Second Chorus/Royal Wedding [DVD]

Double bill of classic Fred Astaire films. In 'Second Chorus' (1940), two talented trumpeters (Fred Astaire and Burgess Meredith) are on the brink of graduating when they meet Ellen, a beautiful young student (Paulette Goddard). They ask her to manage their band, but their collaboration ends when the boys leave college. Ellen, meanwhile, has started to manage another successful band, and so tries to use her new contacts to help the boys break into showbiz. In 'Royal Wedding' (1951), Astaire stars with Jane Powell as Tom and Ellen Bowen, a brother and sister vaudeville team who take their act to London during the run-up to the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Phillip Mountbatten. Of course, with the sound of wedding bells in the air, it's not long before Tom and Ellen find romance themselves: Tom meeting dancer Anne Ashmond (Sarah Churchill, daughter of Sir Winston) and Ellen falling for the aristocratic Lord John Brindale (Peter Lawford). Includes the duet 'How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Loved You When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life?' and the famous routine where Astaire dances on the ceiling.