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Royal Wedding

Royal Wedding

List Price: $4.95
Your Price: $4.95
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: definitely worth buying
Review: This is a delightful movie with some wonderful dancing and music. I really didn't find the quality of the picture to be that bad. It is not prime DVD quality, but it is certainly good enough. In fact after reading some of the reviews before ordering it I thought the quality was much better than I expected. Besides, I'd far rather listen to great music on records than mediocre music on CD's. The same applies here. Fred Astaire's masterful dancing far outweighs the picture quality which again isn't really that bad. I think for the price this DVD is a real bargain. Don't pass it up.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Wonderful musical, poor transfer to DVD
Review: This is one of my favorite Fred Astaire musicals. It has some of his classic numbers, such as the hatrack dance and the dancing-on-the-ceiling routine. Plus, I truly adored the cockney number that Fred Astaire performed with co-star Jane Powell. I used to have a recording of this film I made off the TV, and when the DVD version was available, I decided to purchase it.

So....what can I say? The DVD is less then $10, and the film is great fun. Fred and Jane play a brother-sister vaudeville act, probably based on the real-life Fred and Astele Astaire act of the 1920s. They go to England for their new show and find new love, all during the time of Queen Elizabeth's wedding (hence the title). Along the way, we get those wonderful dances and songs (Jane Powell's "Too Late Now" won the Oscar for best song, I believe).

However....the DVD transfer is, to be polite, poor. The color looks faded in some spots and there is horrible pixelation or blockiness in other spots (especially at night). The sound quality isn't that great either, (but at least it sounds better than my TV recording). That's not saying too much, though, given the potential for DVDs. This film looks like a straight transfer from a poor VHS copy to DVD with no attempt at clean-up or restoration. This trait, however, is common to all Madacy DVDs, so I wasn't expecting any surprises there. One reviewer mentioned a widescreen version - I don't think this film was made in widescreen but rather in full-frame, so what you see on the screen is all there is to the film, I believe.

At any rate, bottom line...the movie itself gets 5 stars but due to a rather lazy DVD transfer, I can only give the DVD 2 stars. However, it *is* less than $10, so decide for yourself if it is still worth purchasing.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Astaire's dancing is the real story this time around.
Review: This movie has some of the most remarkable dancing in film history, however the direction is not as polished as the Garland/Astaire vehicle EASTER PARADE. The story, borrowing from it's star's real life(Fred and his sister Adele were Broadway stars and she married an English Lord)is cute, but the script is not as clever as one would expect. The duet "How could you believe me when I said I loved you..." is wildly amusing and the highpoint of the 90 minutes. I prefer Powell singing in her lower register, although she became a star with her semi-operatic interpretations. This is a must for die-hard Astaire fans(that includes me!!!)

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Nice dancing and music, but very dull
Review: This movie would have been a complete failure if Fred Astaire hadn't starred in it. I found it to be exceptionally dull. Except for "I Lost My Hat in Haiti" and "You Are", and footage from the actual wedding of a member of the British monarchy, this film is pretty terrible.


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