The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle
by H.C. Potter
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Edna May Oliver, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Lew Fields, Walter BrennanDirector: H.C. Potter
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, DVD-Video, NTSC, Original recording remastered, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 93 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-10-24
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Turner Home Ent
Movie Reviews of The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle
Movie Review: Not the typical Fred & Ginger film
Summary: 4 Stars
We will probably never see a dancing duo like Astaire and Rogers again. Fred's ability to make intricate dance steps look as effortless as breathing, and Ginger's addition of beauty and grace as she matched him step for step are a wonder to behold. Thank goodness we have their routines caught forever on film!
And it's with some sadness that this, their final film together, doesn't have nearly the amazing dance numbers we had come to expect from their previous offerings. Don't get me wrong, the dancing is still excellent, but it's just not the Fred-and-Ginger style we know and love. Of course that should probably be expected as they are here playing not two fictional characters, but a real couple, Vernon and Irene Castle, who took the dancing and fashion world by storm just several decades prior. A solid storyline holds this film together, and the end product is enjoyable in it's own way and is definitely worth watching.
And given this was the last of Astaire and Rogers as dancing partners, the final scene of the movie is particularly fitting.
Summary of The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle
Who else but the fabulous Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, the greatest dancing team of all time, could portray Vernon & Irene Castle, the renowned ballroom dancers of the years preceding World War I? Fred and Ginger dance up a storm as they dramatize the careers of the Castles. The pair first unite when Irene persuades Vernon to give up his corny vaudeville clowning to cultivate his obvious dancing abilities. After some lean years, a sharp agent sponsors the team and their rise to fame is phenomenal. Soon they are setting Paris aglow with their stunning routines. Then the first World War intervenes and brings a shocking tragedy. Vernon is killed in a crash on a training field in Texas abruptly ending the Castles' reign on the dance floor. Astaire and Rogers are at their most appealing.The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle was the last of nine films Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers made together for RKO Pictures, and it is unlike any other. For the only time, Fred and Ginger play historical characters--the legendary dancing duo that was all the rage between 1912 and 1916--and a married couple, no less. Instead of their usual innovative, plot-driving dances, Fred and Ginger perform pastiches of what the Castles made famous--the fox trot, polka, and tango. And rather than an original score of great American standards by Berlin, Kern, or the Gershwins, the film uses a collection of period tunes, including "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" and "Waiting for the Robert E. Lee." No, this is not Top Hat, but fans will enjoy the film anyway. Vernon and Irene Castle is an affectionate tribute to a bygone era and to a team that Fred said was "a tremendous influence" on his career. As portrayed in the film (which was based on Irene Castle's memoirs and input), Vernon Castle is a small-time vaudeville comedian when he meets and marries Irene. The two not only manage to forge a career as proper, respectable dancers, they become the essence of style, setting national trends for dance, fashion, and even women's hairstyles. The film briefly touches on Fred and Ginger's usual themes of pursuit and union, but mostly they are warm and tender together as they deal with real-life problems, perhaps portraying the earlier films' characters after those "happily ever after" fantasy endings. And as we watch the Castles' performing career rise and decline, straight through to the film's touching last shot, we realize that Fred and Ginger are saying farewell, which makes The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle an appropriate finale to the most glorious partnership in Hollywood history. --David Horiuchi
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