La danza di Venere

1933 was a watershed year for the movie musical. It was the year Busby Berkeley helped make it exciting again with his numbers for 42nd Street and Gold Diggers of 1933. Ginger Rogers was a factor in that excitement when she performed the "We're in the Money" number in the latter. And if that had been it for her career, she'd at least be an important footnote in the movie musical's history. But bigger things were coming her way later in the year. And it wouldn't be at Warner Bros. where she was at the time but at RKO. Her future legendary partner was already there but had yet to make his film debut. But since the studio had no assignments for him yet, he was allowed to go to M-G-M for a specialty spot there as himself. And so it was at Leo the Lion's place that Fred Astaire-previously a Broadway sensation with sis Adele-got his first stint in front of the cameras. His partner there was Joan Crawford, who had displayed much of her dancing ability in many of her previous films so she wasn't a bad first film dancer for Fred to start with. So on that note, this movie is worth a good look for that reason alone. But there's still some good acting by leading man Clark Gable, second lead Franchot Tone (whom Ms. Crawford would briefly marry) and Ted Healy as Gable's assistant who was still the leader of his stooges: Moe, Curly, and Larry, all represented at their slapstick best here. Other notable supporting turns came from Robert Benchley who keeps looking for a pencil, Winnie Lightner as Crawford's friend, May Robson as Tone's grandmother, and Eve Arden-years before playing her Oscar-nominated role opposite Oscar-winner Crawford in Mildred Pierce-in a small part as a rejected potential chorus girl. Oh, and this was one of Nelson Eddy's earliest singing spots. In summary, Dancing Lady is enjoyable enough to watch as entertainment with a historical first as an extra treat.

Perhaps the most eclectic cast in movie history. Here we have Clark Gable and Joan Crawford, Franchot Tone in his man-about-town mode, Fred Astaire playing himself in his movie debut, Nelson Eddy in his second film, Robert Benchley contrasting with Ted Healy and the Three Stooges, (in by far their most prominent role before the TV era) and even a young Eve Arden. Gable spends the film snarling at everybody and demanding that they produce a "modern, up-to-date musical" that's about what's happening now. Somehow this morphs into a finale in which Astaire and Crawford are prancing about in liederhosen, (which has a relevance to 1933 they perhaps didn't anticipate). What it all proves it that MGM, while it had the know-how to make the greatest musicals of all-time in the 1940's and 1950's, just didn't quite "get it" yet in 1933. RKO and Warners were still miles ahead of them.

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!

While the love triangle between Clark Gable and Franchot Tone for Joan Crawford is very routine, this film offers several pleasures. It is the first film of Fred Astaire, playing himself (or at least, a dancer called Fred Astaire). He dances with Joan Crawford and is as light as a feather and as smooth as silk, compared to Crawford's clunky style of dancing. He also sings in his inimitable style. It's also Eve Arden's first film, playing a would-be actress faking a southern accent in a very short scene. And, to top it off, it is the first film where the three stooges were actually billed as "stooges," and they come complete with their finger-poking and face-slapping antics. If these are not enough, it's also the second film of Nelson Eddy, who sings a Rogers and Hart tune, so there is lots of movie history connected with this film. Despite the talented song composers contributing to this musical, the only song that stuck with me was the lovely "Everything I Have is Yours" by Burton Lane and Harold Adamson. This is not a great film, but is certainly one to see.

For those interested in credits, about 82:30 minutes into the film, Franchot Tone opens his program guide to see what's next in the show he's watching, and the complete list of all the chorus girls used in the film is shown and is readable. It includes Lynn Bari (spelled Barri) in her first role, but I could not spot her. If you do, please let me know which scene she's in.

