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Guide | Film Listing
Films starring Fred Astaire
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 Hepb... show more >
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. < show less
1935,
Mark Sandrich, DVD
£6.99
RRP: £15.99
Save £9
Anyone not already a Fred & Ginger fan would surely be won over by this film, where they are at t...
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1936,
George Stevens, DVD
£6.99
RRP: £9.99
Save £3
With its peerless Jerome Kern score, including 'The way you look tonight', 'A fine romance' and '...
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1968,
Vincente Minnelli, Francis Ford Coppola, Charles Walters, Norman Taurog, DVD
£14.99
RRP: £25.52
Save £10.53
Collection of four musicals starring Fred Astaire: Easter Parade (Walters, 1948),...
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1935,
Mark Sandrich, DVD
£6.99
RRP: £15.99
Save £9
Anyone not already a Fred & Ginger fan would surely be won over by this film, where they are at t...
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1935,
William A Seiter, DVD
£6.99
RRP: £9.99
Save £3
This 'Song-Studded Romance of Paris in Lovetime' is a must-see film for Fred Astaire and Ginger R...
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1935-42,
George Stevens, Mark Sandrich, Sidney Lanfield, William A. Seiter, DVD
£27.49
RRP: £29.99
Save £2.50
A collection of four films starring one of the greatest music and dance stars in ...
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1937,
George Stevens, DVD
£8.99
RRP: £9.99
Save £1
A 1937 musical comedy from RKO Pictures, A Damsel in Distress sees Fred Astaire play an American ...
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1936,
George Stevens, DVD
£6.99
RRP: £9.99
Save £3
With its peerless Jerome Kern score, including 'The way you look tonight', 'A fine romance' and '...
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1933,
Robert Z Leonard, DVD
£8.49
RRP: £12.99
Save £4.50
Janie (Joan Crawford) lives to dance and will dance anywhere - even in a Burlesque theatre. Rich ...
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1940,
Norman Taurog, DVD
£7.99
RRP: £15.99
Save £8
The class of the Broadway Melody series combined with the burnished talents of As...
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1959,
Stanley Kramer, DVD
£6.99
RRP: £12.99
Save £6
An American submarine sets out to investigate after atomic waste has destroyed most of the world.
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1937,
Mark Sandrich, DVD
£6.99
RRP: £15.99
Save £9
Classic Fred and Ginger movie. The plot is a typically whimsical escapade of a dancer chasing the...
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1964-70,
Arthur Rankin Jr, Jules Bass, DVD
£11.99
RRP: £12.99
Save £1
Burl Ives, Jimmy Durante and Fred Astaire narrate these three classic animated Ch...
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1940-68,
Vincente Minnelli, Francis Ford Coppola, Charles Walters, Norman Taurog, DVD
£14.49
RRP: £14.99
A great collection of films starring legendary song and dance man Fred Astaire. F...
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1974,
Irwin Allen, DVD
£5.99
RRP: £19.99
Save £14
A huge glass tower block, touted as the tallest building in the world, bursts into flame on its o...
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1943,
Edward Griffith, DVD
£8.99
RRP: £9.99
Save £1
One of Fred Astaire's least known, but double Oscar nominated, dance movies, The Sky's The Limit ...
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1948,
Charles Walters, DVD
£7.49
RRP: £15.99
Save £8.50
One of the brightest, cheeriest musicals ever made! Hannah (Garland) becomes Don'...
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1936,
Mark Sandrich, DVD
£6.99
RRP: £15.99
Save £9
A sassy Fred and Ginger are on their usual form and there is variety in the styles of the dance n...
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1956,
Stanley Donen, DVD
£6.99
RRP: £9.99
Save £3
An oft overlooked musical from two of the genre's greats, with Donen directing Fred Astaire as a ...
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DVD
£5.99
RRP: £5.99
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1938,
Mark Sandrich, DVD
£6.99
RRP: £9.99
Save £3
This is the one in which Ginger falls for Fred rather than the other way around. Irving Berlin's ...
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1942,
William A Seiter, DVD
£6.99
RRP: £19.99
Save £13
The story of the daughter of a hotelier who is trying to get her to marry. Some m...
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1941-46,
Various , DVD
£6.99
RRP: £15.99
Save £9
A pairing of Bing Crosby films. In 'Birth Of The Blues' (Victor Schertzinger, 194...
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1940, 1951,
Various , DVD
£5.99
RRP: £5.99
A pairing of Fred Astaire films. In 'Royal Wedding' (Stanley Donen, 1951), he pla...
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1940,
H.C. Potter, DVD
£5.99
RRP: £5.99
College bandmates Danny and Hank (Fred Astaire and Burgess Meredith) are surprised when their har...
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1962,
Richard Quine, DVD
£6.99
RRP: £12.99
Save £6
An American junior diplomat in London rents a house from, and falls in love with, a woman suspect...
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£5.00
RRP: £5.00
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Pages: 1 2 >>
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