MGM. 82 minutes.
US release: 2/21/31. VHS release:
3/27/91. Encyclopedia Entry • Films Main
Dance, Fools, Dance
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MGM. 82 minutes.
US release: 2/21/31. VHS release:
3/27/91.
Cast: Joan Crawford (as "Bonnie Jordan"), Lester Vail, Cliff Edwards, William Bakewell, William Holden, Clark Gable, Earle Fox, Purnell B. Pratt, Hale Hamilton, Natalie Moorhead, Joan Marsh, Russell Hopton.
Credits: From the story by Aurania Rouverol. Continuity: Richard Schayer. Dialogue: Aurania Rouverol. Director: Harry Beaumont. Camera: Charles Rosher. Editor: George Hively.
Notes:
• The film began production 11/4/30.
• It cost approximately $289,000 to make and returned more than $900,000 in profit. (US)
• This was Joan's first of eight films with Clark Gable.
Photoplay (1931):
Again Joan Crawford proves herself a great dramatic actress. The story... is hokum, but it's good hokum and Joan breathes life into her characterization.
A.D.S. in the New York Times (1931):
Miss Crawford's acting is still self-conscious, but her admirers will find her performance well up to her standard.
Harry Marshall of harrys-stuff.com (2003):
Dance, Fools, Dance was conceived as a Crawford vehicle - and she certainly lives up to it. This film will set her on a new path, the "strong woman," and will lead her to films like "Rain" and "Sadie McKee." In Dance, Fools, Dance we see the on-screen persona of the true star - we can believe in her as the character Bonnie Jordan, but we are also always aware we are watching Joan Crawford. And her dancing is not bad either. Complete review.
If you've seen Dance, Fools, Dance and would like to share your review here, please e-mail me. Feel free to include a star-rating, with 5 stars the best, as well as any of your favorite lines from the film.
| Stephen
(January 2007)
Dance Fools Dance is one of Joan's better early sound films. It starts out with Joan as a rich jazz baby partying on a yacht with other young ne'er-do-wells. It's easy to partake of the fun and the risque lingerie show. After the stock market crash, and Joan's dad's subsequent death by heart attack, Joan has to go to work as a newspaper reporter. Her brother gets a job with the mob. Joan goes undercover as a dancer at a mob dive to get a story. She meets Clark Gable and sparks fly. Joan does arguably her best dancing in this film. She's young, sexy and fun. Clark on the other hand is menacing and a treat to watch. One of his molls, Natalie Moorehead, lights his cigarette and in gratitude Clark blows smoke in her face. But the tables are turned when Clark lights Joan's cigarette and she pays him back in kind by blowing smoke in his face. I won't spoil the ending but Dance Fools Dance is worth 2 hours of your time. Joan's monumental magnetism comes through loud and clear and even overshadows Gable's much-ballyhooed magnetism. Rent it today. Or better yet buy the vid. |
