The Story of Vernon & Irene Castle

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67%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 1,198

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The Story of Vernon & Irene Castle Photos

The Story of Vernon & Irene Castle (1939)

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Movie Info

Aspiring dancer Irene (Ginger Rogers) convinces vaudevillian Vernon Castle (Fred Astaire) to give up his comic act for something more serious: ballroom dancing. Together, they work on perfecting their dance routine and take the act to Paris. It's a rocky road at first, but, after a knockout appearance at the Café de Paris, the duo become a sensation. With their fame steadily rising, the Castles seem on top of the world. But the outbreak of World War I threatens everything.

Genre:

biography
Original Language:

English
Director:

H. C. Potter
Producer:

George Haight, Pandro S. Berman
Release Date (Streaming):

Nov 21, 2016
Runtime:

1h 33m
Production Co:

RKO Pictures

Cast & Crew

Fred Astaire
Vernon Castle

Ginger Rogers
Irene Castle

Edna May Oliver
Maggie Sutton

Walter Brennan
Walter Ash

Etienne Girardot
Papa Aubel

Janet Beecher
Mrs. Foote

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Critic Reviews for The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle

All Critics (8) | Top Critics (1) | Fresh (6) | Rotten (2)

[Despite] a lack of anything very virile, the film, the film has definite beauty... Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are technically excellent.

August 28, 2020 | Full Review…

SMH Staff
Sydney Morning Herald
Top Critic
If joy and liberation exudes from the best Astaire-Rogers films, this is defined by restriction.

November 3, 2016 | Rating: 1.5/4 | Full Review…

Josh Larsen
LarsenOnFilm
Perhaps the best the marvelous couple have made since Gay Divorce.

December 7, 2011 | Full Review…

Graham Greene
The Spectator
It's not exactly a stretch for Astaire and Rogers, but they do the old rags-to-riches angle seamlessly, and the finale is surprisingly touching.

October 13, 2011 | Rating: 68/100 | Full Review…

Gabe Leibowitz
Film and Felt
Lesser Astaire-Rogers vehicle, but pleasant.

May 24, 2006 | Rating: 4/5

Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Quote not available.

October 18, 2005 | Rating: 4/5

Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Quote not available.

October 7, 2005 | Rating: 2/5

Michael Szymanski
International Press Academy
The duo's most unusual film, a surprisingly effective tearjerker

March 18, 2005 | Rating: 4/5

James Sanford
Kalamazoo Gazette

View All Critic Reviews (8)

Audience Reviews for The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle

Mar 03, 2009

And they are gone: ay, ages long ago These lovers fled away into the storm. These lines, the opening of the final stanza of John Keats' The Eve of St. Agnes, come to mind as the long run of Ginger and Fred comes to an end. It's their escape into the realm of legend. Heartbreaking. Although they would reunite through a twist of fate a decade later, this was the last intentional pairing of Rogers and Astaire, the end of their nine film run into cinematic history. Perhaps because this tragic story is based on the real lives of Vernon and Irene Castle, and, of course, the untimely death of Vernon Castle, that story and the end of the Rogers and Astaire dynasty combine for an even sadder double impact. To see them, in the end, dancing off into the distance in Ginger's/Irene's imagination heightens the melancholy of the moment. The characters and the actors are gone, ay ages long ago. The greatest dancing duo in movie history -- then, now, and forever.

Lanning : Super Reviewer
Aug 28, 2008

Different from other Fred & Ginger movies in being a bio and probably not too factual but great dancing, their chemistry and Edna May Oliver make it a fine entertainment.

jay n Super Reviewer