Let’s close the week with the spectacular Fred Astaire & Eleanor Powell ‘Begin The Beguine’ dance routine from ‘Broadway Melody of 1940’. You need to sit through a minute of silly singing until the dancing begins (or you can fast-forward through it) but it’s well worth the wait. The whole magnificent dance is captured in only two camera set-ups–the second angle is a simple widening of the first to fully encompass the twirling bit they do at the end which will leave you breathless. What a relief to see a dance routine without cuts to the feet or to the goofily delighted audience members. Astaire may have had some influence on this style of shooting dance as the early Astaire/Rogers routines are similarly cut-free (or almost) as opposed to the style of the time which, as noted, tended to abruptly take our attention away from the dancing for no discernible reason. Anyway, enjoy the show…