This Sunday is Easter! If you celebrate the holiday, by now you probably have your Easter bonnet (with all the frills upon it, natch) ready for the day’s festivities. But we’re also guessing that you’ll find some time over the…
Read more →Fred Astaire
Falling in Love with Film Again via the Gay Divorcee
Sometimes even a die-hard movie fan’s interests wander, until some film revives them. Guest writer The Lady Eve shares how the 1934 Astaire-Rogers classic The Gay Divorcee reintroduced her to the world of classic cinema.
Read more →Funny Face: Give ‘Em the Old Pizzazz
Pizzazz! The very word came into being with Funny Face in 1957. Stylish and energetic, Funny Face is a collaboration extraordinaire involving some of the great talents of the era: Producer Roger Edens and director Stanley Donen, screenwriter Leonard Gershe,…
Read more →Fred Astaire: Born in Top Hat and Tails
At times his on-screen dancing seemed to enable him to defy gravity. MovieFanFare founder Jerry Frebowitz offers a special birthday salute to Fred Astaire, whose dapper presence set the tone for Hollywood musical from the 1930s to the ’60s.
Read more →This Week In Film History, 06.19.11
June 19, 1905: The first “nickelodeon” opens its doors, on Smithfield Street in Pittsburgh, charging a five-cent fee. First attraction: The Great Train Robbery. June 24, 1916: Mary Pickford signs Hollywood’s first “million-dollar contract,” guaranteeing her at least $10,000 a…
Read more →The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939): Movie Review
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939) The nine films Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made together at RKO between 1933 and 1939 are some of the most magical and sublime movies ever made. They’re also among the wittiest….
Read more →Dancing Lady (1933): A Classic Movie Review
The same year Warner Brothers released 42nd Street (1933), MGM came out with Dancing Lady, a backstage musical complete with a Busby Berkeley style finale. If you had to compare the two, the win would certainly go to 42nd Street,…
Read more →Serenade Me, Mr. Powell: 20 Million Sweethearts (1943)
Ginger Rogers is a triple threat. She can sing, act and dance. She even won an Oscar for her 1941 performance in Kitty Foyle. I taped several of her films that I haven’t seen (I’m trying to see all of…
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