Fred & Ginger
Eighty-five years after their first collaboration, the Film Society is delighted to present a three-day complete retrospective of their shared oeuvre.
Thornton Freeland
1933|
USA|
89 minutes
Celluloid history is made as fourth- and fifth-billed Rogers and Astaire steal the show in their first pairing, a zingy Pre-Code fun machine bursting with slangy innuendo, jazzy musical numbers, and outré optical effects.
Mark Sandrich
1934|
USA|
107 minutes
Set amidst a soundstage vision of European seaside glamor, Fred and Ginger ascend to the heights of romantic sophistication in their first starring vehicle.
Mark Sandrich
1936|
USA|
110 minutes
Fred and Ginger go nautical in one of their sparkiest, most underrated efforts, which features some of the duo’s most joyously spontaneous set pieces set to divine Irving Berlin melodies.
George Stevens
1936|
USA|
103 minutes
Gambling man Fred goes to New York seeking fortune and instead finds “a fine romance” with working girl Ginger in what may be, dance number for dance number, the pair’s finest hour.
Mark Sandrich
1937|
USA|
109 minutes
George and Ira Gershwin contributed a cornucopia of honey-toned now-standards to this breezy charmer, in which romantic complications onboard an ocean liner leave Fred and Ginger contemplating whether they should “call the whole thing off.”
H.C. Potter
1939|
USA|
93 minutes
The last of the Astaire-Rogers vehicles produced during their dazzling RKO run forgoes devil-may-care Deco fantasy in favor of a surprisingly moving comedic drama based on the lives of the celebrated husband-and-wife dance team.
Charles Walters
1949|
USA|
109 minutes
After ten years apart, Fred and Ginger got the old act back together for one last hurrah in this Technicolor confection from MGM’s Freed Unit, which recaptures the old Astaire-Rogers magic with a new poignancy.
In 1930, three years before Fred Astaire had even appeared on film, writer Robert Benchley had already proclaimed him “the greatest tap dancer in the world.” By the time Flying Down to Rio, his second film and first real breakthrough, opened in 1933, Astaire, along with his sister Adele, had already been hailed as a sensation of the New York and London stages. Ginger Rogers, on the other hand, though already several years into a successful movie acting career, had never danced with a partner before when they were paired on Rio. The rest is history: over nine years, Fred and Ginger would make ten movies together, immortalized as icons for their dazzlingly fleet-footed choreography and their singularly charming onscreen chemistry. It was an artistic partnership that would revolutionize and reimagine the Hollywood musical, reshaping the genre’s legacy for generations to come. Eighty-five years after their first collaboration, the Film Society is delighted to present a three-day complete retrospective of their shared oeuvre.
