Dancing Lady (1933)
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67% of users liked it
(708 ratings)
Virtually everybody except President Roosevelt was in the lavish MGM backstage musical Dancing Lady. Joan Crawford stars as Janie Barlow, an impoverished dancer reduced to working in a seedy Manhattan burlesque house. While on a slumming party with his society friend, wealthy young Tod Newton… More Virtually everybody except President Roosevelt was in the lavish MGM backstage musical Dancing Lady. Joan Crawford stars as Janie Barlow, an impoverished dancer reduced to working in a seedy Manhattan burlesque house. While on a slumming party with his society friend, wealthy young Tod Newton (Franchot Tone) spots Janie in the burleycue chorus line and immediately falls in love with her. When the joint is raided, Tod pays Janie's bail, but she resists his entreaties to become his mistress, promising instead to pay back every cent she owes him "honestly." With Tod's help, Janie is able to secure work in a big-time Broadway musical being staged by Patch Gallegher (Clark Gable), who is certain that the girl is an untalented opportunist and does everything he can to sabotage her audition. When he realizes that the girl "has something," he refuses to admit it but does, grudgingly, hire her for the show. Through a combination of skill and damned hard work, Janie ends up as the star of the show, whereupon Tod, worried that he'll lose the girl to the Great White Way, buys the show and promptly closes it. But Janie, who's fallen in love with Patch, teams with her new sweetheart to restage the show with their own meager savings -- and surprise of surprises, it's a smash hit. Truly an embarrassment of riches, Dancing Lady introduced Fred Astaire to the movie-going public, solidified the popularity of MGM's new tenor Nelson Eddy, and offered a wide berth for the comedy antics of Ted Healy and his Three Stooges -- Moe Howard, Curly Howard and Larry Fine (Larry, performing his role in a Jewish dialect, has a wonderful double-take bit with a jigsaw puzzle which turns out to be a portrait of Adolf Hitler). As a bonus, the film offers spectacular musical production numbers, not to mention the enduring song hit "Everything I Have is Yours." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Directed By
- Robert Z. Leonard
- Genres
- Drama, Romance, Musical & Performing Arts, Classics, Comedy
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- Nov 24, 1933 Wide
- Studio
- MGM
Critic Reviews
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Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
A quintessential Joan Crawford Depression-era backstage melodrama, in which she plays an ambitious showgirl torn between Franchot Tone and Gable.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Joan Crawford
as Janie Barlow
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Clark Gable
as Patch Gallagher
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Franchot Tone
as Tod Newton
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May Robson
as Dolly Todhunter
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Winnie Lightner
as Rosette Henrietta La Rue
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Fred Astaire
as Himself
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Robert Benchley
as Ward King
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Ted Healy
as Steve
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Gloria Foy
as Vivian Warner
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Art Jarrett
as Art
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Grant Mitchell
as Jasper Bradley Sr.
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Maynard Holmes
as Jasper Bradley Jr.
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Nelson Eddy
as Himself
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Curly Howard
as Stooge #1
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Moe Howard
as Stooge #2
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Larry Fine
as Stooge #3/Pianist
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Sterling Holloway
as Pinky the Author
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Jean Howard
as Girl in Tod's Entourage
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Pat Somerset
as Tod's Friend
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Charles Williams
as Man Arrested in Burlesque House
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Charles Sullivan
as Cabby
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Larry Steers
as First Nighter
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C. Montague Shaw
as First Nighter
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John Sheehan
as Author's Pal
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Charles C. Wilson
as Club Manager
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Matt McHugh
as Marcia's Agent
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William "Wild Bill" Elliott
as Cafe Extra
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Ferdinand Gottschalk
as Judge
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Frank S. Hagney
as Cop
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Eve Arden
as Marcia the "Southern" Actress
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Lynn Bari
as Chorus Girl
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Jack Baxley
as Barker
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Stanley Blystone
as Traffic Cop
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Harry C. Bradley
as Author's Pal
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Cecil Cunningham
as Miss Allen
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Florine McKinney
as Grace Newton
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Marion Weldon
as Chorus Girl
