I've rewatched all but one of their movies (Carefree is unavailable online and on all the streaming services I have) and here are my rankings: 1. Swing Time - best all-around movie, great songs and their finest dancing. "Pick yourself up" and their "farewell dance" are my top two Fred and Ginger dances. I could watch this movie once a week and never get tired of it. And thanks for the background about the blackface. 2. Top Hat - a close second to Swing Time 3. Roberta - I just love the rapport between Fred and Ginger 4. The Gay Divorcee - Funny movie, great supporting cast 5. Story of Vernon and Irene Castle - a sincere and touching movie, with the most breathtaking single dance move between Fred and Ginger. You know the one... 6. Shall We Dance - Hilarious, but I wish Fred would have busted out a few more ballet moves. 7. Barkley's of Broadway - Bouncin' the Blues! Who doesn't wish they could dance like this? 8. Follow the Fleet - Fred and Ginger are great as regular folks, but although the dances are great, they aren't my favorite. 9. Carefree - Going off the videos posted here, I'm astonished by Fred's golf dance - that should be impossible! The Yam dance is fun too. I don't remember ever seeing the complete movie. 10. Flying Down to Rio - the movie feels old until Ginger and Fred start dancing, and they were obviously on their way to becoming huge stars. The movies I ranked 6, 7 and 8 are essentially tied, but I had to give them a ranking for this poll.
Thanks, especially for the dedication. Your the 3rd #3 for Roberta, so I am not alone. Yes, I know the dance move you are referring to in Vernon and Irene... I just love it. Shame Carefree not available. Carefree is Ginger let loose to rampage across the city. I find 2 of the 3 skits hilarious, the third funny but not as. On each video I edit and replace the standings, doing that now, in a little while you can see it.
The UA-cam algorithims are challenging. If I post something that does fairly well, and follow it with a series of these, suddenly it clicks something that disperses it to a much wider audience. If I do it right, the pattern can continue. But sometimes I get in a rut and almost nobody is seeing what I am posting. I am filling in background info on all the movies Fred and Ginger appeared in, was filling in early Ginger, and that left me in a rut for over a month.
For those interested, 11 people, including myself, have provided a ranking list. The top 3, Swing Time, Top Hat and The Gay Divorcee are all within 4 points of each other, with a large gap to #4. I am truly surprised by The Gay Divorcee rating so high, but it has been well explained by the contributors. The next grouping has Roberta and Follow the Fleet within a point of each other, and then Shall We Dance and Carefree also within a point of each other. The last 3 (including my beloved Barkley's) fall well below the rest. A first place (#1 ranking) gets 10 points, a tenth place gets 1 point. No surprise, the viewers do NOT agree with me, of course, sometimes quite dramatically. I have added a high and low ranking columns to this. When enough have contributed, I will make a video of the listing. Here are the results so far: Total High Low Movie 91 1 10 Swing Time 88 1 6 Top Hat 87 1 5 The Gay Divorcee 63 3 9 Roberta 62 3 8 Follow The Fleet 56 2 9 Shall We Dance 55 1 9 Carefree 41 4 10 The Barkleys of Broadway 35 3 10 The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle 27 3 10 Flying Down to Rio Please give me your list!!
I must agree with you on Swing Time being #1. Beauty IS in the eye of the beholder. All Fred and Ginger films have things that I love/don't care for BUT one thing is for certain, their dancing always saves the day! I'm one of those young people who can follow a plot and be amused tremendously by simple, slapstick humor instead of being glued to a screen filled with flashy Computer Generated Imagery and laughing for the use of swear words. Being almost 22, I can fondly recall my high school days and what started my Astaire & Rogers binge. For the majority of us, Swing Time started it all...for various reasons stated above and because it's still well-known; the peppiest of films, I add! Great song variety, excellent scores...choreography exemplifying class, grace, precision, and style. Ever engaging...makes YOU want to dance and sing with them! I do it often.😁 "Pick Yourself Up" was the first to introduce me to the gaiety of our duo and kick my rump into dancing mode!😆
LOL... that's the trick, seeing if you REALLY remember them. Because of what I have done, I have them all pretty memorized. Good Luck, and looking forward to your ranking
1. Swing Time 2. Top Hat 3. Gay Divorcee 4. Shall We Dance 5. Follow the Fleet 6. Carefree 7. Roberta 8. Flying Down to Rio 9. Story of Vernon & Irene Castle 10. Barkleys of Broadway Entirely based on the whole movie; elements of some are simply superior to the rest of the movie (the finale of Vernon & Irene Castle, or all the dance numbers in Follow the Fleet). Swing Time and Shall We Dance are both epic, but Top Hat & Gay Divorcee are simply the funniest so they beat out Shall We Dance - the songs in 2-4 may beat Swing Time by a hair for me, but Swing Time makes me laugh and cry both.
Hey, you are the creator of the "Obsessive Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers Reviews" series!! I watched them, and am a subscriber. I see you do other movie reviews. Cool. When starting to work on something, I like to see other opinions, and sometimes I find out new facts.
I've rewatched all but one of their movies (Carefree is unavailable online and on all the streaming services I have) and here are my rankings:
1. Swing Time - best all-around movie, great songs and their finest dancing. "Pick yourself up" and their "farewell dance" are my top two Fred and Ginger dances. I could watch this movie once a week and never get tired of it. And thanks for the background about the blackface.
