Astaire & Rogers Collection, Volume 2

There's no denying that the best movies featuring this phenomenally popular 1930s team were contained in Volume 1, but that doesn't mean the present collection should be overlooked. Volume 2 showcases Fred and Ginger in five more musical comedies, each boasting top-drawer production values, excellent casts, and hit songs by some of America's greatest composers of pop tunes. Flying Down to Rio (1933) actually stars Gene Raymond and Dolores Del Rio, two now-forgotten stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, but supporting players Astaire and Rogers—paired for the first time—steal the show with their high-spirited stepping (the plot revolves around a dance band stranded in Brazil, with one memorable sequence including a daffy production number featuring scantily clad chorus girls riding atop old-fashioned biplanes). The Gay Divorcee (1934), the team's first “official” starring vehicle, takes its title and premise from a well-known Broadway hit musical with songs by Cole Porter, but the only one to make the jump from stage to screen is a little ditty titled “Night and Day.” Another Broadway success, Roberta (1935), was similarly refitted for Astaire and Rogers, with Irene Dunne and Randolph Scott lending marquee appeal and Jerome Kern providing a score that included several standards, most notably “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.” Carefree (1938), thought by many musical buffs to be the weakest of the Fred-and-Ginger frolics, traffics in corny comedy but also sports some nifty Irving Berlin tunes, including “Change Partners.” The last of the RKO series of Astaire-Rogers pairings (the stars would reunite at MGM in 1949 for The Barkleys of Broadway), 1939's The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle starred Fred and Ginger as the titular husband-and-wife dance team, who were hugely popular earlier in the 20th century (no big hits or memorable dance sequences are found here, but it's a bit stronger on plot and drama than the other efforts). DVD extras spread across the discs include vintage shorts, cartoons, and radio promos. Recommended. (E. Hulse)