in the garage behind my apartment there's a stash of old vhs tapes left by the tenant two before me. by stash i mean that there's about 13 boxes FILLED with tapes each containing three or four films.
the tapes belonged to my aunt's uncle, an ex-cbc personality and lover of entertainment in it's many forms. the subject matter ranges from musicals of all eras, 1930s comedies, productions of met operas, canadian television dramas, early 90s suspense films, foreign masterpieces and, out of nowhere, wayne's world.
tonight i watched the 1936 rogers/astaire musical comedy "follow the fleet".
now i like me some ginger rogers and fred astaire but i mostly find ginger to be light entertainment in great clothing. i like her best as a wisecracking chorus girl in films like 42nd street. however i REALLY love fred astaire. for a guy who's screen test report read "can't act. slightly bald. can dance a little" he sure is entertaining. something about that perfect mix of goofy, skinny gee-whiz eggheadedness and utterly charming smart-alec elegance really does it for me.
follow the fleet is a pretty dumb little movie about love and misunderstanding and dancing and the navy but watching fred smack his chewing gum and hoof his way through every scene is a real pleasure, though he doesn't make a very convincing sailor (seriously, ballroom dancing lessons to his fellow sea men on deck?). ginger sure looks nice in that satin sailor suit though.
here's the pair mocking the usual perfection of their own dancing, i don't know about you, but it makes me laugh.
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