Jack Oakie is a band leader at a dance hall who is worried that his best friend (William Collier), the band's saxophonist, is getting in over his head with taxi dancer Miriam Hopkins. Oakie arranges for Collier to get hired by another band in order to get him out of town for a month, hoping this will cool down the affair. In the ensuing month, gangster George Raft shows up with designs on Hopkins and Oakie himself starts falling for the dame. There's a shoot-out at the end and some great music throughout, including 'St. Louis Blues' as sung by Hopkins. Lyda Roberti is fun as Fanny Zobowolski who puts the moves on a reluctant Eugene Palette. Viewed at Cinesation in Massillon Ohio, October 2004.
8 Reviews
I Can't Get Enough Of Miriam Hopkins
boblipton14 May 2019
At a taxi-dancing joint, Miriam Hopkins and saxophonist William Collier Jr. are in love. His pal, Jack Oakie, knows she has a past with other men -- including him -- and tries to break them up. Meanwhile, hood George Raft shows up, wants to renew his relationship with Hopkins.
I'm a sucker for Miriam Hopkins, and the more I see of her Paramount pictures, the more I fall under her spell. Even though her singing is obviously lip-synced to some uncredited singer, she has me convinced she's a girl with a past who's really in love.
Not that she's alone in this. Oakie is very solid in his role, and George Raft as the sleazy hood who causes all the trouble is good. He'd be better elsewhere, of course, but he does a bit of his coin-flipping bit that he would exploit in at least three other movies. The result is a big, noisy, messy story, whose moving parts all work well.
I'm a sucker for Miriam Hopkins, and the more I see of her Paramount pictures, the more I fall under her spell. Even though her singing is obviously lip-synced to some uncredited singer, she has me convinced she's a girl with a past who's really in love.
Not that she's alone in this. Oakie is very solid in his role, and George Raft as the sleazy hood who causes all the trouble is good. He'd be better elsewhere, of course, but he does a bit of his coin-flipping bit that he would exploit in at least three other movies. The result is a big, noisy, messy story, whose moving parts all work well.
"A Fascinating New Kind of Villain".....
kidboots27 February 2011
Warning: Spoilers
....that's what the critics said about George Raft and at the time he was the only star to find any praise from this movie. I would add Lyda Roberti, as someone to watch, as well. From her first appearance on the dance floor, she was eye catching, her fractured English was hilarious, her scenes with Eugene Palette the high spots of the movie plus she made memorable her rendition of "I'm in Love With a Tune". The movie was made in the dark days - just before "42nd Street", when people were staying away from any movie with a couple of songs in it. Jack Oakie had built his reputation as a jokester/sidekick in a host of early Paramount musicals and weathered this rocky period to become one of the screen's best loved comedians.
In this emotional drama, he not only had the lead, but for most of the movie portrayed a highly unsympathetic character. He plays Duke, a band leader, who is trying to put his friend Floyd (William Collier Jnr.) wise about a dance hall girl he is infatuated with. He and Floyd have grown up as brothers, he once had a fling with Gloria (Miriam Hopkins) and feels that with Floyd out of the picture, he may be able to rekindle the romance with her. But what she and Floyd have is the real thing and when Duke organises an out of town job for Floyd, Gloria is determined to hold onto their love. She hasn't reckoned with Louie (a dynamic George Raft - when isn't he!!!), a cold blooded killer, whose favourite past-time is to hear Gloria belt out "St. Louis Blues". By now Duke has turned into Mr. Nice Guy, who after trying some caveman tactics on Gloria and been rejected, is now determined to look after her until Floyd returns. He does - almost at the expense of his life.
This movie is nothing special and it has nothing new to say about dance halls and the girls who work in them. Miriam Hopkins could certainly add sparkle to some roles but she was not dynamic here - actually she was a bit frumpy!! Yes, her rendition of "St. Louis Blues" was earthy but it was probably mimed. Jack Oakie sounded nothing like his former singing style when he put up the megaphone to sing "It's the Darndest Thing". Miriam came to Paramount as an "elite" player, along with Marlene Dietrich, only to be assigned roles with top directors, but during a five week period of inactivity she accepted a role in "24 Hours" - a minor movie. After that Paramount demoted her and movies like "Dancers in the Dark" were the result.
Recommended.
