Fred Astaire Dvd
In the mid-1920s, the film industry had met its new rival: the radio. Because of it, a lot of people stopped going to the movies and the movie industry was threatened. Amazingly however, scientists in the United States and abroad had simultaneously discovered a way to add sound to silent pictures. This discovery would save the film industry. The first sound pictures made were short films of concert performances. The movie produced sounds and music of the performers which thrilled the audience very much. The people started returning to the movies.
But it would not be until October of 1927 with a film called The Jazz Singer that the possibilities of sound were revealed. The Jazz Singer starred Al Jolson and had three song numbers and a few lines of spoken dialogue. Aside from these, it was a silent movie but the audiences were raving over it. The Jazz Singer was known as the movie that “talked” and was called a “talkie”. The movie fascinated thousands and packed the theaters. The radio had met its match.
With the success of The Jazz Singer, the full transition from silent to all-talking movies would take over a year. The delay was due to many technical problems. The equipment had to be perfected and the sound projectors and soundtracks had to be standardized so that films can be shown in all theaters. Then, the theaters had to be installed with the sound projectors. Also, talking movies introduced a new set of problems concerning writing, directing and acting. The writers had to write dialogs and the actors had to learn how to say them. To solve this problem, stage playwrights and top-of-the-line dramatic authors were recruited to write the dialogue. Stage directors were also rushed in from New York to direct the actors who mostly did not know how to talk in their roles. It turned out that many romantic leading men had squeaky voices and their leading ladies did not have alluring voices. The rise of sound pictures became the end of a lot a silent screen stars. It also led to the fall of the great pantomime comics.
Sound pictures were made into musical comedies. The Coconut in 1929 introduced the four Marx Brothers. They brought a new kind of noisy farce. This brand of comedy depended much on the humor of the dialogue and the art of pantomime. These madcap comedians however eventually faded. A new kind of comedy was developed to fill the void left by the comedians. They introduced talking pictures known as sophisticated comedy which placed wise guys in unexpected situations. Memorable performers in these roles were Carole Lombard, Irene Dunne and William Powell.
Soon after the production of sound films came the gangster pictures. The earliest gangster films were inspired by prohibition racketeering. Movies like Little Caesar of 1930 and Public Enemy in 1931 had violent melodramas that introduced a harsh reality to the audience. These movies introduced a new batch of masculine stars with the likes of James Cagney, Edward Robinson, Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable.
After the gangster movies, films in different genres were made. With this began the Golden Age of Sound. Shown on the screens were fine dramas, comedies and action-adventure films. Also strong were the musicals with Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy operettas and the dancing team of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers as the favorites.
Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Movies [http://movies-guides.com]
Fred Astaire – Puttin’ On the Ritz (DVD Quality)
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Carefree (DVD, 2006 NEW) Fred Astaire FREE SHIPPING $11.50 |
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FINIAN’S RAINBOW Fred Astaire Musical Classic DVD New! $16.98 |
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ROYAL WEDDING Fred Astaire Classic DVD New! $6.98 |
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FLYING DOWN TO RIO Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers DVD New! $16.98 |
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The Fred Astaire/Jane Powell Collection (DVD, 2009) NEW $3.00 |
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“You Were Never Lovelier” DVD, Fred Astaire (1942), New $4.99 |
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“Funny Face” DVD, Audrey Hepburn,Fred Astaire(1957),New $4.99 |
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You’ll Never Get Rich DVD NEW FRED ASTAIRE OSA MASSEN $3.13 |
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Top Hat DVD Fred Astaire _Ship $2.98 $2.49 |
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Going My Way & Holiday Inn DVD Bing Crosby Fred Astaire $7.39 |
