Shall We Dance
by Friz Freleng, Mark Sandrich
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DVD details
Actor: Edward Everett Horton, Eric Blore, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Jerome CowanDirector: Friz Freleng, Mark Sandrich
Brand: ASTAIRE,FRED
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, NTSC, Original recording remastered, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 109 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-08-16
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Turner Home Ent
Product features:
- To keep musical-comedy star Linda Keene from retiring to marry, her manager Arthur Mille, suggests to the press that she's already married to Petrov, the ballet dancer. The two ultimately decide to marry so that they can have very public divorce and clear the air, but true love blossoms between them.Running Time: 109 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre:?COMEDY Rating:?NR Age:?0539
DVD Reviews of Shall We Dance
DVD Review: Astaire, Rogers and Gershwin, well matched.
Summary: 5 Stars
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers swing their way through another wonderful film, "Shall We Dance", released in 1937.
The superior score was by George and Ira Gershwin. This is one of George's last projects, he died a few weeks after the movie opened.
This time, Fred plays Petrov, a ballet star who for some reason is posing as Russian. Ginger plays Linda, a broadway dancer. Petrov tries to persue Linda by booking himself on the same cruise she is on.
Watch Fred's spectacular solo in "Slap That Bass", in which taps in time to an art-deco engine. On the promenade deck ,Linda is walking her dog while Petrov tries to get her attention. Listen for Gershwin's wonderful backing score here. Eventually, she begins to come around.
Meanwhile, Petrov's friend Jeffrey (Edward Everett Horton in his third Astaire-Rogers film) tries to get rid of Petrov's old girlfriend, Denise, by telling her that Petrov is married to Linda. The plan backfires when Denise tattles about the marriage to gossip columnists. Worse, the gossips say that Linda is pregnant.
Saddled with unwanted publicity, the dancers decide to get married for real so they can get a public divorce. Of course they end up falling in love for real.
In a light hearted scene, Fred and Ginger sing "Let's Call The whole Thing Off" and dance to it on roller skates. It is often said that this scene required some 150 takes to get it right. The marvelous result is well worth it.
In a scene when they are alone together, Fred sings the classic "They Can't Take That Away From Me". This tune was nominated for an Oscar for Best Song. It should have won, but didn't.
The music, romance and comedy blend well together. Fine is support is provided by Horton in his usual fussy role. The scenes in which Petrov tricks Jeffrey into thinking that he is seasick, and later into believing that the boat is sinking, are very funny. Eric Blore, in his fifth F&G film, is a riot as a hotel manager. Linda's reaction to Petrov's real name (Peter P. Peters) while they are getting married is priceless.
The DVD has an OK commentary track, a new "making of" short, a
musical short subject, and an amusing cartoon, "Toy Town Hall".
You can seldom go wrong with an Astaire-Rogers musical, and "Shall We Dance" is one of their most enjoyable.
DVD Review: The epitome of dance musicals
Summary: 5 Stars
I am a big fan of dark and violent films--A History of Violence (New Line Platinum Series), 300 (Full Screen Edition), and The Replacement Killers--but I have a soft, feminine side, too. There's nothing like the Fred and Ginger movies with "Shall We Dance?" as my favorite, to stir up the flow of happy synaptic waves in the brain.
In this their seventh film together, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers romance and dance around several gimmicks and the music of Ira and George Gershwin songs, including the Oscar nomination, "They Can't Take That Away from Me."
The premise of this story of mix-ups and props is Pete (Fred) playing Petrov, the Russian ballet star, who wants to dance something contemporary (tap) with popular dance star Linda Keene (Ginger). He arranges to meet her on board an ocean liner headed across the Atlantic to America. One of Fred's great numbers is dancing to the rhythm of ship engines. Another in New York's Central Park is their roller skating dance.
There are rumors that Pete and Linda are married, so they get married in order to get a divorce, but fall in love. Wonderful song and dance fill the convoluted, humorous plot of this film. This was a time in movies when leading men did not need to be handsome--just debonair and talented as Fred Astaire. Leading ladies like Ginger Rogers could play "hard to get" and still get their men. Humor was clean and fun.
If you're under 35 and haven't experienced a Fred and Ginger movie, you really must consider it. Pick one, any one, as they are all great, but if you want a recommendation, select this one--"Shall We Dance?" At the end when they finally "dance," Pete must find his Linda out of all the many Linda's. You'll see what I mean.
DVD Review: Astaire and Rogers - 5 stars, film - 3 stars
Summary: 4 Stars
By the time of "Shall We Dance", the 7th outing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Rogers had become a star in her own right. The Gershwins wrote a great score which sustains the film but there is a sense of deja vu about the script and the supporting players which was reflected in the box office at the time. After the classy peak of "Swingtime", "Shall We Dance" was the inevitable anti-climax. Also, there is less dancing which might have been simply because of Roger's availability.
For me, the highlights are the orchestrations and "Slap that Bass" when Astaire lets loose in the engine room of a ship with a jazz band in support. "They all Laughed" is thrown away with the stars on roller skates which diminishes their artistry into simply athleticism. The gimmick wastes them.