In this emotional drama, he not only had the lead, but for most of the movie portrayed a highly unsympathetic character. He plays Duke, a band leader, who is trying to put his friend Floyd (William Collier Jnr.) wise about a dance hall girl he is infatuated with. He and Floyd have grown up as brothers, he once had a fling with Gloria (Miriam Hopkins) and feels that with Floyd out of the picture, he may be able to rekindle the romance with her. But what she and Floyd have is the real thing and when Duke organises an out of town job for Floyd, Gloria is determined to hold onto their love. She hasn't reckoned with Louie (a dynamic George Raft - when isn't he!!!), a cold blooded killer, whose favourite past-time is to hear Gloria belt out "St. Louis Blues". By now Duke has turned into Mr. Nice Guy, who after trying some caveman tactics on Gloria and been rejected, is now determined to look after her until Floyd returns. He does - almost at the expense of his life.
This movie is nothing special and it has nothing new to say about dance halls and the girls who work in them. Miriam Hopkins could certainly add sparkle to some roles but she was not dynamic here - actually she was a bit frumpy!! Yes, her rendition of "St. Louis Blues" was earthy but it was probably mimed. Jack Oakie sounded nothing like his former singing style when he put up the megaphone to sing "It's the Darndest Thing". Miriam came to Paramount as an "elite" player, along with Marlene Dietrich, only to be assigned roles with top directors, but during a five week period of inactivity she accepted a role in "24 Hours" - a minor movie. After that Paramount demoted her and movies like "Dancers in the Dark" were the result.
Recommended.
Plodding Pre-Code Melodrama with an Expressionistic Main Set
perfectpawn12 January 2010
Another Pre-Code obscurity, Dancers in the Dark is a middling melodrama about a dancehall singer/dancer Gloria (Miriam Hopkins) who finds three men pining for her: wet-behind-the ears saxophonist Floyd (William Collier, Jr), smart-alecked bandleader Duke (Jack Oakie), and murderous crook Louie (George Raft).
Gloria seems to have a drama-ridden past but innocent Floyd has fallen for her anyway. And she likes him just as much. They plan to get married but Floyd's childhood friend Duke doesn't like it. He arranges it so that Floyd has to leave town for a month-long gig with a band in Pittsburgh. Obedient Floyd leaves, planning to marry Gloria when he returns. Duke figures that soon enough Gloria will be back to her old tricks. But then Louie shows up, one of those old flames of Gloria's, a two-bit crook who immediately moves in on his old territory. Only Gloria stops his advances; she's in love with Floyd. Soon even Duke's putting the moves on her; his original idea was to get Gloria to forget about Floyd, but instead he finds himself falling for the tough-talking blonde.
Intersperse the above melodrama with the occasional song and dance number and a pointless robbery scene and you have Dancers in the Dark. A lot of these Pre-Code flicks are regrettably now obscurities but some of them have been forgotten for a reason; at this moment I'm considering Dancers to be one of the latter. For this is an overly-talky, plodding affair in which nothing seems to happen except for people sitting around and talking and talking and talking.
I blame screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz. These days he gets credit for writing "Citizen Kane" and admittedly his dialog is good – but at least in Kane he had Orson Welles, a director who understood what separates films from plays. Mankiewicz had a long screen writing career behind him but more than that he was a playwright, and his scripts generally fall under the same rubric; like plays they are composed of precious little "movie content" and instead feature endless scenes of dialog. What with the talent and the surreal set, a director could've done wonders for this movie, turned it into a fast-moving piece of Pre-Code luridness. But David Burton directs the film in as stage-bound a manner as Mankiewicz's script. For example, that aforementioned robbery scene. We don't even see it; Louie and his croney discuss the robbery, we see them sneak up to the place, then a ham-fisted screen-pan and we see them coming out after performing the deed. We only discover what happened via their dialog, of course.
Most notable about the film is its main set. Really the film only takes place on the one set and it's a doozy: this massive dance floor with a bandstage in the center, with surreal architecture swooping and spanning above and about the entirety. Oblong shadows are cast all over the expanse, lending the film a German Expressionistic/Dr. Caligari feel. Paramount went to some lengths to create this set; it's unfortunate the story doesn't live up to it. I can only imagine what a Josef von Sternberg or a Lubitsch or even a Leisen would've done with such promising décor. That being said, I only wish I could see the set better; I'm certain it would look all the more incredible on a better print than my sourced-from-16mm bootleg copy.
Acting-wise everyone performs admirably; Raft has the sneering gangster bit down pat and Jack Oakie's at his gum-chewing, line-dropping best. Miriam Hopkins carries the brunt of it, ranging from drama to comedy. She handles it well but I feel she emotes a bit too much in certain scenes. Lots of overly-dramatic stuff which, again, probably would've gone over well on a theater stage but comes off as hammy in a film. She sings a few numbers, particularly "St. Louis Blues," but she's obviously lip-synching. I have no idea who really sang the number, but whoever it was had one belter of a voice.