"Dancing Lady" (MGM, 1933), directed by Robert Z. Leonard, with David O. Selznick credited as executive producer, became MGM's introduction into the new cycle of backstage musicals that began with "42nd Street," "Gold Diggers of 1933" and "Footlight Parade," all for Warner Brothers. But what makes this particular backstage story stand apart from the others is the casting of its leading players in offbeat roles. First there is Joan Crawford as Janie Barlowe, a burlesque dancer who not only struggles to succeed, but strives for success. In spite of her wanting to become a dancer, she gets very little screen time in doing so. And when she does dance, it appears more strange than different from the usual dancing style of others. Second, there is Clark Gable as Patch Gallagher, the director of stage musicals with a rough exterior and a kind heart, but tries not to show it. With this being the fourth Crawford and Gable pairing, the two work quite well together, and it shows on screen. But any movie that has The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Jerry "Curly" Howard); Fred Astaire and Nelson Eddy as themselves performing in the stage numbers; Winnie Lightner, formerly of Warner Brothers, appearing in her sole venture at MGM , as Rosette Henrietta LaRue, occupation "hip swinging," along with some bizarre production numbers, one presenting Joan Crawford in long blonde pig tails and Fred Astaire in mustache, both unrecognizable dancing in Bavarian clothes, is worth seeing at all costs.

The plot is simple: Set in New York City, 1933, a burlesque theater where Janie Barlowe (Joan Crawford) is performing, is raided by the police, sending all the employees who are unable to pay the fine, to serve thirty days in jail. One of the patrons, Tod Newton (Franchot Tone), a millionaire playboy with limited morals and overabundance of girlfriends, comes to court and takes an interest in Janie. He decides to not only bail her out of jail, but offers her marriage. But Janie, determined to succeed as a dancer, chances her odds by taking Tod's second offer, by accepting a job in the chorus in one of Patch Gallagher's (Clark Gable) musical shows, which Tod is backing. At first things are a little rough for Janie when she tries to get through an audition, having Gallagher's assistant, Steve (Ted Healy) and Stooges (Moe, Larry and Jerry, a/k/a Curly) giving her the "brush off" before Steve comes to realize that Janie really does have plenty of talent and convinces Patch to hire her. The rest becomes cliché from there, with little conviction, but above all else, "Dancing Lady" in its 92 minutes, became a box office success and helped to boost Crawford's then sagging career. But unlike the Warner Brothers entries, "Dancing Lady" had very little exposure on local television revivals over the past few decades, but with the help of MGM/UA Video and cable's Turner Classic Movies, where it is shown frequently, it can be rediscovered by a new generation of movie lovers or curiosity seekers.

Songs featured include: "Hey, Young Fella" (sung by chorus); "Hold Your Man" (sung by Winnie Lightner), by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown; "Everything I Have Is Yours" (sung by Art Jarrett) by Harold Adamson and Burton Lane; "My Dancing Lady" (sung by Jarrett during rehearsals) by Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh; "Tango Dance," "Heigh Ho, the Gang's All Here" (sung by chorus/ with Joan Crawford and Fred Astaire); "Let's Go Bavarian" (chorus/ Crawford and Astaire) both by Adamson and Lane; "That's the Rhythm of the Day" (sung by Nelson Eddy) by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart; and "My Dancing Lady" (sung by chorus).

The production numbers, directed by Sammy Lee and Eddie Prinz, try not to duplicate the choreography of Busby Berkeley over at Warners. Aside from only one overhead camera shot, the camera virtually remains focused from the audience point-of-view. The finale, however, with chorus girls riding on a carousel that forms some unusual mirror effects, is quite clever, but otherwise, the staged show comes off with four brief musical segments with an orchestral score coming in loud and clear and sounding like ragtime from the 1920s. A stage number that was deleted from the final print of "Dancing Lady" can be seen in one of MGM's musical short subjects, that sometimes plays on TCM's ONE REEL WONDERS.

In the supporting cast are May Robson as Dolly Todhunter, Tod's hard-of-hearing grandmother; Robert Benchley as Ward King, a critic; Gloria Foy as Vivian Warner; with Sterling Holloway, Maynard Holmes and Grant Mitchell. Along with lavish sets, "Dancing Lady" presents some risqué dialog and scenes (such as Crawford getting a pat on her "fanny" by Gable, with her response being, "Thank you!"), that tries to outdo the daring-dos at Warners, and almost succeeds. There is even a kissing scene between Crawford and Tone in the swimming pool from under water. Aside from this being the movie debuts of future stars, Fred Astaire and Nelson Eddy, there is Art Jarrett, another newcomer who sings like future tenor, Dennis Day, but never made it to immortality. In conclusion, one has to have a quick eye to find future movie and TV comedienne Eve Arden as Marcia, the phony Southern actress, appearing in a brief bit. (***)