User:Coin945/The Dance of Life

The Dance of Life is a 1929 black and white Amercian musical film melodrama about show business. It is directed by John Cromwell and A. Edward Sutherland.

The screenplay was based on the Broadway production "Burlesque" by George Manker Watters which opened on September 1, 1927 and ran for 372 performances.

All Technicolor prints are lost, only the black and white copies made in the 1950s for TV have survived.

The two directors of the film both make a direct cameo. A. Edward Sutherland cameos as a theater attendant, while [John Cromwell] cameos as a doorman.

The film was released in both Austria and Germany in 1931, as opposed than its 1929 USA premiere. the US wide release took place on 7 September 1929.

The film's US working title was Burlesque.

The film is also known as in Artisten in Austria/Germany, La danza de la vida in Venezuela and La danza della vita in Italy

The film was later remade as Swing High, Swing Low (1937) and as When My Baby Smiles at Me (1948)

Synopsis
A vaudeville comic and a pretty young dancer aren't having much luck in their separate careers, so they decide to combine their acts. In order to save money on the road, they get married. Soon their act begins to catch on, and they find themselves booked onto Broadway. They also realize that they actually are in love with each other, but just when things are starting to look up, the comic starts to let success go to his head.

Cast

 * Hal Skelly - Ralph 'Skid' Johnson
 * Nancy Carroll - Bonny Lee King
 * Dorothy Revier - Sylvia Marco
 * Ralph Theodore - Harvey Howell
 * Charles D. Brown - Lefty
 * Al St. John - Bozo
 * May Boley - Gussie
 * Oscar Levant - Jerry
 * Gladys DuBois - Miss Sherman
 * James Quinn - Jimmy
 * Jim Farley - Champ Melvin
 * George Irving - Minister
 * Gordona Bennet - Amazon Chorus Girl
 * Miss La Reno - Amazon Chorus Girl
 * Cora Beach Shumway - Amazon Chorus Girl
 * Charlotte Ogden - Amazon Chorus Girl
 * Kay Deslys - Amazon Chorus Girl
 * Magda Blom - Amazon Chorus Girl
 * Thelma McNeil - Gilded Girl (as Thelma McNeal)
 * John Cromwell - Doorkeeper
 * A. Edward Sutherland - Theater Attendant

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 Accordian Man"
 * Written by Walter Donaldson

Critical Response
Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide said :
 * The Dance of Life was the fourth movie to be directed by John Cromwell, a theater director brought out to Hollywood with the advent of sound. He co-directed it with A. Edward Sutherland, whose forte was comedy, and the results were exceptionally good, if not spectacular. Cromwell moves the film along at an unexpectedly brisk pace for an early talkie, and the dialogue is extremely naturalistic, displaying none of the arch quality that afflicts many an early talkie drama. The dialogue and dramatic sequences hold up better than the dialogue scenes in MGM's Broadway Melody of 1929, and the portrayals are more realistic than a lot of the work in rival productions of the period. Additionally, there are some scenes involving highly mobile camera work that are totally unexpected in a movie of this vintage, coming out of a period in which the camera was often anchored to a single position. The Technicolor sequences seem to be lost to modern viewers, but worse than that, it's a pity that this movie has all-but-disappeared from distribution.

The film received a "VideoHound Rating" of 3 bones at MOVIERETRIEVER.COM