Gloria seems to have a drama-ridden past but innocent Floyd has fallen for her anyway. And she likes him just as much. They plan to get married but Floyd's childhood friend Duke doesn't like it. He arranges it so that Floyd has to leave town for a month-long gig with a band in Pittsburgh. Obedient Floyd leaves, planning to marry Gloria when he returns. Duke figures that soon enough Gloria will be back to her old tricks. But then Louie shows up, one of those old flames of Gloria's, a two-bit crook who immediately moves in on his old territory. Only Gloria stops his advances; she's in love with Floyd. Soon even Duke's putting the moves on her; his original idea was to get Gloria to forget about Floyd, but instead he finds himself falling for the tough-talking blonde.
Intersperse the above melodrama with the occasional song and dance number and a pointless robbery scene and you have Dancers in the Dark. A lot of these Pre-Code flicks are regrettably now obscurities but some of them have been forgotten for a reason; at this moment I'm considering Dancers to be one of the latter. For this is an overly-talky, plodding affair in which nothing seems to happen except for people sitting around and talking and talking and talking.
I blame screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz. These days he gets credit for writing "Citizen Kane" and admittedly his dialog is good – but at least in Kane he had Orson Welles, a director who understood what separates films from plays. Mankiewicz had a long screen writing career behind him but more than that he was a playwright, and his scripts generally fall under the same rubric; like plays they are composed of precious little "movie content" and instead feature endless scenes of dialog. What with the talent and the surreal set, a director could've done wonders for this movie, turned it into a fast-moving piece of Pre-Code luridness. But David Burton directs the film in as stage-bound a manner as Mankiewicz's script. For example, that aforementioned robbery scene. We don't even see it; Louie and his croney discuss the robbery, we see them sneak up to the place, then a ham-fisted screen-pan and we see them coming out after performing the deed. We only discover what happened via their dialog, of course.
Most notable about the film is its main set. Really the film only takes place on the one set and it's a doozy: this massive dance floor with a bandstage in the center, with surreal architecture swooping and spanning above and about the entirety. Oblong shadows are cast all over the expanse, lending the film a German Expressionistic/Dr. Caligari feel. Paramount went to some lengths to create this set; it's unfortunate the story doesn't live up to it. I can only imagine what a Josef von Sternberg or a Lubitsch or even a Leisen would've done with such promising décor. That being said, I only wish I could see the set better; I'm certain it would look all the more incredible on a better print than my sourced-from-16mm bootleg copy.
Acting-wise everyone performs admirably; Raft has the sneering gangster bit down pat and Jack Oakie's at his gum-chewing, line-dropping best. Miriam Hopkins carries the brunt of it, ranging from drama to comedy. She handles it well but I feel she emotes a bit too much in certain scenes. Lots of overly-dramatic stuff which, again, probably would've gone over well on a theater stage but comes off as hammy in a film. She sings a few numbers, particularly "St. Louis Blues," but she's obviously lip-synching. I have no idea who really sang the number, but whoever it was had one belter of a voice.
Just okay...
planktonrules4 January 2016
"Dance in the Dark" is an okay film and nothing more. It is set in a dance hall and soon after the movie begins, one of the band members, Floyd, asks one of the girls, Gloria (Miriam Hopkins) to marry him. She is apprehensive at first, as she's apparently got a past but she agrees. The band leader, Duke (Jack Oakie), however, is jealous as he wants Gloria for himself. So, Duke arranges for the owner of the dance hall to fire Floyd! Soon, Floyd is out performing with another band and the plan is for him to return in a few months and marry Gloria. But in the meantime, Duke plans on laying on the charm in an effort to win her himself. The wild card in all this is Louie (George Raft)...a scary sociopath who is capable of anything.
The film is just okay. The biggest problem is that everyone in the picture and audience knows Duke is smitten with Gloria yet Gloria, inexplicably, has no idea that this is the case. Additionally, the film is occasionally a bit shrill and difficult to believe...particularly the ending. Nothing worth rushing to see, that's for sure.
The film is just okay. The biggest problem is that everyone in the picture and audience knows Duke is smitten with Gloria yet Gloria, inexplicably, has no idea that this is the case. Additionally, the film is occasionally a bit shrill and difficult to believe...particularly the ending. Nothing worth rushing to see, that's for sure.
