Dance, Fools, Dance (1931)

• Year: 1931
• Released: 07 Feb 1931
• Country: United States
• Adwords: N/A
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021778/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dance_fools_dance
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: Approved
• Genre: Crime, Drama, Romance
• Runtime: 80 min
• Writer: Aurania Rouverol, Joan Crawford
• Director: Harry Beaumont
• Cast: Joan Crawford, Cliff Edwards, Lester Vail
• Keywords: chicago, illinois, bootlegger, upper class, pre-code, nightclub owner, 1930s,

	6.3/10
	48% – Critics
	48% – Audience

Dance, Fools, Dance Storyline

After her father Stanley Jordan loses his wealth in market, Bonnie (Joan Crawford) goes to work as a cub reporter. Her brother Rodney (William Bakewell) is the wheelman in a gangland massacre. Bert (Cliff Edwards), a reporter on Bonnie’s paper, is murdered while investigating. Bonnie gets to know gang leader Jake Luva (Clark Gable) and learns how the gang works and that her brother is involved. By the time it’s over, her wealthy friend Bob (Lester Vail) sees how wonderful she is and falls in love with her for good.—Ed Stephan

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Dance, Fools, Dance Movie Reviews

Joan Goes To Work

Joan Crawford got to display some of her dancing talents which brought her to films in the first place in Dance Fools Dance. She also was paired for the first time with Clark Gable. Although Gable was sixth down on the billing the impression he made assured that he and Crawford would work together again.

In fact when Dance Fools Dance came out Crawford was already shooting another film, Laughing Sinners with Neil Hamilton and Johnny Mack Brown as her leads. The reviews Gable got made Louis B. Mayer scrap all the footage that had been shot with Brown and Gable was immediately recast in that picture.

Crawford and William Bakewell play a couple of rich kids whose father William Holden loses everything in the Crash of 29 and dies from the shock of it. And I mean he lost everything as the mansion and its furnishings are auctioned off to pay all the debts the estate owes. Both of them have to go to work, Bakewell not all pleased with that prospect.

Joan goes to work for a newspaper, writing sob sister stuff and she proves she has a knack for it. Bakewell on the other hand gets a job with your friendly bootlegger and his boss who is Clark Gable.

At this point the film makes use of the real life incidents of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre and the murder of reporter Jake Lingle in Chicago who covered the gangland beat. Cliff Edwards who plays the reporter does an excellent job, possibly the best acted part next to Gable.

Playing opposite Crawford as her ever faithful boyfriend from the good old rich days is Broadway actor Lester Vail. I looked Vail up on the Broadway Database and he had considerable stage career. He did not do too many films and truth be told he did not register well as a screen presence. No wonder all the talk was about the few scenes Gable and Crawford had together when she went undercover to investigate the murder of her friend and colleague Edwards.

Though it goes over the top in the melodrama toward the end Dance Fools Dance was a significant milestone in the careers of two screen legends.

Primarily for fans of both precode cinema and Joan Crawford

This is not a great precode, but it’s good enough to keep your interest, particularly if you are fans of Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, or even Cliff Edwards. As others have already mentioned, it is historical for being the initial teaming of Joan Crawford and Clark Gable, although Gable is sixth or seventh billed at this point. Don’t expect Gable the gallant cad in this one – here he is pure cad.

The film is largely an unremarkable morality tale about the follies of the very wealthy spoiling their children even into adulthood to the point where they complain about having to “get up in the middle of the night (9 AM) to eat breakfast.”, which are the sentiments of the two Jordan children. When Wall Street crashes, dad dies from the shock and Bonnie Jordan (Joan Crawford) and her brother are left penniless. Bonnie chooses to break into newspaper reporting, but her brother chooses a less honest option which brings him into contact with Gable the gangster. After her close friend, reporter Bert Scranton (Cliff Edwards), is shot to death, Bonnie decides to go undercover as a dancer at Gable’s nightclub to try to get to the bottom of the murder. She solves the crime, but at great personal cost.

The best parts of this film are watching Joan Crawford in a dance number and watching the great chemistry Crawford and Gable have together. You get bigger doses of Crawford and Gable together in “Possessed”, which was made later this same year – 1931. Joan Crawford was already a big star at this point. As for Clark Gable, he has to wait until he manhandles Norma Shearer in “A Free Soul” before he catapults to true stardom.

You got me going, sister

Bonnie and Rodney Jordan (Joan Crawford, William Bakewell) lose everything in the stock market crash. First their father dies of a heart attack and then they discover why: he lost his entire fortune in the crash. Now broke for the first time, Bonnie and Rodney must go to work. Bonnie gets a job as a reporter. Rodney goes to work for bootlegger Jake Luva (Clark Gable). The two being on opposite sides of the law leads to inevitable conflict.

Middle-of-the-road crime drama will appeal most to fans of Crawford and Gable. It’s hardly the best work of either, though. It’s a pre-Code film, which sometimes is all you have to say to get some classic film fans interested in a movie. Personally I didn’t see anything all that risqué in this one. An early scene of a bunch of people in their underwear going for a swim seems to get the most talk but it’s pretty tame despite the description. The story is something that was done many times and better over the years, in one variation or another. The insipid romance between Joan and Lester Vail leaves a lot to be desired.