Vernon and Irene Castle were pioneers in ballroom dance and gave us such famous moves as “The Castle Walk.” Irene wrote two loving books in memory of her husband, and those books became the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie, “The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle.” Irene was a consultant on the film and oversaw the production, although not everything was done to her liking, and she clashed quite a bit with Ginger Rogers over some of the costuming.
When Vernon and Irene meet, he’s already somewhat established in show business and she wants to break into it. She has a funny audition routine all worked out and she performs it for him, but she’s just not any good. He doesn’t want to hurt her feelings, but he just doesn’t think she’s going to break into show business. He starts teaching her the ropes and they’re pretty good together, not only in dancing but in love. They get married and take an apartment on an upper floor of an apartment building. Their downstairs neighbor hates noise, so they try to practice quietly, in slow motion. The vibration of their feet causes their neighbor’s ceiling light to swing back and forth and she comes upstairs to investigate, and is quite taken with their slow, graceful movements. They don’t bother to explain that they’re trying to practice extra quietly and that their normal routine is much faster – she’s a talent agent and she likes what she sees. She gets them booked at a club, and from there, their careers just take off.
World War I breaks out and all eligible men are joining up. Vernon feels strongly that he should go, but Irene doesn’t want him to. He does some fund raisers for the war, but he’s not content until he joins up. By now the Castles have built up an empire for themselves, with merchandise and dance schools and everything else you can think of, but he leaves all that behind to go to war and ends up getting killed in a flying accident.
This movie, of course, is filled with great dancing. As Fred and Ginger are portraying famous dancers, the style they use is different from their own, but it’s fun to see how the Castles got their start and some of the moves that made them so famous. The ending is tragic, but you’re left with a sense of admiration for the couple and the things they accomplished in the short amount of time they had together.
This film is not rated.
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