They Can't Take That Away from Me: The Music of 'Shall We Dance'

George Gershwin died shortly from a brain tumor after the film was made. Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire may have been the stars but the Gershwin brothers came up with a beautiful music score which survives to this day as a classic. The special feature has interviews with Fred's daughter, Michael Feinstein, Leonard Maltin and other scholars about this production in particularly. There is not much about Ginger Rogers or Fred Astaire.

This is one of the special features included with the DVD "Shall We Dance". Apparently, the Rogers and Hard musical "On Your Toes" somehow morphed into "Shall We Dance"--and, oddly, the new film idea had songs by George and Ira Gershwin--not Rogers and Hart. According to this film, the studios felt that original songs were too 'high-brow'.

Some other interesting insights from the film include learning that the film had a bazillion different titles and the songs were created with no real script or outline! Otherwise, the film is an okay examination of the Gershwins and their music for this film--though, oddly, their other work (particularly George's) isn't mentioned! Watchable for fans but not a must-see. I would have liked to have seen a bit more...