Product Details

• Actors: Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone, May Robson, Winnie Lightner
• Directors: Robert Z. Leonard
• Writers: Robert Benchley, Allen Rivkin, James Warner Bellah, P.J. Wolfson, Zelda Sears
• Producers: David O. Selznick, John W. Considine Jr.
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
• VHS Release Date: February 23, 1995
• Run Time: 92 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301965663
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #226,037 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Joan Crawford and Clark Gable were both in their young MGM prime when they suited up for Dancing Lady, the studio's big, shiny, silly reply to 42nd Street. Joan is a burlesque dancer (but mind you, serious artiste) when she is plucked from the ranks by a playboy, played by Franchot Tone, Crawford's future real-life hubby. Gable is the bluff, hard-driving theater director guiding a new Broadway musical that has room for one more chorus girl. Maybe. It all builds to the opening of the big show, and some utterly insane musical numbers including a Bavarian spectacle and the mind-bending "Rhythm of the Day." The saving grace in these scenes is that Fred Astaire, in his film debut, partners Joan onstage and sings a bit. The movie also has Nelson Eddy and soused one-liners from Robert Benchley, plus Ted Healy and His Stooges doing some surreal comedy. Vaudevillian Healy actually has a pretty big role here, but the Stooges (three fellows named Moe, Curly, and Larry) would go on to stardom without him. The movie may not be a great one, but it gives the sugary flavor of early-'30s MGM, and even a simple scene like a gym workout (with Gable and Crawford in especially sassy form) provides the pleasures of art deco production design and cool costumes. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A BLAST FROM THE PAST..., December 9, 2001

By 

Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: Dancing Lady [VHS] (VHS Tape)

In this glossy 1933 hit, Joan Crawford is an aspiring dancer who wants a chance to make it big. She meets a rich playboy (Franchot Tone), who, behind the scenes, paves the way for her to get her big break. He arranges for her to get a part in the new Broadway musical directed by Clark Gable, who grudgingly gives her a part, after he realizes that she does, in fact, have talent.

This is an MGM extravaganza in which the studio pulled out all the stops. There is something for everyone. Look for Busby Berkley-esque musical numbers, cameo performances by the three stooges, Fred Astaire's screen debut as Joan's dancing partner, and a Nelson Eddy performance that pre-dates his Jeanette MacDonald days. This is definitely an oldie but a goodie.

Delightful performances are given by the entire cast. Joan Crawford can, in fact, dance and is terrific in her role. Gable is definitely on his way to becoming a screen heart throb. This is also one of Franchot Tone's most ingratiating performances, as he looks like he is really besotted with Ms. Crawford. It comes as no surprise that he later became her second husband, as his performance is positively inspired. The film is vintage Hollywood. Joan Crawford fans will love it, as will anyone who enjoys classic films.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ALL THIS AND HITLER TOO!!, October 10, 2005

By 

Lawrence Rapchak (Whiting, IN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dancing Lady [VHS] (VHS Tape)

So where's the DVD???

MGM's answer to Warner Brothers' "42nd Street", which was released earlier in 1933.

Produced by David Selznick-
Clark Gable at his dashing, tough guy best-
Joan Crawford's fine acting and gawky dancing-
Franchot Tone's suave but unscrupulous Park Avenue beau-
Robert Benchley as a whimsical gossip columnist-
Ted Healey's brash, wise-guy humor AND
his current proteges, The Three Stooges!

PLUS the screen debuts of BOTH Fred Astaire AND Nelson Eddy--inthe SAME FILM!
Songs by Rodgers and Hart and Burton Lane ("Everything I have is Yours")-

AND a wild, zany, over-the-top Musical Finale, including Fred and Joan dancing in the clouds on a flying-carpet which lands
(accompanied by Max-Steiner-ish "King Kong" music) in the middle of an old-world Bavarian beer bash:

"Here in Bavaria
They take good care-a-ya,
In all this area
Skies are clear"

all of this culminating in Rodgers'and Hart's "That's the Rhythm of the Day", with Nelson Eddy singing the praises of the motorized, pulse-pounding world of the "Moderne" age, as quaint figures from past historical eras pass under an archway and are transformed into "hot", jazz-age swingers! Plenty of pre-code girlie shots, including a sequence where a chorus line of old, hobbling grannies are bopped, sawed, hacked, drilled and chopped (all in silhouette behind closed drapes in a futuristic "beauty parlor"), thereby transforming them into young 30's-style babes, while Rodgers' music is honked out in brassy, saxophone-and- banjo-laden brilliance.

The ladies then end up riding a giant mirrored carousel in the sky, with Rodger's tune now transformed into a Tchaikovskian waltz.

And Gable and Crawford kiss for the final fade-out!

I KID YOU NOT!!

And so---will this wacky, wonderful, Depression-era delight ever be preserved on DVD, representing as it does a high-point in sheer lavish Hollywood escapism of the period? Don't hold your breath.

NOTE: During the back-stage scenes, Larry Fine (of the 3 Stooges)plays the company's rehearsal pianist. The script includes a running gag as he works on a jig-saw puzzle on a card table during the slow periods of the rehearsals. When he fits the last piece of the puzzle into the frame, he FINALLY realizes the puzzle's visual subject matter--- "Oi!" he shouts:
"It's Hitler!"

A very timely reference, since Hitler had recently been voted into power in Berlin. I actually saw this scene in a TV print of "Dancing Lady" shown on a local Washington D.C. UHF station in summer of 1975; when I next saw the film--in a revival house in Chicago in 1984, the scene was MISSING. I was even MORE suprised and disappointed upon viewing the commercial VHS release in the late 80's to find that the scene DOES NOT EXIST in the official print. IT will probably never be seen again.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Joan Crawford's Face, July 17, 2006

By 

Joan Crawford "Jon" (Lansing, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dancing Lady (DVD)

There are a number of reasons you might find MGM's 1933 massive hit DANCING LADY entertaining. It was absolutely designed to be the most entertaining production the movies could offer in its day. MGM put together a great cast, with Joan Crawford and Clark Gable who had already proved to be box office dynamite with earlier pairings films such as POSSESSED. The amazing sexual chemistry is again much in evidence here. Gable is starting to come into his own about this time, and Crawford is continuing to grow as an actress.

The musical numbers are lovely. DANCING LADY was, after all, the film which introduced us all to the timeless standard "Everything I Have is Yours," to which Crawford dances with her husband, Franchot Tone. An interesting bit of trivia about this movie: Crawford was romantically involved with both of her leading men. I think it shows on the screen!

The musical finale is also very amusing; in one number, "That's the Rhythm of the Day," the performers are dressed in vintage 1700s costumes, but as they walk into town they are physically transformed into modern, depression-era Adrian designs! Horse-drawn carriages are transformed into super luxury automobiles! It is one of the most fabulous moments in the film, but there are many more!

There are many ways to find DANCING LADY entertaining, but the best aspect of the film has to be Joan Crawford's face. How people can watch this film and not be moved by it is beyond my understanding. It is one of the most exquisite faces a camera has ever captured, and quite possibly the inspiration for that remarkable picture book, "Four Fabulous Faces."

As an MGM musical, it's very good. As a vehicle for Joan Crawford's face, it's simply great.