Dancing Lady (1933)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Robert Z. Leonard

Writers:

Allen Rivkin (screenplay) and
P.J. Wolfson (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

24 November 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Musical | Comedy | Romance

Plot:

An attractive dancer is rescued from jail by a rich man, who helps her to have her first big opportunity at a musical play on Broadway.

Plot Keywords:

Dancer | Broadway | Director | Jail | Burlesque

Cast

Joan Crawford	...	Janie Barlow
Clark Gable	...	Patch Gallagher
Franchot Tone	...	Tod Newton
May Robson	...	Dolly Todhunter - Tod's Grandmother
Winnie Lightner	...	Rosette LaRue
Fred Astaire	...	Himself
Robert Benchley	...	Ward King
Ted Healy	...	Steve - Patch's Assistant
Arthur Jarrett	...	Art Jarrett - Vocalist (as Art Jarrett)
Grant Mitchell	...	Jasper Bradley, Sr.
Nelson Eddy	...	Specialty Singer
Maynard Holmes	...	Jasper Bradley, Jr.
Sterling Holloway	...	Pinky - the Show's Author
Gloria Foy	...	Vivian Warner
Moe Howard	...	Moe - Stagehand

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #1307-R: 26 August 1935 for re-release) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Fred Astaire's movie debut. Though he was reported to have appeared years earlier in the silent film Fanchon, the Cricket (1915/I), he and his sister Adele only visited the set; they did not appear on camera in that one.

Goofs:

Continuity: While chasing Patch, Janie is splashed by mud from a passing car; when she hops out of a cab minutes later, her shoes and stockings are clean.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Girl with Tod: I don't like the looks of this place Todd.
Tod Newton: Ah, come on. You'll get a lot of laughs.

Movie Connections:

Featured in That's Entertainment, Part II (1976)

Soundtrack:

Alabama Swing

MGM goes to 42nd Street, sort of

Where else are you going to see Joan Crawford dancing to the accompaniment of The Three Stooges? Add to that Winnie Lightner with a Shirley Temple hairdo doing a striptease, Fred Astaire in his screen premiere and enough Art Deco to fill a warehouse.

However, for those used to the Warner Brothers musicals of that time, "Dancing Lady" does have its drawbacks. The pace is a good bit slower (over 90 minutes with only two complete musical numbers!) and the choreography has little of the saucy snap Berkeley was providing at the WB. Joan Crawford isn't as bad in the Terpsichore department as everyone has said, even holding her own against Astaire. The drawbacks are the songs which are putrid. The Astaire-Crawford number is "Let's Go Bavarian" as they sing about the glories of beer! One can only hope Hitler saw it and got indigestion. MGM does have one advantage over the more famous competition; Clark Gable, who brings a good bit more heat to the screen than Warner Baxter. One pre-code moment: in the last musical number historical figures march through an arch which turns them into modern characters. A knight in armor goes under and turns into a mincing handkerchief-waver!