''Dance Hall'' is a 1929 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as brea ...

directed by Melville Brown and written by Jane Murfin and J. Walter Ruben, based on the short story of the same name by

Vina Delmar Vina may refer to: People * Émilie Vina (born 1982), French cross-country skier * Ionuț Vînă (born 1995), Romanian footballer * Vina Bovy (1900–1983), Belgian operatic soprano * Vina Mazumdar (1927–2013), Indian academic and feminist ...

. The film centers a love triangle with a shipping clerk competing with a dashing aviator for the affections of a young

taxi dancer A taxi dancer is a paid dance partner in a partner dance. Taxi dancers are hired to dance with their customers on a dance-by-dance basis. When taxi dancing first appeared in taxi-dance halls during the early 20th century in the United States, mal ...

. It was Radio Pictures' second to last release of the decade, and was a critical and financial flop.

Plot

Shipping clerk Tommy Flynn ( Arthur Lake) engages Gracie Nolan (

Olive Borden Olive Mary Borden (July 14, 1906 – October 1, 1947) was an American film and stage actress who began her career during the silent film era. She was nicknamed "the Joy Girl", after playing the lead in the 1927 film of that same title. Borden ...

), a young

, and the two gain some success in dance halls, winning several dance contests. As they do, he becomes infatuated with her, but she only has eyes for Ted Smith (Ralph Emerson) a pilot who wants her as a trophy of his own. Flynn is unsuccessful in his attempts to woo the young Gracie, until the pilot crashes during his attempt at a transcontinental flight. Flynn hides the fact from Gracie that the pilot is still alive, as he attempts to get her to fall in love with him. When she discovers his subterfuge, she is enraged and rushes off to be with the pilot. However, when she finds Smith, she uncovers that he has been living with another woman. Devastated, she returns to Tommy, who takes her back. Reunited, the two lovers become a successful dancing team.

Cast

* Arthur Lake as Tommy Flynn *

as Gracie Nolan *

Joseph Cawthorn Joseph Bridger Cawthorn (March 29, 1868 – January 21, 1949) was an American stage and film comic actor. Biography Born on March 29, 1868, in New York City to a minstrel-show family, Cawthorn started out in show business as a child, debu ...

as Bremmer * Margaret Seddon as Mrs. Flynn * Ralph Emerson as Ted Smith *

Lee Moran Lee Moran (June 23, 1888 – April 24, 1961) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. Moran was active in vaudeville before he began performing in films at Nestor Studios in 1909. He transcended the silent film era of motio ...

as Ernie * Helen Kaiser as Bee * Tom O'Brien as Truck driver * George Irving as Doctor Loring

Production

In February 1929, it was announced that

Viña Delmar Viña Delmar (born Alvina Louise Croter; January 29, 1903 – January 19, 1990) was an American short story writer, novelist, playwright, and screenwriter who worked from the 1920s to the 1970s. She rose to fame in the late 1920s with the publ ...

had been signed by RKO to write the story of ''Dance Hall''. By the end of June, RKO had scheduled filming to begin on approximately August 1, 1929. In September, ''The Film Daily'' reported that Melville Brown had been signed to a long-term contract by RKO, and that ''Dance Hall'' would be his first project with his new studio, and in early October, it was learned that J. Walter Ruben would be contributing to the script's dialogue."Director signs long contract."
''The Film Daily'','September 30, 1929, p. 9. Retrieved: January 15, 2016. Also in October, RKO announced that Arthur Lake and Olive Borden were attached to the project, and also that Margaret Seddon, Ralph Emerson and Tom O'Brien would be joining the cast. The production featured the introduction of two new dances: the "Dumb Drag" and the "Blue Bottom". While originally scheduled for August, filming on ''Dance Hall'' did not begin until mid-October 1929. After production began, a fire at

Consolidated Film Industries Consolidated Film Industries was a film laboratory and film processing company and was one of the leading film laboratories in the Los Angeles area for many decades. CFI processed negatives and made prints for motion pictures and television. The ...

, the laboratory developing the negatives, destroyed two days worth of filming. By November 20, filming on ''Dance Hall'' had concluded and the picture was being edited. ''Dance Hall'' opened on December 15, 1929 at the Globe Theater in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

,"The Broadway parade.'
''The Film Daily'', December 16, 1929, p. 2. Retrieved: January 15, 2016. although the '' American Film Institute'' has it opening a day earlier.

Reception

In his film review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', Mordaunt Hall characterized ''Dance Hall'' as mildly entertaining, "... while it may be a slice of life, or whatever one cares to characterize it, the result is far from being an edifying entertainment. Possibly some of those who compete in marathon dances may find that this production appeals to them, but others, young or old, will, in all probability, wish for something just a trifle more stimulating to the mind than this tale of a dance cup winner and his love for his partner." Hall, Mordaunt
"The screen; A tragedy of the desert."
''The New York Times'', December 16, 1929. Film historians Richard Jewell and Vernon Harbin in ''The RKO Story'' (1982) considered ''Dance Hall'', a "sour note ..." yet "... mildly diverting." They further described that the film "collapsed in the critical areas of acting (Arthur Lake was the weakest of the weak), (and) dialogue ..."

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Jewell, Richard B. and Vernon Harbin. ''The RKO Story''. New York: Arlington House, 1982. . * Pendo, Stephen. ''Aviation in the Cinema''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. . * Wynne, H. Hugh. ''The Motion Picture Stunt Pilots and Hollywood's Classic Aviation Movies''. Missoula, Montana: Pictorial Histories Publishing Co., 1987. .

External links

* * * * {{Melville Brown 1929 films 1929 musical films American aviation films American musical films American black-and-white films Films based on short fiction RKO Pictures films Films with screenplays by Jane Murfin Films directed by Melville W. Brown Films based on works by Viña Delmar 1920s American films