Shall We Dance [DVD] [1937]

One would think that the combination the Gershwins, Fred and Ginger, luscious art deco sets, plus the comic chemistry of Edward Everett Horton and Eric Blore, would warrant a better DVD issue than this. As with other Universal Pictures Astaire/Rogers issues, it looks sourced from a mediocre NTSC master rather than directly to PAL from a good-quality print. Result of doing it on the cheap: substandard picture and sound quality; the latter is particularly irksome as 'Shall We Dance' contains several items of Gershwin scoring that only exists on the soundtrack of this 1937 movie. It also, of course, features some of the bros' best-known songs - 'They All Laughed', 'They Can't Take That Away From Me', 'Let's Call the Whole Thing Off', 'Slap That Bass', 'Beginner's Luck', plus the muscial number 'Prominade (Walking the Dog)'. Despite these presentational shortcomings, and in lieu of a decent Blu-ray issue, 'Shall We Dance', at 1hr 48minutes, is arguably the best of Fred and Ginger's RKO pairings: a scintillating, wisecrack-rich script, pacey direction from Mark Sandrich, and watching it even in this imperfect form is a joy and a delight. There is also an informative introduction by Ava Astaire McKenzie in which she relates her father's reaction to George Gershwin's death, and of the composer's own reaction to seeing a first cut of the film. Buy and be happy.

Bought the film because I had seen the stage show only a few days earlier. Loved them both. Very dated but for me that was part of the appeal and the music was wonderful. My 94 year old Mother watched it with me and thoroughly enjoyed it as the last time she had seen it was in 1935 when it first came out!!!

Fred Astaire Ballroom Tap Dance Genius.Moves effortlessly in dance sequences.

Loved the sets and their dances were sublime. Story boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl. As usual but who cares about the story when it's Fred and Ginger. Thought the preamble by Fred's daughter was very well done. What more can you say about songs by the Gershwin brothers except they still live on nearly 80 years later.

What more can you say than "Fred and Ginger" Says it all

Wonderful dancing from Ted and Ginger - it really takes you back to a time when there was no bad language or violence in films and you could escape to a fantasy world.

ONLY BOUGHT IT FOR THE SKATING DANCE OTHERWISE BORING!

Our 10-year-old granddaughter loves the dancing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, so we bought this for her. We are sure that the DVD will be played over and over again.