GINGER & FRED (DVD) DVD

Ginger and Fred
Director Federico Fellini gently lampoons the world of small-time show business in Ginger and Fred. Giulietta Masina and Marcello Mastroianni star as Amelia Bonetti and Pippo Botticella, a onetime celebrity song-and-dance team. Having risen to fame with a dancing act where they recreated the acts of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire (hoping to become the Fred and Ginger of Italy), Amelia and Pippo parted company to pursue their separate lives. Neither one was particularly successful in other fields of endeavor, so when after many years Amelia is offered a guest-star gig on a TV variety show, she jumps at the chance. She also seeks out her former partner, Pippo, who may have looked like Astaire in his younger days, but now....The overall good cheer of the film was dampened when the real Ginger Rogers sued the distributors of Ginger and Fred for "defamation of character." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast Marcello Mastroianni as Pippo Botticella aka 'Fred' Giulietta Masina as Amelia Bonetti aka 'Ginger' Franco Fabrizi as Show host Martin Maria Blau as Assistant director Toto Mignone as Toto Augusto Poderosi as Transvestite Francesco Casale as Mafioso Frederick von Thun as Kidnapped Industrialist Jacques Henri Lartigue as Brother Gerdamo Jean Michel Antoine as Nanda Pucci Negri as Laurentina Guidotti as Production Secretary Elena Cantarone as Nurse

Crew Danilo Donati - Costume Designer Federico Fellini - Director Nino Baragli - Editor Ruggero Mastroianni - Editor Ugo De Rossi - Editor Nicola Piovani - Composer (Music Score) Rino Carboni - Makeup Dante Ferretti - Production Designer Tonino Delli Colli - Cinematographer Ennio Guarnieri - Cinematographer Alberto Grimaldi - Producer Adriano Pischiutta - Special Effects Tullio Pinelli - Screenwriter Tonino Guerra - Screenwriter Federico Fellini - Screenwriter

Ginger and Fred
Federico Fellini's Ginger and Fred is a surprisingly sweet film for the famous Italian director. Coming late in Fellini's career, it is appropriate that it is a movie partially concerned with memories. The two title characters, meeting again after several decades, are concerned with how their present reality will coincide with their remembered past, a predicament Fellini emphasizes through his use of lookalike actors (resembling real celebrities but not identical to them, as Ginger and Fred resemble their past selves but are not identical to them). He also sets up several other reality vs. illusion settings, including the television show upon which the title characters will appear. All of this contributes to the texture of the piece -- as does Fellini's usual surrealistic visual flourishes -- but the effect is muted and hazy, rather than profound or cumulative. Giulietta Masina and Marcello Mastroianni turn in touching, well-modulated performances. Masina uses her innate coquettishness and charisma to let the audience see the youthful woman inside of her, and Mastroianni lets the viewer know that beneath his tired exterior is a blazing spirit that has never been quenched -- but also never been put to proper use. Though not one of his boisterous masterpieces, Ginger and Fred is a film that lets Fellini explore the quiet, melancholy thoughts of an artist still restless and searching after many years. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
 

British Academy of Film and Television, Best Foreign Language Film (nominated) Golden Globe, Best Foreign Language Film (nominated) National Board of Review, Best Foreign Film (nominated)

General Specifications: Language Options: Italian Subtitle Options: English Sound Processing: DD1: Dolby Digital Mono Additional Features: Theatrical trailer MPAA Rating: PG13 DVD Discs Included: 1 DVD Sides: 1 DVD DVD Region Code: 1 Content Length: 127 min   DVD Chapters: Disc #1 -- Ginger and Fred 1. Credits [3:04] 2. Comeback [4:31] 3. Admiral on Board [6:22] 4. Not Anyone's Lookalike [5:12] 5. Dancing in the Dark [3:39] 6. A Real Lady [4:34] 7. Where's Poppa? [4:40] 8. Noisy Neighbor [4:55] 9. Same Old Tune [6:24] 10. Parking Lot Show [3:20] 11. Call From the Beyond [4:14] 12. Spotlight on Crime [5:46] 13. Cafeteria Menagerie [5:25] 14. Verbal Tap-Dancing [2:55] 15. A Midget Maid's Cheeks [4:07] 16. Old Toto, Soft-Focus Youth [6:00] 17. All Dressed Up [3:51] 18. Crazy-Man Business [3:21] 19. Makeup Room VIPs [6:30] 20. Old Enough [3:08] 21. On With the Show [5:22] 22. Miracle Monk to Tiny Dancers [6:02] 23. Mrs. Silvestri [1:56] 24. Blackout [3:16] 25. Phantoms in the Dark [4:18] 26. Ginger and Fred [7:38] 27. Kiss Me Goodbye [5:03] 28. End Credits [1:18]