Swing Time (1936) [The Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

‘Swing Time’ (1936) which many critics consider one of the best musical of the 1930’s and the best of the Astaire Rodgers musicals having four dance routines that are each considered as masterpieces in their own right. The plot is very light weight but enjoyable. I recall I had an extract on S8 released by the French Distributor Film Office. The film has received a new 2K digital restoration from two 35mm fine-grains and a 35mm duplicate negative. The original camera negative has long been lost, however the scan has received a wonderful makeover removing instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, jitter, flicker, dirt and grain.. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from a 35mm fine-grain; clicks, thump, hiss, hum, and crackle were manually also removed. The result is a very good picture and sound quality is very good considering the technology of the time. The extras are good and include a commentary by John Muller an author who wrote a book about Fred. Also archive interviews with Fred, Ginger and choreographer Hermes Pan which were to mind a bit on the short side. The film comes with a short booklet. This is a must have for all Fred & Ginger fans.

What a Wonderful CLASSIC these ASTAIRE & ROGERS films are, In my humble opinion the bench mark for all subsequent movie musicals.I must say that CRITERION have made a great job in upgrading them to Blu-Ray . Obviously a matching System to play it on helps as well.I only mention this point because of some of the Negative Criticism that I have come across with some of the reviews.I have absolutely no trouble in awarding this Product (10) STARS of I could. I only hope CRITERION give the same treatment to the remainingASTAIRE & ROGERS Classics..GREAT STUFF...

A great classic movie.

With a superb set of Jerome Kern songs "Swing Time" is one of my favourite Fred&Ginge musicals. "Never Gonna Dance" has to be one of Hollywood's greatest dance sequences, both technically brilliant and emotionally charged. But it is the Oscar winning song "The Way You Look Tonight" sung in Fred's inimitable understated way that packs the real punch. I downloaded this on Amazon Prime and the quality was better than DVD.

Just want to say, if you want to watch a Fred and Ginger movie and you are not sure which on to start with...this is the one!Trust me, just perfection.

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are movie magic. A perfect movie from two of the greatest movie stars of the silver screen.Please, Criterion, release all the Astaire-Rogers movies.

This review is about Criterion’s Bluray transfer versus Warner Bros’s DVD version, not the film itself, which is a masterpiece and needs no praise.The sound on Criterion’s Bluray is noticeably better than on Warner’s DVD. The picture is 10-20% better and noticeable mainly in the blacks.The packaging is beautiful. The essay on the inline folder is brilliant. The extras are a decidedly mixed bag.The interviews with Ginger Rogers are a rare gem, and reveal a depth that is not apparent from the films.“Full Swing” is informative, and reinforces the point that it is worth watching the film at least once focusing exclusively on Ginger Rogers herself.The interview with the director’s son is interesting.The interviews with Fred Astaire and Hermes Pan are too short.Mia Mask’s analysis of the Bojangles dance is irritating and spoils the whole experience.She pretends to be objective but she is not. She takes a completely black-and-white approach (pun unintended but appropriate) and her claims become more far-fetched as she goes on.For a start, what she presents as facts are just her views and are not necessarily shared by other equally qualified black commentators, such as Stanley Crouch, on the Bojangles number itself, or Wynton Marsalis, on blackface in general.Claiming that the Bojangles number “erased” the legacy of Bill Robinson is ridiculous, considering it broadcasted to the whole of white America, who had till then only seen him as Shirley Temple’s sidekick, and for which incidentally he was labelled an Uncle Tom by black America, that the great Fred Astaire put Bill “Bojangles” Robinson above himself.Claiming that the studio could have simply chosen to have had Bill Robinson dance the Bojangles number instead of Fred Astaire is completely disingenuous and ignores the realities of 1936 (Benny Goodman risked his career simply by having a black piano player appear on stage) quite apart from the plot inconsistencies that would have been involved.And ending her analysis by trying to forever associate the sequence in the viewer’s mind with a lynching, which she goes into in graphic detail, is extremely distasteful.She doesn’t even seem to know her subject very well, since she fails to point out that the number is actually more of a tribute to John Bubbles than Bill Robinson.So in summary:1. Definitely watch the film before you die2. Get Criterion’s Bluray if you don’t already have the Warner Bros DVD or if you are a perfectionist (NB the Region 1 DVD is far better quality than the Region 2 DVD)3. Do read the essay inside, which is both informative and enchanting4. If you do watch the extras, watch them in the order they are presented, and if you watch the last one with Mia Mask, bear in mind Criterion released the disc two years into Trump’s presidency and to a target audience of white Americans.

Probably the best "dancing on film" ever. Ginger is stunning throughout!

Tutto bene, si vede senza problemi in lingua italiana. Bel bianco e nero.