Dance, Fools, Dance
| Dance, Fools, Dance | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Harry Beaumont |
| Written by | Story and dialogue: Aurania Rouverol Continuity: Richard Schayer |
| Starring | Joan Crawford Lester Vail Clark Gable |
| Cinematography | Charles Rosher |
| Edited by | George Hively |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
|
Running time | 80 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $234,000[1] |
| Box office | $1,268,000[1] |
Dance, Fools, Dance (1931) is a pre-Code Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie starring Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, and Lester Vail in a story about a reporter investigating the murder of a colleague. Story and dialogue were created by Aurania Rouverol, and the film was directed by Harry Beaumont. Dance, Fools, Dance was the first of eight movies featuring Crawford and Gable.
Plot summary
![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2014) |
Former socialite Bonnie Jordan (Joan Crawford) is a cub reporter whose brother Rodney (William Bakewell) is involved with a beer-running gang. On one caper, he drives the car that guns down a rival gang. Bonnie's journalist colleague Bert Scranton (Cliff Edwards) is murdered when he finds out too much. Gang chief Jake Luva (Clark Gable) is suspected of plotting Scranton's murder, and Bonnie investigates, barely escaping with her life after learning the details of the gang's operations. The criminals are brought to justice.
Cast
- Joan Crawford as Bonnie Jordan
- Lester Vail as Bob Townsend
- Cliff Edwards as Bert Scranton
- William Bakewell as Rodney Jordan
- William Holden as Stanley Jordan
- Clark Gable as Jake Luva
- Earle Foxe as Wally Baxter (credited as Earl Foxe)
- Purnell B. Pratt as Parker
- Hale Hamilton as Selby
- Natalie Moorhead as Della
- Joan Marsh as Sylvia
- Russell Hopton as Whitey
- Sam McDaniel as Jake Luva's Butler
Reception
Photoplay commented: "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." Andre Sennwald noted in The New York Times, Miss Crawford's acting is still self-conscious, but her admirers will find her performance well up to her standard."[2]
Box office
According to MGM records, the film earned $848,000 in the U.S. and Canada, and $420,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $524,000.[1]
Historical note
Several events in the screenplay are based loosely on real-life crimes that occurred in Chicago prior to the film's production, such as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in 1929 and the murder of reporter Jake Lingle by underworld hoodlums in 1930.
See also
References
- ^ a b c The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
- ^ Quirk, Lawrence J.. The Films of Joan Crawford. The Citadel Press, 1968.