A Damsel in Distress
Fred Astaire sails across the pond to meet damsel in distress Joan Fontaine and delightful (if unlikely) dance partners George Burns and Gracie Allen in a musical co-scripted by master wit P.G. Wodehouse.
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DVD-R Details
- Rated: Not Rated
- Run Time: 1 hours, 40 minutes
- Video: Black & White
- Encoding: Region 0 (Worldwide)
- Released: August 5, 2011
- Originally Released: 1937
- Label: Warner Archive Collection (MOD)
Performers, Cast and Crew:
Starring | Fred Astaire | |
Performer: | George Burns, Gracie Allen, Joan Fontaine, Reginald Gardiner, Ray Noble, Constance Collier, Montagu Love, Harry Watson & Jan Duggan | |
Directed by | George Stevens | |
Edited by | Henry Berman | |
Screenwriting by | Ernest Pagano | |
Art Direction by | Van Nest Polglase & Carroll Clark | |
Story by | P.G. Wodehouse | |
Produced by | Pandro S. Berman | |
Director of Photography: | Joseph H. August |
Major Awards:
Academy Awards 1937 -
Best Dance Direction: Not Applicable
Entertainment Reviews:
Bright and lively and well worth seeing, even if Mr. Astaire is deprived of Ginger Rogers as a dancing partner.
Full Review
Maclean's Magazine
Astaire and his vet terp aide, Hermes Pan, have devised four corking dance routines which director George Stevens has expertly envisioned and mounted.
Full Review
Variety
Burns and Allen were imported to balance her lack of humor; their presence is certainly welcome, and their work with Astaire is surprisingly effective.
Full Review
Chicago Reader
Rating: 3/4 --
Burns and Allen are reliably funny and display more than passing hoofing abilities, and Montague Love and Reginald Gardiner are properly pompous in their aristocratic roles.
Full Review
TV Guide
Rating: C+ --
An Astaire dancing pic without Rogers is like a ham on rye without mustard.
Full Review
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
The inspired lunacy of the Wodehouse prose style cannot, however, survive the change of medium, and the director has failed to capture the typical Blandings atmosphere.
Full Review
The Spectator
Nicely directed but a bit on the twee side with its Wodehouse plot and mock Englishisms, the result would be questionable but for a rich Gershwin score.
Time Out
Description by OLDIES.com:
Fred Astaire sails across the pond to meet damsel in distress Joan Fontaine and delightful (if unlikely) dance partners George Burns and Gracie Allen in a musical co-scripted by master wit P.G. Wodehouse and directed by George Stevens (Swing Time). The helium-light story concerns servants running a betting pool on the marriage prospects of a fetching aristocrat (guess who wins her hand). The elegant George and Ira Gershwin score includes two standards forever associated with Astaire, "A Foggy Day" and "Nice Work If You Can Get It," plus one of Hollywood's cleverest song-and-dances: the Academy Award-winning Fun House number, which sends Astaire, Burns and Allen cavorting among chutes, mirrors, moving floors and rolling barrels.
Product Description:
Fred Astaire's first RKO film without Ginger Rogers, this musical version of P.G. Wodehouse's novel features some of the last songs written by George Gershwin before his death. At palatial Totleigh Castle, the staff are taking bets on the love life of young Lady Alyce Marshmorton (Joan Fontaine). In order to collect on his wager, Albert (Harry Watson), one of the servants, forges a billet doux from Alyce to American musical comedy star Jerry Halliday (Astaire), who she's met only briefly, while in London. Halliday accepts it at face value, and heads for Totleigh Castle with his publicist George (George Burns) and stenographer Gracie (Gracie Allen). Alyce, who is being kept on a short leash by her aunt, Lady Caroline (Constance Collier), and who is actually in love with an American skier, is taken aback by Jerry's sudden arrival. Lord John (Montagu Love), unaware of his daughter's secret passion, has taken a shine to Jerry, and helps the entertainer in his campaign to win the affections of his daughter. A highly entertaining film, including such Gershwin classics as "I Can't be Bothered Now," "Nice Work if You Can Get It," and "A Foggy Day in London Town."
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Product Info
- Sales Rank: 19,229
- UPC: 883316261569
- Shipping Weight: 0.25/lbs (approx)
- International Shipping: 1 item