{"id":5527,"date":"2008-05-08T13:42:03","date_gmt":"2008-05-08T20:42:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5527"},"modified":"2021-11-16T21:20:49","modified_gmt":"2021-11-17T04:20:49","slug":"dance-fools-dance-1931","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5527","title":{"rendered":"Dance, Fools, Dance (1931)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Society: what is it but a lot of people who are for you when you&#8217;re on the up and up &#8212; and what would one of &#8217;em do for you if it came to a showdown?&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/Dance-Girl-Dance-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/Dance-Girl-Dance-Poster-210x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"210\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-64022\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/Dance-Girl-Dance-Poster-210x300.jpg 210w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/Dance-Girl-Dance-Poster-89x128.jpg 89w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/Dance-Girl-Dance-Poster-189x270.jpg 189w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/Dance-Girl-Dance-Poster.jpg 308w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 210px) 100vw, 210px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nAfter the untimely death of their businessman father (William Holden), two formerly wealthy siblings &#8212; Bonnie (Joan Crawford) and Bob (William Bakewell) &#8212; go to work: Bonnie as a cub reporter, and Bob as a bootleg salesman for a local gangster (Clark Gable). Things get sticky, however, when Bonnie&#8217;s co-worker (Cliff Edwards) is killed while investigating some gangland murders, and Bonnie discovers that her brother played a part.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bootlegging<\/li>\n<li>Clark Gable Films<\/li>\n<li>Depression Era<\/li>\n<li>Gangsters<\/li>\n<li>Joan Crawford Films<\/li>\n<li>Journalists<\/li>\n<li>Siblings<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nAs Peary notes, this enjoyable &#8220;early Joan Crawford talkie&#8221; is particularly notable for merging &#8220;her then-popular hedonistic flapper\/dancing girl&#8221; &#8212; see, for instance, <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5418\"><em>Our Dancing Daughters<\/em> (1928)<\/a> &#8212; &#8220;with the noble working girl she&#8217;d play in the following years.&#8221; Crawford is indeed &#8220;impressive&#8221; here, coming across as both &#8220;likable and extremely glamorous&#8221; &#8212; her character is sexy, savvy, and (unlike her spoiled alcoholic brother) easily able to dismiss her former life of comfort once she realizes how shallow her society &#8220;friends&#8221; really are; as Peary notes, both she and Gable (whose role is minimal) clearly exhibit the &#8220;star quality&#8221; that would rocket them to future success. While the storyline itself features a few too many coincidences to be entirely believable, it&#8217;s nonetheless an enjoyable snapshot of the Depression era, when countless Americans found themselves scrounging for work, and bootlegging dominated the criminal underworld. Watch for risque Pre-Code moments sprinkled throughout the film: in addition to the infamous early &#8220;underwear swim&#8221; (see photo still below), Crawford offers herself sexually to her boyfriend (Lester Vail) by stating unequivocally that she believes in trying out love &#8220;on probation&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Joan Crawford as Bonnie Jordan (Peary nominates her for an <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?page_id=2606\">Alternate Oscar<\/a> as best actress of the year)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/dance-fools-crawford.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/dance-fools-crawford.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5535\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Clark Gable as Jake Luva<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/dance-fools-gable.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/dance-fools-gable.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5539\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Crawford and Gable&#8217;s genuine chemistry together<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/dance-fools-chemistry.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/dance-fools-chemistry.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5536\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Several deliciously naughty pre-code moments &#8212; including the infamous &#8220;underwear swim&#8221; off the yacht<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/dance-fools-swim.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/05\/dance-fools-swim.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5538\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as one of Joan&#8217;s best early flicks. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Noteworthy Performance(s)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0021778\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tvguide.com\/movies\/dance-fools-dance\/review\/112038\">TV Guide Review (beware &#8212; many spoilers)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Society: what is it but a lot of people who are for you when you&#8217;re on the up and up &#8212; and what would one of &#8217;em do for you if it came to a showdown?&#8221; Synopsis: After the untimely death of their businessman father (William Holden), two formerly wealthy siblings &#8212; Bonnie (Joan Crawford) and Bob (William Bakewell) &#8212; go to work: Bonnie as a cub reporter, and Bob as a bootleg salesman for a local gangster (Clark Gable)&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5527\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5527"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78478,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5527\/revisions\/78478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}