Warner Bros released 42nd Street in March 1933. MGM’s attempt to plough the same furrow came out eight months later. All the basic elements are there: a chorus girl becomes the star of the show; a hard-bitten director orders everyone about; dozens of wisecracking chorus girls perform musical numbers that transcend the physical limits of an actual stage. But Dancing Lady has the MGM sheen that Warners would never even try to emulate, with huge Merrill Pye sets that seem to go on forever.
Janie Barlow (Joan Crawford), tracking her man in a Slavko Vorkapich montage
Dancing Lady is a lesser film than 42nd Street, but that does not make it a bad one. It is thoroughly entertaining, and a demonstration of the way Metro was coming into its own as the studio of sophistication and gloss. Robert Z Leonard’s direction could not be more different from his first musical, 1929’s Marianne. Aided by cinematographer Oliver T Marsh (also from Marianne), he imbues the film with smooth camera work.
The production numbers at the end of Dancing Lady include the kind of reality-defying nonsense familiar from Warner’s 1933 musicals, and Slavo Vorkapich’s special effects in ‘Heigh Ho, the Gang’s All Here’ are as inventive as anything conceived by Busby Berkeley.
Joan Crawford recognized and embraced the autobiographical aspects of a story about an ambitious hoofer who makes it to the top, and was able to contribute to the development of the story after expressing some initial doubts. Her dancing is as energetic as always, not dissimilar to Ruby Keeler’s buck-and-wing style.
Curly Howard, Moe Howard and Larry Fine, under the direction of Steve (Ted Healy), prepare to undermine Janie
Clark Gable was a less willing participant than Crawford, and his ill health at the time shows on the screen. His sometimes difficult behaviour was a major factor in Metro’s decision to ‘punish’ him by loaning him to Columbia to make the film that won him an Academy Award. Gable’s Patch Gallagher is never really convincing as a director of musicals, but is certainly preferable to Franchot Tone’s sleazy and manipulative Tod.
Janie gives Fred Astaire sex appeal while he gives her style
The sudden outbursts of violence by Ted Healy and his three stooges, while entertaining, seem a little out of place, though not as much as Fred Astaire, in his film debut, who looks like he has wandered onto the set by mistake. He would have to wait until A Damsel in Distress (1937) and Joan Fontaine to have a less gifted dance partner.
Tod Newton and a bunch of swells get tickets for a burlesque show [Hold Your Man]. There is a police raid and both performers and audience are hauled off to the night court. Janie Barlow tells the judge she was stripping in a burlesque because it was the only dancing work she could find and she has to eat. She is sentenced to a $30 fine or 30 days in jail. Tod pays her fine and buys her a meal. Janie is grateful, but makes it clear she has no interest in being kept by a rich man.
Janie (Joan Crawford) and friends whip off their skirts at the burlesque
At home, Janie reads a note given to her by Tod. It gives her advice on grammar and clothes, and contains $50, “to buy a dress without a zipper”. Janie tells her roommate Rosetta that she is quitting burlesque. Patch Gallagher is putting on a new show, and Janie is determined to get a part in it.
Next day, Janie goes to the Bradley Theatre, where Patch has, reluctantly, cast Vivien Warner in the lead. Janie cannot get in to see him, but she follows him out of the theatre and then follows him around for days. She runs into Tod, who has been looking for her. He gives her a letter of introduction to Jasper Bradley, Patch’s boss, and promises to ask for nothing in return.
Patch tells his assistant, Steve, to audition Janie and then give her the brush-off. But Steve is impressed by Janie’s dancing and calls Patch. Patch gives her a job and tells her to stop following him.
Janie helps Harry (Larry Fine) with his jigsaw puzzle
Next day, Tod and Bradley discuss Tod’s secret backing of the show. He arranges for Janie to be paid during rehearsals, unlike the other members of the chorus. Tod arranges a party for the whole company [Everything I Have Is Yours]. Tod and Janie kiss, but then she goes home.
Next morning, Patch finds Janie working out in the gym, even though she has the morning off. They spar with each other, and Patch mentions the possibility of giving Janie a speciality number. Tod takes Janie to his home in the country, where she meets his family.
Tod asks Janie to marry him, but she says her career is more important and tells him about the speciality number. She agrees to marry him if the show is not a success.
Patch decides he wants the show rewritten and modernized, and he offers Janie the top spot. [My Dancing Lady].
While rehearsing with Fred Astaire [Heigh-Ho, the Gang’s All Here], Janie’s leg gives way. Massaging her leg, Patch asks Janie about newspaper stories concerning the crowd she is running with. He advises her not to marry into money. Janies assures him she is not planning to quit on him.
Bradley suddenly cancels the show and leaves for France. Tod invites Janie on a cruise to Cuba. Patch shows his unhappiness when Janie tells him she is probably getting married.
Janie and Patch (Clark Gable) bicker in the gym–a necessary preliminary to falling in love
Patch decides to produce the show using his own money. He tells Steve to bring back Vivien, because Janie has “gone Park Avenue”.
Janie has no fun in Cuba and asks Tod to take her home. Back in New York, Patch, who is not getting on with Vivien, learns that Tod had paid Bradley to close the show.
The night before the show opens, Janie finds Patch drunk in a nightclub. He tells her the truth about Tod’s involvement with the show. Janie follows Patch back to his apartment and goads him into putting her back in the show. They rehearse all night and the show opens [Heigh-Ho, the Gang’s All Here; Let ‘s Go Bavarian]. Tod is in the audience. [(That’s The) Rhythm of the Day]. The show is a success.
Tod asks Janie to marry him and continue with her career, but she says their worlds will not mix. Janie tells Patch that Tod is gone for good and they kiss.
