Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)

This odd story about the rivalrous relationship between two members of a dance troupe, one an aspiring high culture (read: ballet) dancer and a low culture (read: burlesque) dancer might seem an odd choice for Criterion to make a part of their library, except for the fact that it was directed by a woman and that it is one of the rare instances of female expression in old Hollywood.

Both the story and the point of the movie seem somewhat muddled; we have a character whose passion is to dance, but who has the twin misfortunes of not having the required sex appeal to even get a job in the current available market, but also who might not be talented enough to shine on her own in her area of preference. She is already a trained dancer and might be too old to start all over again… who are we kidding? She already is too old.

We are not following the story of Victoria Page. This is not a stellar performer who just needs her one break. This is simply the story of a passionate, but still mediocre hoofer with mild ambitions.

On the other hand, we have the sassy, sexy girl who has no problem getting work at a burlesque (which she seems to enjoy, or at least be able to live with,) but whose seeming ambition is to marry a rich guy who will allow her to retire.

While we start the story with the whole dance troupe, the focus soon narrows to these two.

Judy O'Brien (Maureen O'Hara) meets Jimmy Harris (Louis Hayward) a wealthy man about to be divorced. There is some back and forth between the two, but neither the relationship nor the character truly go anywhere; (refreshingly? Though there are hints, there is no room for romance in Judy's professional ambition.)

After an audition, a burlesque agent is uninterested in hiring any of the troupe until he sees Bubbles (Lucille Ball) perform. He hires her on the spot, but no one else.

Judy’s teacher and agent Madame Basilova (Maria Ouspenskaya) pulls some strings and gets her an audition with ballet impresario Steve Adams (Ralph Bellamy.) Judy gets cold feet and takes off before her appointment, but not before leaving an impression.

Judy and the Steve meet briefly but neither realizes who the other one is.

Despite their adversarial, competitive relationship, Bubbles later insists that Judy be hired as her stooge. Bubbles intentions are unclear, is she helping out a friend? Humiliating a rival? A little of both? A little slow in the uptake, Judy eventually realizes she was hired to be a clown but refuses to quit.

Jimmy had already dated Bubbles, but at a fancy dinner with Judy he scandalously punches his ex-wife’s husband.

After seeing her photo in a newspaper, Steve finally realizes that Judy was the dancer who missed her audition.

Judy finally gets her break.

Lucille Ball may be showing exactly the level of singing and dancing skills for a real-life burlesque performer of the time. It’s apparent she is attractive and has some talent, but her limited range is also obvious. She is much better as the aspiring, but supposedly untalented performer of her character in I Love Lucy.

How believable the burlesque show is a different matter.

I am not that much familiar with the art form, but the mildness and the production values of these show are not anything like what we can see in the Teaserama routines or like what we can catch on Youtube today.

Obviously, a movie of the time could hardly present the crude reality of the business, but this fantasy version of burlesque is much like the unbelievable, sanitized version of a stripper presented in Flashdance. I specifically do not understand the part of the ballet dancing stooge, why the audience would think it entertaining or funny, or why the producers would think it fits there. Why is it a hit? Shouldn't that instead be a baggy pants comedian?

The film has had a late reassessment as a feminist piece, and even by catching the scene when Judy the stooge tells the audience off it’s somewhat undeniable. Other than expressing anger (though it might really be all that's required,) it's too bad telling the audience off doesn’t really do much of anything for her character.

Also, too bad about the movie's clunky script and storytelling.

Talking about empowering women… Even as I was watching the film, I kept thinking that Pre-Code Mae West could really have sold the Bubbles character and could have done something truly memorable with the part.