Broadway Melody of 1940 Amazing Dance Sequence Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell

[mroldiesman1]

fred and eleanor are quite simply the two greatest tap dancers to ever put their shoes on. period.

fred danced with many, but none like eleanor. and of course there is no other like fred. except eleanor.

[tamarexxe]

amazing. The best Fred Astair ever danced (and he was a genius) and yet my eyes remain fixed on Eleanor Powell. How sad that her masterful dancing was so long relatively ignored.

[charlesnorte]

He looks like a "torero"....

[TravellerFair]

Breathtaking and fabulous! It saddens me that all this talent has disappeared and we now live in an age when people become famous for all the wrong reasons.

I have never seen this number in its entirety before, many thanks for sharing.

[charlesnorte]

Who is the singer?

[novakralph]

George Murphy was kind of out of his league here but there was always something earnest and appealing about him.

[dorotwhy]

Eleanor Powell is an AMAZING dancer!! Fred Astaire met his match (or superior) with her. Balance, precision, fluidity etc.all with an illusion of carefree effortlessness. I realized that my attention is drawn to Powell rather that Astaire when they dance together. Whereas, I generally focus on Astaire when he dances with other partners.

[JohnCurry1]

@dorotwhy Absolutely agree. Eleanor was just floating and was obviously ballet-trained. Fred had no upper-body style and stared at the floor all the time, and was having to work hard to keep up with her.

[qhsperson]

"Hi, I just decided to come to your opening night in my all-white suit. What, join you? Why, the idea never crossed my mind..."

Fantastic clip. I am absolutely delighted to see it here.

[barcagirl2001]

I watch this dance sequence almost everyday and continue to be amazed at the ability of these two dancers to coordinate these intricate tap routines. I believe it to be the finest tap dancing I have ever seen.

[drummmerfish]

classy and REAL talent. back then you could do 3-4 dance numbers in a 1 hr 30 min movie.

[mmountainstar]

I am sixty four yrs old .I remember playing hookie and watching these movies with my mom .My Aunt Betty had alzheimers and she remebered this song to the day she died She also tasught dancing . This was her favorite song and she love the version by Artie Shaw..I would have loved to live BACK then.

[foobird58]

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[ruary5]

Great dancing/music .. near perfection. Gosh, this brings back so many memories, all happy-ish!!

Wish we had this today!

[TheRandomVloggger]

From 8:40 until the end, it made me tear up, I don't know why. Maybe because talent like this is gone, or the fact that the music has a very "emotional" feel lol. :p

[mvann5]

They make the other dancers look like klutzes!

What a glimpse at another era, when there actually was culture. Now all people care about is celebrity and money.

[starrynight0419gmail]

My favorite part of this video lies at the end. Everyone expects perfection from e. and f. but omg the finale. Takes my breath away:)

[coldocean]

I've loved Astaire my whole life and this is absolutely one my favorite dance scenes, and Eleanor Powel is one of my favorite partners of his. I have seen it countless times. Love it. They are truly stunning! I remember Frank Sinatra as he introduced this number in "That's Entertainment" saying you can wait but you'll never see the likes of this again!. He was so right!

[july1544]

the best it reminds me of mum and dad they dancedto this

[meredith218461]

Endless invention is magically choreographed from basically one number (The Beguine). A witty,effortless and wonderfully stylish routine.

[martinbeco]

Beautiful Dancing! Truly classic scene!

[Reavelt]

My favorite dance routine ever! They were the greatest!

[sibbet27]

So in sync, so effortless, so joyful. I'm too young but I love you anyway, Eleanor.

[involami]

Agree-finest dance performance ever.Another superb dance in same film-Broadway melody of 1940-I Concentrate on You.Wonderful.

[FoPo4]

Definitely Eleanor Powell with her trademark backbends at 0.19 and 0.35!

[sbasx1]

That doesn't look like Eleanor Powell!?!? @8:42

[IBScaramouche]

This is timeless, world class entertainment. The level of perfection displayed here reminds one of the artistry of the Russian pairs skating team, Gordeeva nd Grinkova whose ability to move in perfect harnony was matchless.

[outatimedek]

from the days when class and style was hip, amazing quality, when people dressed for the movies and were polite to each other, sadly gone, but not forgotten.

Thanks for this listing.

[TheMaisie80]

We cetainly will not see dancing like this ever again,two of the best doing their best to entertain and we were cetainly entertained.....George Murphy was also a good hoofer.....agreat clip...thanks for posting it.

[maple1255]

A great way to end a Saturday evening. Fred is not only a great dancer, he's graceful, charming and his joy of performing always comes through. I don't know a lot about the ladies who he dances with his except to say Eleanor Powell just shines in this ... thank you for showing this clip in its entirety :)

[thinkingnut]

...where did this all go?

[eijigosen]

Thank you so much my dear Best FilmsofCentury for uploading such a great performance for its entirety here. Now I can see the sequence of this Begin the Beguine tune. Somehow I love the best tap and musical time of those days more than anything. My late father introduced me to American films even before I was a teenager in Yokohama, Japan. This tune and dance sequence is eternal, which everyone in heaven must be enjoying as ever as we are here on earth. eijiro odagiri

[ChevyFreak63]

Fred and Eleanor...Fred and Ginger...Fred and Cyd...how many leading ladies did this man dance with?

[EandMetal]

That was amazing. And I never saw the last part with the three of them up on Youtube before - thanks so much for putting it up. There's also another dance routine from this movie I've seen here (the video title is Eleanor Powell - I am the Captain) - it's one of her routines from this movie where she sings a little too.

[potterabbit]

Thanx for posting, it is easy to forget that this dance number was a full of many different dance sequences. Eleanore, you are no joke and I cannot believe your feet!!! Thank you to Fred, for inputting camera control into his contract, that allows us to see the choreography to its fullest, and the whole body of the dancers can be seen throughout execution.70 years later, in the age of quick digital editing it is just priceless.Definitely no photo shop here.Just awesome spectacular hard work.

[potterabbit]

thanx for posting the full version of this dance number, It is easy to forget how many wonderful dance sequences were incorporated into this last scene of the film. Thank You to Fred for having input on the camera shots written into his contract ,that we may see the full aspect to this just awesome and spectacular choreography. and able to view the full body of the dancers.

[laurenlewis7]

Absolutely stunning!! They certainly dont make movies like THAT anymore... WOW. Just fabulous!! The talent displayed here is immense and standing ovation is all I can so!!

[raynhamma]

Amazing , incredible , wonderful , terrific , BRAVO !!!!!!!

[olioradio]

Everything- choreography, music, camera work, & of course the Dancers- came together in this sequence. Amazing!

[tariav]

I regret that we don't have dancers like these today

[ezzalouise]

@tariav

we do, training hard at arts colleges and studios around the world, locked away and honing their broadway style and technique, instead of flouncing around on dance related tv shows, emerging onto stages and wowing crowds just as was done all these years ago by their idols.

[tariav]

I regret that we don't have dancers like these today

[Kevierae]

Too mesmerized by the dancing to comment!

[Moionfire]

Can't believe there aren't more comments. This is beautiful

[music1831]

@Moionfire PURE MAGIC.WHAT A PAIR OF DANCING MAGICIANS.IT'S JUST AS IF THEY ARE DANCING ON WATER,IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL.