Let Yourself Go ... To Old Hollywood

The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)

From my Facebook archives, December 23, 2014:

We re-watched The Barkleys of Broadway over the weekend. This was the tenth and final film Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire made together. The first nine were all done at RKO from 1933 to 1939. Barkleys was done at MGM in 1949.

Since first discovering Fred & Ginger just over a year ago, we've now seen all their movies at least twice--except for the first, Flying Down to Rio (which isn't really a 'Fred & Ginger' movie, though they steal the show).

Barkleys is rather different from most of their movies. It's the only one in color. It's the only MGM musical (and the MGM style is quite apparent). It was originally designed for Fred and Judy Garland as a follow up to Easter Parade. And it's a decade after Fred & Ginger's last collaboration.

Many parts of this film are magical. A few don't work for me. Overall it is a delightful film. You can't help but feel good after watching these two. 

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The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939)

From my Facebook archives, November 23, 2014:

"The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle" starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, released in 1939.

We watched this tonight, the latest in our second pass through Fred and Ginger's movies. It is the ninth and final one they made during their legendary run at RKO in the 1930s. In many ways, it is the most unusual of their films together, as they are portraying a real-life dance team and doing dances in the style of the Castles rather than their own. It is also a far more serious story than their usual musical comedy fare.

I still love it, of course!

From Arlene Croce's classic book on Fred and Ginger:

"It was a mating of subject and stars such as movies seldom see, and it was made at a perhaps unguessably right moment in time for both the subject and the stars. It is a very dear film."