CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Loui Blair It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Tymon Sutton The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

TheLittleSongbird A lovely film in many ways. The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle looks classy, the costumes(Ginger's dresses are to die for) and sets are very sumptuous and the whole film is shot beautifully and with great care. The score is sensitive and fitting to the story, while the period songs are an absolute pleasure to hear(admittedly though the Yamma Yamma song is one that you can take or leave). The choreography dazzles and amuses in equal measure, bringing up fond memories of Fred and Ginger and the Castles. The script is on the most part well-meaning and intelligent with some nice wit too, though the double entendres in the Dutch cap scene did fall flat, and the story is wholly believable, nicely paced and has a powerful emotional impact, especially the poignant ending. Story-wise The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle contains easily the best story of any of Fred and Ginger's RKO films, which is saying a lot seeing as the story was always the least memorable component of their films and was overridden by everything else generally being so good. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers' dancing is as always impeccable, while it is a slightly different style you see them do here there is the sense instead that they've been doing it for years. Both Fred and Ginger are cleverly cast, even if they don't look anything like Vernon and Irene Castle, and are wonderful in chemistry and individual performances, Ginger especially is incredibly touching. Walter Brennan is excellent too, funny and sympathetic, and Edna May Oliver equally impresses, she relishes her comic lines while also being touchingly restrained too. All in all, a really good film, the most underrated of Fred and Ginger's 9 RKO pictures and for this viewer one of their better ones too. They would team up 10 years later for the Barkleys of Broadway, which is still an enjoyable film but the weakest of their 10 overall outings together. 9/10 Bethany Cox

hot_in_pink_hate_red What I loved about this movie was how funny, talented, sweet, and genuine Vernon Castle and Irene Castle were in real life. Along how very much in love they were. This films chronicles their life together along with the love they had for one another. From their struggle to becoming renown dancing sensations to them wanted to have a normal life after their rise to fame.Fred Astaire is just wonderful in this Musical Biopic and gives a very wonderful and touching dramatic role as well. Ginger Rogers is lovely in this movie and also gives a touching dramatic role too. Walter Brennan is funny as their friend Walter Ashe and does quite well in being dramatic also. Edna May Oliver is excellent portraying their agent Maggie Sutton as well.The dancing numbers in this movie are lovely and so romantic. Just watching Fred and Ginger dance is like being hypnotized. The way these two were in the ten films they did in truly enjoyable to watch. They knew how to capture an audience attention.If you love seeing a movie about actual dancers/actors, being portray by REAL dancers/actors. I suggest you see this wonderful movie with the late Astaire and Rogers.

kidboots I'm glad there are a lot of positive reviews for this film as it is definitely one of my favourite Astaire / Rogers teamings.Vernon and Irene Castle's popularity in the years before World War One was phenomenal. The film recreates the sensation they caused as the public flocked to buy Irene Castle hats, shoes, frocks and coats - she was even a trend setter with her hairstyles (the costumes in the film were designed by Irene Castle). Apparently Irene Castle, who was quite involved as an adviser on the film, while admiring Fred Astaire, did not get on with Ginger and there were some fights on the set.Vernon Castle (Fred Astaire) is a comedian playing vaudeville (he is teamed with Lew Fields). He has organized to meet the troupes' leading lady at the beach at New Rochelle. When she doesn't show up, an accidental meeting with Irene Foote (Ginger Rogers) (they are both trying to rescue a very cute pup from drowning) causes him to spend the afternoon at her house. I found this part very funny. Irene is a star- struck, would be performer and her family (with the exception of her father) have great faith in her abilities. She performs "The Yama Yama Man" (introduced by Bessie McCoy in the Ziegfeld Follies) with great gusto - much to Vernon's and the rescued pup's fright. Walter Brennan is great in his role as Walt, who has a blind faith in Irene's talent. Vernon calls her a "ham" and she is thrilled (not knowing what it means but she soon learns). Vernon then performs a skillful tap dance to "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" at the train station and Irene can hardly wait to see him perform at the theater. She brings her girlfriends, but is horrified when instead of a dance routine he is the buffoon in a slapstick comic barbershop act. She then hears someone calling him a ham and goes back to his dressing room to tell him off.Despite the bad beginning they hit it off and Vernon teaches Irene to dance in the hope of forming a dancing partnership. Of course there is a theme song - this time it is the beautiful "Only When You're in My Arms". Their first audition is a fabulous dance to "Waiting For the Robert E. Lee" - but Mr. Fields is not impressed - "who would pay money to see a man dance with his wife??" After that disappointment they are approached by two men who want them for their club in Paris. Vernon and Irene think it is for their dancing but it is really for Vernon's comedy routine. By the time they get over there they are penniless and must get a job to tide them over.They meet Maggie Sutton (Edna May Oliver) who gets them an audition at the Cafe De Paris. They dance the wonderful Castle Walk to "Too Much Mustard" and create a sensation - Irene looks beautiful and wears her lucky Dutch cap. They made ballroom dancing popular and introduced many now standard dances to European audiences - the Tango, the Foxtrot and the Castle Polka. The Maxixe was particularly stylish with Irene in a beautiful striped silk dress with her now familiar Dutch cap. They do a tour of the United States. A very effective scene shows them dancing across a map of the United States leaving cheering fans in each state. They also write a book entitled "Modern Dancing". They eventually settle in England but war is declared.While doing a benefit performance Fred (doing a mean imitation of James Cagney doing George M. Cohan)enlists. On one of his leaves, he and Irene do a medley of the dances they have made famous - Irene looks beautiful in a floaty chiffon dress. When the Americans enter the war, Irene volunteers for war work and even takes time out to make a patriotic serial in Hollywood - "Patria".The ending is beautifully done as an image of Irene and Vernon (who had been killed in a freak air accident) dance down a treed walk to their song, "Only When You're in My Arms".Highly Recommended.

bkoganbing For their last film at RKO, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers co-starred in The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle. It was the only time the team ever played real people. It was also the only time that no original score was written for them in a film. And of course it was the only screen death for either of them in their team history.Vernon Castle and the former Irene Foote met and wed before the beginning of World War I in what we call the Ragtime era. As an act they popularized ballroom dancing and influenced many other performers including a man who was doing his own act in vaudeville at the time with his sister. That of course being Fred Astaire with his sister Adele. I'm sure doing this film must have in and of itself been a labor of love for the dancing master.In addition Irene Castle set style for women's clothes and hair. When she cut her hair and put in a short bob, women everywhere copied her and the style really took off in the Twenties. With the arrival of World War I, Vernon Castle enlisted and managed to survive the war only to get killed in a training accident after Armistice Day in the USA. Irene kept her career going, appearing in many silent films and she married three more times. She survived her husband by about forty years.The film gave Ginger Rogers her first really dramatic role. The following year Ginger would get the ultimate accolade from her peers with a Best Actress Oscar for Kitty Foyle. I've a feeling that it was on the strength of this film that she got cast in Kitty Foyle.The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle boasts two strong supporting performances by Walter Brennan and Edna May Oliver. In real life, the part that Brennan has as a family retainer for the Foote family was black. But given how blacks were portrayed back in the day, it's probably just as well a black actor didn't play the part.This was a good film for Astaire and Rogers to finish their association with RKO studios. They would team up again in The Barkleys of Broadway ten years later for MGM, but that's a whole other story.