The Dance of Life (film)
The Dance of Life | |
---|---|
Directed by | John Cromwell A. Edward Sutherland |
Written by | Benjamin Glazer Julian Johnson (titles) |
Starring | Hal Skelly Nancy Carroll |
Cinematography | J. Roy Hunt |
Edited by | George Nichols Jr. |
Music by | Adolph Deutsch Vernon Duke John Leipold |
Production company | Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date | August 16, 1929 | (New York City) September 7, 1929 (U.S.)
Running time | 115 minutes |
Country | USA |
Language | English |
The Dance of Life (1929) is the first of three film adaptations of the popular Broadway play Burlesque, the others being Swing High, Swing Low (1937) and When My Baby Smiles at Me (1948).
The Dance of Life was shot at Paramount's Astoria Studios in Astoria, Queens, and included Technicolor sequences, directed by John Cromwell and A. Edward Sutherland.
In 1957, the film entered the public domain (in the USA) because the claimants did not renew its copyright registration in the 28th year after publication.[1]
Cast
- Hal Skelly as "Skid" Johnson
- Nancy Carroll as Bonny King
- Dorothy Revier as Sylvia Marco
- Ralph Theodore as Harvey Howell
- Charles D. Brown as Lefty
- Al St. John as Bozo
- May Boley as Gussie
- Oscar Levant as Jerry
- Marjorie Kane (uncredited)
Plot
Burlesque comic Ralph "Skid" Johnson (Skelly), and specialty dancer Bonny Lee King (Carroll), end up together on a cold, rainy night at a train station, after she fails an audition and he complains about her treatment by the impresario of the show and quits. They decide to team up and apply for work with a much better show on "the big wheel".
The two things they have in life are dancing and each other, if she could only keep him away from the booze, long enough to keep dancing.
A tragi-comedic, burlesque version of All That Jazz, from an earlier era.
Soundtrack
- "True Blue Lou"
- Music by Richard A. Whiting
- Lyrics by Sam Coslow and Leo Robin
- Sung by Hal Skelly
- "The Flippity Flop"
- Music by Richard A. Whiting
- Lyrics by Sam Coslow and Leo Robin
- "King of Jazzmania"
- Music by Richard A. Whiting
- Lyrics by Sam Coslow and Leo Robin
- "Ladies of the Dance"
- Music by Richard A. Whiting
- Lyrics by Sam Coslow and Leo Robin
- "Cuddlesome Baby"
- Music by Richard A. Whiting
- Lyrics by Sam Coslow and Leo Robin
- "Mightiest Matador"
- Music by Richard A. Whiting
- Lyrics by Sam Coslow and Leo Robin
- "Sweet Rosie O'Grady"
- Written by Maude Nugent
- "In the Gloaming"
- Music by Annie Fortescue Harrison
- Lyrics by Meta Orred
- "Sam, the Old Accordion Man"
- Written by Walter Donaldson
Preservation status
No color prints survive, only black-and-white prints made in the 1950s for TV broadcast.
See also
References
External links
- The Dance of Life at IMDb
- The Dance of Life at the TCM Movie Database
- The Dance of Life is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
- The Dance of Life on YouTube
- The Dance of Life at AMCTV.com
- The Dance of Life at Yahoo
- The Dance of Life at OVGuide.com
- The Dance of Life at The New York Times