Music and gangsters mix well in sexy Paramount "pre-code"
melvelvit-110 October 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Big city dime-a-dance girl Miriam Hopkins has a chance to leave the grind behind and marry musician Wm. Collier Jr, much to the displeasure of his friend, band leader Jack Oakie. Oakie schemes to break them up but finds himself falling for Miriam along the way. Meanwhile, a gangster (sleek "black snake" George Raft) from her past comes back into her life to complicate things and all three men battle for her affections.
Hopkins' dramatic and sexy rendition of "St. Louis Blues/St. Louis Woman" is a real show-stopper, set in a gigantic expressionistic dance-hall right out of DR. CALIGARI. Miriam's aura of vulnerability and the dangerous appeal of George Raft give their scenes together a sexually charged S & M atmosphere. Jack Oakie's likability quotient is sorely tested when he nearly rapes Hopkins half-way through the film. Lyda Roberti is a stand-out as an immigrant tramp out to gold-dig Eugene Palette and belts out a red-hot ha-cha number accompanied by Oakie. Racy sex, sexy songs and violent demise make this pre-Code corker "the stuff dreams are made of..."
In the early 30's, Warner Bros. specialized in urban social-consciousness films while Paramount concentrated on S-E-X. Compare this film to TWO SECONDS, Warner's stark melodrama of dance-hall denizens and the men who love them starring Edward G. Robinson and Vivien Osborne made the same year.
Highly recommended!
Hopkins' dramatic and sexy rendition of "St. Louis Blues/St. Louis Woman" is a real show-stopper, set in a gigantic expressionistic dance-hall right out of DR. CALIGARI. Miriam's aura of vulnerability and the dangerous appeal of George Raft give their scenes together a sexually charged S & M atmosphere. Jack Oakie's likability quotient is sorely tested when he nearly rapes Hopkins half-way through the film. Lyda Roberti is a stand-out as an immigrant tramp out to gold-dig Eugene Palette and belts out a red-hot ha-cha number accompanied by Oakie. Racy sex, sexy songs and violent demise make this pre-Code corker "the stuff dreams are made of..."
In the early 30's, Warner Bros. specialized in urban social-consciousness films while Paramount concentrated on S-E-X. Compare this film to TWO SECONDS, Warner's stark melodrama of dance-hall denizens and the men who love them starring Edward G. Robinson and Vivien Osborne made the same year.
Highly recommended!
She's got the dime a dance blues.
mark.waltz4 January 2016
Warning: Spoilers
Jazz may fill her head as she works collecting dimes for each two step she does, but for veteran taxi dancer Miriam Hopkins, nothing but heartbreak lies ahead for her. Torn between three men, she ends up engaged to the nice one of the three, but her past won't leave her alone. Volatile George Raft keeps requesting get signature song, "St. Louis Blues", while jovial Jack Oakie makes a play for her while obviously drunk, and this brings conclusions that aren't really true. This causes the film to be often confusing and ill-structured. Hopkins tries her best but the character is oddly defined. Complex characterizations by Oakie, Raft and William Collier Jr. are a bit more thought out making for an intriguing pre-code drama that somehow fails to mash up.
In smaller roles are portly Eugene Palette as a regular customer and feisty Lyda Roberti as the dancer he happens to fancy. The opening sequence of various dancers is terrifically amusing, particularly the very tall, obese woman and the minute customer with his head in her breast "enjoying the view". So it's the smaller moments rather than the main story you might recall more. That's what I will be checking out if I ever watch this again.
In smaller roles are portly Eugene Palette as a regular customer and feisty Lyda Roberti as the dancer he happens to fancy. The opening sequence of various dancers is terrifically amusing, particularly the very tall, obese woman and the minute customer with his head in her breast "enjoying the view". So it's the smaller moments rather than the main story you might recall more. That's what I will be checking out if I ever watch this again.
Fascinating noir with Raft, Hopkins and Okey.
JohnHowardReid19 December 2013
Warning: Spoilers
): A fascinating film with a dance hall background, which cleverly merges a number of plots and showcases George Raft in a typical gangster role. Forget about the billing. It's Jack Oakie, Raft, Eugene Palette and Miriam Hopkins who dominate the movie – and in that order! And Miriam is up there mostly because she is the "singer" of "St. Louis Blues"! And the less vicious Oakie character only manages to edge out Raft simply because he meddles in just about all the movie's plot strands except the Palette-Roberti episodes, and thus his part in the action is much larger. It's my guess that at the end of the day, the direction by David Burton was probably no more than merely efficient. But even if it was highly competent, most of the credit can still be sheeted home to ace photographer Karl Struss. It's Struss who gives the movie its wonderfully exciting, shadowy film noir look. You'll notice that just about all the action takes place at night. I have an interview with Struss somewhere. When I find it, I'll post it here on IMDb.
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