The print of the film is good and there are some worthwhile extras. The featurette about the music provides interesting information about the Gershwins but the commentary is boring and the commentators are fans of each other as much as of Astaire and Rogers. The musical short is corny but the singers are in fine voice. The cartoon is a gem, one of those ones when all the toys come to life. There are excellent characterisations of famous stars such as Bing Crosby and Eddie Cantor.
The DVD is best value if purchased as part of an Astaire /Rogers Collection.
DVD Review: Watch or be gunned down, the choice is yours
Summary: 5 Stars
If I were the brutal dictator of my very own totalitarian state, I would force my loyal subjects to watch Shall We Dance every night of their lives. And my subjects would fall in love with me, having been given such tender treatment by their enlightened ruler. yes, they would come to see that, harsh as my methods can be at times, they are never without their heavenly logic. My subjects, thus edified, would be a happy population indeed! The watchmaker would whistle "They All Laughed" whilst tending his watches. The cobbler would tap the shoes that he was quaintly in the process of mending. The pornographer would... well, you get the idea. DVD Review: Last Immortal Gershwin Score
Summary: 5 Stars
"Shall We Dance," (1937), another musical-comedy-romance, was the seventh collaboration Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made for RKO Radio Pictures. It reunites most of the old gang, before and behind the camera, but it's easy to see inspiration is wearing thin: after this picture, Astaire went to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, and Rogers pursued her ambition to do drama. Still, it's got a lot going for it: most importantly, it was the first, and only George and Ira Gershwin score for the Astaire-Rogers team; and it was, in fact, the last complete film score of the Gershwin brothers: George was to die quite soon, at a shockingly young age. And some of the Astaire/Rogers work to these immortal Gershwin melodies ranks with their finest.
Astaire is Peter P. Peters of Philadelphia, Pa, masquerading as Petrov, great Russian ballet star. Rogers is Linda Keane, popular cabaret dancer. He yearns to meet her, she feels otherwise; he manipulates his way onto a transatlantic crossing of the Queen Ann in order to do so. Rumors get started that they are secretly married, and even that she is pregnant, so when they get to New York, they actually get married, so they can publicly divorce. It's their usual silly script, thinner even than usual, and just what anybody would do in that situation, right? Edward Everett Horton, in his third and final appearance with the team, is on hand to play his usual fussbudget role, Jeffrey Baird. Eric Blore, in his fifth and final appearance with the team, is on hand to play his usual fussbudget role, Cecil Flintridge. Although in this picture, he gets what may have been his funniest riff ever in the Astaire films, the spelling bee at the Susquehanna police station. Rogers lacks her usual middle-aged female chum, and has to get by with Jerome Cowan as her impresario. William Brisbane plays the chinless Park Avenue wonder she's supposed actually to want to marry. One Harriet Hoctor contributes one real strange ballet specialty to the closing number. Ketti Gallion is Lady Denise Tarrington. The movie's notably slow getting off the mark: it's almost an hour til the stars' first dance.
Behind the camera, long time confederates of Astaire held sway. Doug Allen gets a screenwriting credit; Hermes Pan collaborated on choreography; Mark Sandrich directed; Pandro S. Berman produced, with his usual lavish hand for the gorgeous art deco scenery.
But it's the priceless music that hoists this film. Shipboard, in "Slap that Bass," Astaire does a famous jazz-influenced number to the mechanized rhythms of the spotless art deco-inspired engine. The instrumental, "Walking the Dog," is a wordless treat. In Central Park, the stars needed 150 takes to get that roller skated "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off." Then there's "They All Laughed," "I've Got Beginners' Luck," "They Can't Take That Away from Me," and the title tune itself. There's seldom been a score as great as this one, so just ignore what passes for its plot; it's easy enough to do.
Description of Shall We Dance
To keep musical-comedy star Linda Keene from retiring to marry, her manager Arthur Mille, suggests to the press that she's already married to Petrov, the ballet dancer. The two ultimately decide to marry so that they can have very public divorce and clear the air, but true love blossoms between them.DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:Commentary by Kevin Cole and Hugh Martin
Featurette:They Can?t Take That Away from Me: The Music of Shall We Dance
Other:Musical Short Sheik to Sheik and Classic Cartoon Toy Town Hall
The chemistry between Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers was still going strong in their seventh spin around the dance floor, Shall We Dance? And this time--amidst the usual improbable plot confusions and on-again, off-again flirting between the two--they were backed up by a song score provided by the matchless George and Ira Gershwin. Among the highlights are "They All Laughed," "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," and the Oscar-nominated "They Can't Take That Away from Me." Director Mark Sandrich, the most frequent helmer of the Astaire-Rogers pictures (including Top Hat), creates a gleaming showcase for his stars. He also brings back two devilish character actors, Edward Everett Horton and Eric Blore, to repeat their support from previous outings. Ginger is kicky and fun; she was one of the few partners who didn't look intimidated onscreen by Astaire's incomparable dancing skills. Fred is in great form himself--so good you almost believe it when he pretends to be a Russian. --Robert Horton
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