...largely because it is never shown. TCM owns the rights since this is a Warner Brothers film, and the reason they probably never show it is that the leads are completely unknown today, although the players were well known at the time this movie was made. All four of the leads (Betty Compson, Lila Lee, William Stage Boyd, and Monte Blue) were silent film actors who made a successful transition to talkies, although they were never big names in spite of this. Everybody gives a very natural performance, and this keeps your attention on the plot, which has absolutely nothing to do with dancing, as the title might make you think.
This is not your typical early talkie. It's a very riveting and well-paced gangster picture, and if someone well-known to classic film fans such as Edward G. Robinson had been playing mob leader Diamond Joe Jennings instead of lesser known William Stage Boyd, it would probably be much better remembered today. There's plenty of precode material in here too such as Lila Lee's character being called "a professional virgin" and two unmarried couples living together, with the unspoken understanding that this is not true love forever, just a temporary situation for the sake of convenient sex for all parties concerned and hot meals on the table for the men as long as the situation lasts.
You'll also see the beginnings of the social consciousness that Warners injected into so many of their Depression era dramas as the plot centers around a woman (Lila Lee) trying to make sure her brother (Willliam Janney) doesn't go to the chair for murder after a burglary he was involved in goes wrong. Prior to the burglary, Janney mentions when talking to his sister that he wouldn't have gotten involved in crime if only he could find a job - a rare commodity in 1930. Thus, from the beginning both brother and sister have your sympathy.
I highly recommend it, if you can ever find a copy.
This is not your typical early talkie. It's a very riveting and well-paced gangster picture, and if someone well-known to classic film fans such as Edward G. Robinson had been playing mob leader Diamond Joe Jennings instead of lesser known William Stage Boyd, it would probably be much better remembered today. There's plenty of precode material in here too such as Lila Lee's character being called "a professional virgin" and two unmarried couples living together, with the unspoken understanding that this is not true love forever, just a temporary situation for the sake of convenient sex for all parties concerned and hot meals on the table for the men as long as the situation lasts.
You'll also see the beginnings of the social consciousness that Warners injected into so many of their Depression era dramas as the plot centers around a woman (Lila Lee) trying to make sure her brother (Willliam Janney) doesn't go to the chair for murder after a burglary he was involved in goes wrong. Prior to the burglary, Janney mentions when talking to his sister that he wouldn't have gotten involved in crime if only he could find a job - a rare commodity in 1930. Thus, from the beginning both brother and sister have your sympathy.
I highly recommend it, if you can ever find a copy.