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Royal Wedding (DVD) Fred Astaire, Jane Powell NEW !!! $1.00 |
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Top Hat / NEW DVD / Fred Astaire $2.78 |
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An Evening with Fred Astaire.3 TV Specials 3 Color DVDs $7.50 |
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Top Hat /DVD/Fred Astaire $0.99 |
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50 GREATEST MUSICALS DVD BOXSET NEW FRED ASTAIRE +OTHER $24.97 |
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FUNNY FACE Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire (1957) DVD New! $8.98 |
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*Holiday Inn* Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire (DVD 1942), New $6.99 |
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*You Were Never Lovelier* DVD, Fred Astaire (1942), New $4.99 |
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You Were Never Lovelier (DVD, 2004) Fred Astaire $4.00 |
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7 NEW DVD’S-JACK BENNY-GEORGE BURNS-FRED ASTAIRE-CROSBY $9.99 |
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Top Hat /DVD/Fred Astaire $2.58 |
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EASTER PARADE Judy Garland, Fred Astaire (2-Discs) DVD $16.98 |
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Audrey Hepburn Movie (Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 3 Shots) Poster Print – 12×36 $3.50 Audrey Hepburn Movie (Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 3 Shots) Poster Print – 12×36… |
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Breakfast at Tiffany’s Movie (Audrey Hepburn with Cat and Cigarette) Poster Print – 27×40 $4.99 Breakfast at Tiffany’s Movie (Audrey Hepburn with Cat and Cigarette) Poster Print – 27×40… |
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Audrey Hepburn Movie (Funny Face, Poses) Poster Print – 12×36 $6.12 Audrey Hepburn Movie (Funny Face, Poses) Poster Print – 12×36… |
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Musicals Classics 50 Movie Pack Collection $12.99 Musical Classics 50 Movie MegaPack – Fabulous Dorseys Calendar Girl Sunny Swing Hostess Dixiana Palooka Glorifying the American Girl Check & Double Check Paradise in Harlem Duke is Tops Reet Petite & Gone Killer Diller Delightfully Dangerous Private Buckaroo Stage Door Canteen Career Girl Second Chorus Trocadero People Are Funny Doll Face Great Baggo Dancing Pirate Road Show Hi Diddle Diddle Rock… |
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Daddy Long Legs $10.75 A playboy anonymously sends a French orphan to college. They meet later when she is his niece’s roommate, and fall in love.Genre: MusicalsRating: NRRelease Date: 21-FEB-2006Media Type: DVD… |
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Johnny Mercer: The Dream’s on Me $22.57 Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/03/2009 Run time: 120 minutes Rating: Nr… |
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On the Beach [VHS] $3.56 Stanley Kramer’s 1959 antiwar movie looks like everything Kramer did: subtle as a car wreck but undeniably affecting. Gregory Peck plays a submarine commander looking for survivors in Australia after a nuclear holocaust. Ava Gardner is among them and, somewhat improbably under the circumstances, becomes his love interest. Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins are among the characters awaiting death fro… |
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The Band Wagon [VHS] $1.50 The Band Wagon (1953) marked the culmination of a series of near-autobiographical pictures Fred Astaire made for MGM following his return from premature retirement in the late ’40s. Astaire plays Tony Hunter, a fading film star (his big hit: Flying Down to Panama) who decides to return to his former glory, the Broadway stage. (In 1931, Astaire had starred on Broadway with sister Adele in The Band … |
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Broadway Melody of 1940 [VHS] $6.75 One of the most famous tap numbers in film history distinguishes Broadway Melody of 1940, the fourth and final installment in MGM’s Broadway Melody series. When Clare Bennett (Eleanor Powell, who had appeared in Broadway Melody of 1936 and 1938) needs a new partner for her hit Broadway show, small-time hoofers Johnny Brett (Fred Astaire in his MGM debut) and King Shaw (George Murphy) get their bi… |
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TCM Greatest Classic Films Collection: American Musicals (The Band Wagon / Meet Me in St. Louis / Singin’ in the Rain / Easter Parade) $12.49 Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 05/05/2009 Run time: 434 minutes… |
