DANCE, GIRL, DANCE (1940)

Country: U.S.A.

Genre(s): Drama

Director: Dorothy Arzner

Cast: Maureen O’Hara / Lucille Ball / Louis Hayward

Plot

Classically trained dancer Judy and raunchy burlesque star Bubbles becomes rivals for stardom and the affections of a millionaire playboy.

What I Liked

 “Dance, Girl, Dance” puts a shameless spotlight on a good, old-fashioned showbiz rivalry, complete with gratuitous song and dance numbers, bared knees, and backstage catfights.  Stock genre characters crowd nearly every scene of this silly melodrama, characters who will be as beloved as they are familiar to fans of such movies.  At the center of the story is Maureen O’Hara as wide-eyed and chaste Judy O’Brien, whose dreams of becoming a respected ballet dancer are literally run over in the street along with her dance instructor.   Yet the center of the audience’s attention is stolen and locked up for good by Lucille Ball as bawdy and brazen Bubbles, Judy’s co-star and sometime nemesis.  Anyone who has ever seen even one scene from Lucy’s fifties television sitcom knows that the woman was a natural-born, almost peerless entertainer (How many other shows of that era can you name still run regularly on TV?).  Her irresistible star power provides one or two dazzling moments for this otherwise trashy spectacle.

What I Disliked

As engaging as she may be, even Lucy’s talent can’t hide the fact that there isn’t much to “Dance, Girl, Dance.”  She brings life to a story that had already been beaten to death in movies even in 1940, but even her character ultimately lacks depth underneath the skimpy outfits and risque moves.  She’s loud, vulgar, and charismatic, but, much like this movie, Bubbles lacks any underlying complexity to satisfy the more discerning viewer.  When it comes to burlesque stars of early cinema, give me Lola from the “Blue Angel” over Bubbles any day.

The filmmakers hit all the right marks, as if following a manual on how to make a good-girl-makes-good showbiz drama.  Tragic missed opportunities; hand-holding, eye-gazing romance; sassy one-liners and moralizing soliloquies; they’re all here.  Yet, for the most part, the film does not pack the punch it might have in 1940.  As is the case with so many films that rely on salaciousness as a selling point, this movie does not age well and now induces more yawns than it does shock or awe.  "Not Suitable for General Exhibition," read the movie posters.  Indeed.

Most  Memorable Scene

Maureen O’Hara and Lucille Ball are such icons of classic Hollywood, revered as exemplars of bygone class and glamour that it is surreal to see the two ladies literally tear into each other as their rivalry reaches its inevitable conclusion.  Their fight is viscous, chaotic, believable, and yet bizarre to behold.  And, for those who want to know, (*spoiler alert*) Maureen kicks the living shit out of Lucy.

My Rating: 2.5 out of 5