2. Top Hat - a close second to Swing Time
3. Roberta - I just love the rapport between Fred and Ginger
4. The Gay Divorcee - Funny movie, great supporting cast
5. Story of Vernon and Irene Castle - a sincere and touching movie, with the most breathtaking single dance move between Fred and Ginger. You know the one...
6. Shall We Dance - Hilarious, but I wish Fred would have busted out a few more ballet moves.
7. Barkley's of Broadway - Bouncin' the Blues! Who doesn't wish they could dance like this?
8. Follow the Fleet - Fred and Ginger are great as regular folks, but although the dances are great, they aren't my favorite.
9. Carefree - Going off the videos posted here, I'm astonished by Fred's golf dance - that should be impossible! The Yam dance is fun too. I don't remember ever seeing the complete movie.
10. Flying Down to Rio - the movie feels old until Ginger and Fred start dancing, and they were obviously on their way to becoming huge stars.
The movies I ranked 6, 7 and 8 are essentially tied, but I had to give them a ranking for this poll.
Thanks, especially for the dedication. Your the 3rd #3 for Roberta, so I am not alone. Yes, I know the dance move you are referring to in Vernon and Irene... I just love it.
Shame Carefree not available. Carefree is Ginger let loose to rampage across the city. I find 2 of the 3 skits hilarious, the third funny but not as.
On each video I edit and replace the standings, doing that now, in a little while you can see it.
How did I not see that you're posting these? I've been looking forward to more of your historical content for quite some time.
The UA-cam algorithims are challenging. If I post something that does fairly well, and follow it with a series of these, suddenly it clicks something that disperses it to a much wider audience. If I do it right, the pattern can continue. But sometimes I get in a rut and almost nobody is seeing what I am posting. I am filling in background info on all the movies Fred and Ginger appeared in, was filling in early Ginger, and that left me in a rut for over a month.
For those interested, 11 people, including myself, have provided a ranking list. The top 3, Swing Time, Top Hat and The Gay Divorcee are all within 4 points of each other, with a large gap to #4. I am truly surprised by The Gay Divorcee rating so high, but it has been well explained by the contributors. The next grouping has Roberta and Follow the Fleet within a point of each other, and then Shall We Dance and Carefree also within a point of each other. The last 3 (including my beloved Barkley's) fall well below the rest.
A first place (#1 ranking) gets 10 points, a tenth place gets 1 point. No surprise, the viewers do NOT agree with me, of course, sometimes quite dramatically. I have added a high and low ranking columns to this. When enough have contributed, I will make a video of the listing. Here are the results so far:
Total High Low Movie
91 1 10 Swing Time
88 1 6 Top Hat
87 1 5 The Gay Divorcee
63 3 9 Roberta
62 3 8 Follow The Fleet
56 2 9 Shall We Dance
55 1 9 Carefree
41 4 10 The Barkleys of Broadway
35 3 10 The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle
27 3 10 Flying Down to Rio
Please give me your list!!
I must agree with you on Swing Time being #1. Beauty IS in the eye of the beholder. All Fred and Ginger films have things that I love/don't care for BUT one thing is for certain, their dancing always saves the day! I'm one of those young people who can follow a plot and be amused tremendously by simple, slapstick humor instead of being glued to a screen filled with flashy Computer Generated Imagery and laughing for the use of swear words. Being almost 22, I can fondly recall my high school days and what started my Astaire & Rogers binge. For the majority of us, Swing Time started it all...for various reasons stated above and because it's still well-known; the peppiest of films, I add! Great song variety, excellent scores...choreography exemplifying class, grace, precision, and style. Ever engaging...makes YOU want to dance and sing with them! I do it often.😁 "Pick Yourself Up" was the first to introduce me to the gaiety of our duo and kick my rump into dancing mode!😆
Thank you.. when you get a chance create your list 1-10
@@thedriveinmoviehistory5327 You're on!
Great idea to post our own rankings - so now I have to re-watch all their films again! Stay tuned...
LOL... that's the trick, seeing if you REALLY remember them. Because of what I have done, I have them all pretty memorized. Good Luck, and looking forward to your ranking
1. Swing Time
2. Top Hat
3. Gay Divorcee
4. Shall We Dance
5. Follow the Fleet
6. Carefree
7. Roberta
8. Flying Down to Rio
9. Story of Vernon & Irene Castle
10. Barkleys of Broadway
Entirely based on the whole movie; elements of some are simply superior to the rest of the movie (the finale of Vernon & Irene Castle, or all the dance numbers in Follow the Fleet). Swing Time and Shall We Dance are both epic, but Top Hat & Gay Divorcee are simply the funniest so they beat out Shall We Dance - the songs in 2-4 may beat Swing Time by a hair for me, but Swing Time makes me laugh and cry both.
Thank you... your the third to reply. And, as expected, NOBODY agrees on the list. I love it... people love their movies for different reasons
Hey, you are the creator of the "Obsessive Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers Reviews" series!! I watched them, and am a subscriber. I see you do other movie reviews. Cool. When starting to work on something, I like to see other opinions, and sometimes I find out new facts.