are incredible value. |
DVD Films
