137. Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)

Running Time: 90 minutes
Directed By: Dorothy Arzner
Written By: Tess Slesinger, Frank Davis, from story by Vicki Baum
Main Cast: Maureen O'Hara, Lucille Ball, Ralph Bellamy, Louis Hayward, Virginia Field

WHERE ELSE CAN YOU SEE 'LUCY' DO A SEXY HULA DANCE?

When popping "Dance, Girl, Dance" into my DVD player, I was expecting a full blown musical, but what I got was not that at all. Sure, there were a few songs showcased in the picture, but a few is all we got and in the end, it's the performances of Lucille Ball and Louis Hayward that make this movie at least mediocre.

Bubbles (Ball) and Judy (O'Hara) are dancers who work for Madame Lydia Basilova and her dance troupe. While in Akron on a dancing job, Judy and Bubbles meet the filthy rich Jimmy Harris (Hayward), who at first shows interest in Judy, but then falls for the more blatantly ravishing Bubbles. After one night of courting, Jimmy drops Bubbles, as he's recently gone through a divorce, and seemingly isn't ready for the dating world yet. Bubbles and the gang return to their home turf of New York City and Bubbles quickly lands a job as a hula girl at one of the local nightclubs. After seeing the disappointment on Judy's face when she doesn't get the hula spot, Madame Basilova calls upon a better known dance agency and gets Judy an interview. However on the way to the interview with Judy, Madame Basilova gets run over by a truck and killed.

A week later, Judy finally attends her interview, but after catching a sneak peek at the quality of dancers the agency houses, she doesn't feel she has what it takes and storms off, only to later have a chance meeting with the owner of the agency, Steve Adams (Bellamy), who is totally taken with her and offers his help to her while it's raining, but gets blown off by Judy. Later on, Bubbles lands a bigger and better deal, working for the Baily Bros. burlesque show, now known as "Tiger" Lily White. She offers Judy the part of the stooge, the girl that comes out when everyone else is expecting Tiger Lily and gets booed and heckled until Tiger Lily shows her face. It's not what Judy had hoped for, but she needs the cash and twenty-five dollars a week is too good to pass up. The show is a success with Tiger Lily getting more and more publicity and more and more men showing up at the theatre every night. Judy, after some hesitation at first, slides into her role as the stooge and makes the most of it. On top of all this, Jimmy Harris is back in the Big Apple and this time his sights are set firmly on Judy and dance agency big wig Steve Adams is still lurking around in the form of the meek and timid Ralph Bellamy and he wants Judy in his fold.

There really wasn't anything wrong with this picture, however it just didn't have the "oomph" that some of the other movies in this book had, whether I liked them or I didn't. This film just seemed really out of place being lumped into a category with classic films, as there really didn't seem to be anything classic about it. Although, like I said, there really wasn't anything terrible about it. Lucille Ball was amazing and for someone who has only seen her in the "I Love Lucy" television show, it was a complete 360 to see her as the top bill on a burlesque show. When I think of Lucy, I think of someone who wasn't allowed to be in the show, not someone who stole it. Her hula dance is mesmerizing as she gyrates her hips and lets her body flow to the Hawaiian music. I also thought Louis Hayward was really good and he really reminded me of a thinner version of Orson Welles, but maybe that was just me. I'm always a fan of Ralph Bellamy, as he just has a way of making me like a movie just a hair more, perhaps it's his timid and seemingly easy going nature, I don't know. Maureen O'Hara was fine too, but again this movie really just fell across that line of mediocrity and there was nothing terrible or fantastic about it.

RATING: 5.5/10 I'll boost it up a bit, because the movie did flow well and didn't drag, so we'll go with a '5.5'

NEXT UP: Pinocchio...More Disney films are on the way and this is the next one. Should be reviewed by the end of the weekend.

July 2, 2010 12:59pm