Dames (1934)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Directors:

Ray Enright
Busby Berkeley

Writers:

Robert Lord (story) &
Delmer Daves (story) ...

Release Date:

1 September 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical

Plot:

Multi millinaire Ezra Ounce wants to start a campain against 'filthy' forms of entertainment, like Broadway-Shows...

Plot Keywords:

Show Girl | Fight | New York | Jealousy | Hiccup

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Joan Blondell	...	Mabel Anderson
Dick Powell	...	James 'Jimmy' Higgens
Ruby Keeler	...	Barbara Hemingway, aka Joan Grey
Zasu Pitts	...	Matilda Ounce Hemingway (misspelled Mathilda in opening credits)
Guy Kibbee	...	Horace Peter Hemingway
Hugh Herbert	...	Ezra Ounce
Arthur Vinton	...	Bulger, Ounce's Bodyguard
Phil Regan	...	Johnny Harris, Songwriter
Arthur Aylesworth	...	Train Conductor
Johnny Arthur	...	Billings, Ounce's Secretary
Leila Bennett	...	Laura, Matilda's Maid
Berton Churchill	...	Harold Ellsworthy Todd
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bess Flowers	...	(scenes deleted)

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1936) | USA:Approved (PCA #103)

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Vitaphone Corporation, The

Trivia:

In the "Dames" number, Dick Powell as a Broadway producer doesn't want to see composer George Gershwin, but when asked by his secretary about seeing Miss Dubin, Miss Warren and Miss Kelly, he lets them enter his office. Al Dubin and 'Harry Warren' wrote the music, and Orry-Kelly was costume designer of this picture.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: While Joan Blondell is singing "The Girl at the Ironing Board", a stage hand is seen in the background hanging a clothesline.

Quotes:

Barbara Hemingway: I'm free, white, and 21. I love to dance AND I'm going to dance.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Ask the Dust (2006)

Soundtrack:

My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean

Slight plot, great music, and Busby Berkley. Isn't that enough?

Dick Powell and the music of Warren and Dubin is reason enough to watch this otherwise average musical. Busby Berkley's choreography is an aquired taste - I prefer the elegance of Hermes Pan/Fred Astaire and the expert tapping of George Murphy and Eleanor Powell, or even the highly entertaining Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and Shirley Temple duets. But these all came later than DAMES and Berkley's eye-candy style is highly entertaining and, sometimes, memorable.

I never thought Ruby Keeler was terribly talented and her lack of acting ability does show, especially in the company of such accomplished players as Joan Blondell, Powell, Hugh Herbert, and Guy Kibbee. Keeler's acting is passable, if a bit clumsy, and I find her dancing adequate. (She was called, in some 1930s circles, "The Stomper" for her heavy-footed tapping.)

What makes this film a winner is the music. The title song is wonderful and the splendid "I Only Have Eyes For You" is one of the best songs ever written for a movie. That song is fully performed twice, once about midway into the film and, differently, near the end. The later performance is fine, the former one of the screen's greatest musical numbers. Powell sings it with his beautiful high tenor and Berkley provides probably his best ever production. I dare the viewer to not get goose bumps when watching this.

Take away the music and Busby Berkley and you're left with not much except a (mostly) great cast. I give "DAMES" my highest rating for the music and production numbers and a solid middle ranking for the plot. One could do a lot worse than spend 90 minutes with DAMES.