DANCE FOOLS, DANCE (1931)
Label: Warner Archive
Region Code: Region-Free
Duration: 80 Minutes 50 Seconds
Rating: Unrated
Audio: English DTS-HD 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: B&W 1080p Fullscreen (1.37:1)
Director: Harry Beaumont
Cast: Joan Crawford, William Bakewell. Clark Gable, Cliff Edwards, William Holden, Cliff Edwards
In the pre-code drama Dance Fools, Dance (1931) wealthy socialite siblings Bonnie Jordan (Joan Crawford, The Damned Don't Cry) and brother Rodney (William Bakewell, The Bat Whispers) are living the high-life as socialites, but when their father Stanley (William Holden, no, not that William Holden, Charlie Chan Carries On) dies of a heart attack after losing everything in the stock market crash of '29 they are left penniless and end up having to auction off all their worldly possessions, and have to take on regular jobs, something they're certainly not accustomed to.
Bonnie takes a job as a reporter working for the New York Star's newspaper as their only ever female reporter, but she is hungry for meatier assignment after being assigned to fluff pieces, seemingly rising tot he challenge of the extreme lifestyle change. Meanwhile, her brother Rodney is less accepting of the downgrade, but eventually secretly takes on a job with bootlegger Jake Luva (Clark Gable, Saratoga), dealing his liquor to socialite friends.
When the newspaper starts investigating a string of gangland murders which Luva is suspected of masterminding reporter Bert Scranton (Cliff Edwards, the voice of Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio!) ends up getting snuffed, and Bonnie goes undercover as a dance floor floozy, quickly catching the eye of the bootlegger who takes a liking to her. There's plenty of pre-code rough stuff and sexuality on display, this thrilling crime-drama, Crawford is smoldering in the screen and gets a chance to show of her tasty gams in a pair of well choreographed dance sequences. William Bakewell as her sibling is also quite good, when he is forced to take a life he falls apart in the aftermath, wracked by guilt. Meanwhile, a still lesser billed Gable (without his future signature moustache) as the smooth-talking bootlegger with a vicious streak is terrific, he would go onto star in eight more films with Crawford but this was their first pairing on the big screen.
This is a terrifically tasty pre-code flick, featuring the even-then smoldering onscreen chemistry between Gable and Crawford, with a dramatic film that actually makes you give a damn about a pair of spoiled rich kids who have lost everything caught up in the seedy underworld of bootleg liquor in the prohibition era.
Audio/Video: The pre-code flick Dance Fools, Dance (1931) arrives on region free Blu-ray in 1080p HD framed in 1.37:1 fullscreen, sourced, according to The Extras Podcast with Tim Milland featuring Geirge Feldstein from WAC, from a new 4K scan of the original nitrate camera negative. The black and white film looks gorgeously with excellent depth and clarity, pleasing detail in the close-ups, and solid contrast. There are a few dips in quality at times, but overall this looks fantastic. Audio chores are capably handled by an uncompressed English DTS-HD 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles that faithfully renders the dialogue, sound design and score with minimal issues. With that said, it's not the cleanest track, we get a layer of ever-present hiss but it's never distracting. This was a first-time watch for me, so I am not sure if this was a drop-out or just inaudible dialogue, but at there is a moment at 72:40 when Gable character mouths what appears to be "come on" to Crawford, but there's no audible dialogue, and no subtitled dialogue either.
Extras include the archival 51-min 1972 doc Hollywood: The Dream Factory narrated by Dick Cavett that documents the rise and fall of MGM, plus a pair of black & white 1931 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoons directed by Frank Marsales. The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original illustrated movie poster artwork.
Special Features:
- MGM Documentary - Hollywood: The Dream Factory (50:36)
- Classic Cartoon: One More Time (7:04)
- Classic Cartoon: Smile, Darn Ya, Smile (7:00)
Screenshots from the Warner Archive Blu-ray:
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