''Dance Hall'' is a 1929 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), 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 serv ...

directed by Melville Brown and written by

Jane Murfin Jane Murfin, née Macklem (October 27, 1884 – August 10, 1955) was an American playwright and screenwriter. The author of several successful plays, she wrote some of them with actress Jane Cowl—most notably ''Smilin' Through (play), Smilin' ...

and J. Walter Ruben, based on the short story of the same name by Vina Delmar. 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 ballroom dance. Taxi dancers work (sometimes for money but not always) on a dance-by-dance basis. When taxi dancing first appeared in taxi-dance halls during the early 20th century in the United State ...

. It was

Radio Pictures RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, is an American film production and distribution company, historically one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith- ...

' 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, 1907 – 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 Margaret Seddon (November 18, 1872 – April 17, 1968) was an American stage and film actress. Biography She appeared in more than 100 films between 1915 and 1951. Her most memorable role was perhaps as one of The Pixilated Sisters, a come ...

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 publi ...

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 (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

,"The Broadway parade.'
''The Film Daily'', December 16, 1929, p. 2. Retrieved: January 15, 2016. although the ''

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...

'' has it opening a day earlier.

Reception

In his film review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'',

Mordaunt Hall Mordaunt Hall (1 November 1878 – 2 July 1973) was the first regularly assigned motion picture critic for ''The New York Times'', working from October 1924 to September 1934. 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 W. 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