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Dance, Girl, Dance

Released Aug 30, 1940 1h 30m Musical List
83% Tomatometer 12 Reviews 64% Audience Score 500+ Ratings
A burlesque queen (Lucille Ball) competes with an aspiring ballerina (Maureen O'Hara) for a divorced playboy (Louis Hayward). Read More Read Less
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Critics Reviews

View All (12) Critics Reviews
Richard Brody New Yorker Arzner films it with fascination and enthusiasm, and the choreography is marked by the point of view of the spectators and the dancers' awareness that they're being watched. May 30, 2016 Full Review Dave Kehr Chicago Reader The themes are female friendship and a woman's fulfillment, and it is one of Arzner's most coherent and accomplished films. Sep 28, 2015 Full Review Paul Taylor Time Out Arzner's internal critique of Hollywood ideology (woman as silent object of male scrutiny). It works within the confines of a stock vaudevillian golddiggers comedy-drama. Sep 28, 2015 Full Review Douglas Davidson Elements of Madness With this release and its wonderful supplemental interviews, an opportunity is created to shed some light on a forgotten director and her work. Rated: 4/5 Jun 9, 2020 Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy Not surprisingly, the scene where O'Hara's character directly lambasts an audience for its collective "male gaze" retains its topicality. Rated: 3/4 Jun 7, 2020 Full Review Fernando F. Croce CinePassion Without rising out of the cinematically conventional, the movie's self-reflexivity continually questions the gaze of the camera. Sep 28, 2015 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (44) audience reviews
John H A romp with a drunken trust fund baby lead, a lot of marginal dancing, non-titillating burlesque, and a soliloquy followed by a cat fight. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/12/24 Full Review Audience Member Lucille Ball as you rarely see her, sultry and catty. Directed by Dorothy Arzner, the only woman director in Hollywood at the time. Who had the fortitude to tell the male gaze to take a long walk off a short pier. Loved it. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/19/23 Full Review ashley h Dance, Girl, Dance is a decent film. It is about a a troupe of danseuses who become unemployed. Maureen O'Hara and Lucille Ball give good performances. The screenplay is a little slow in places. Dorothy Arzner did an alright job directing this movie. I liked this motion picture because of the humor and drama. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review William L A solid enough comedy-drama that uses a pretty conventional Horatio Alger-esque narrative about hard work, talent, and passion sustaining a sympathetic protagonist to eventual success, infused with a distinctly feminine perspective and a Lucille Ball performance that together give the film its identity in a sea of similar films of the period. The film's critical revival has hinged largely on its feminist stance, capped by a scathing speech from O'Hara's Judy to a crowd of jeering onlookers; there's a dated, somewhat conservative flair to it (the whole narrative includes a focus on traditional ballet's superiority to modern performance styles, and part of O'Hara's speech includes references to a "mother's disappointment"), but considering this stance in the context of the day reveals a greater significance and daring. Ball is the real star in her supporting role, just eating up the screen at each opportunity as the opportunistic and bawdy Bubbles/'Tiger Lily'; even if she's not the focus, it's a perfect encapsulation of the type of character that she excelled at. (3/5) Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/19/21 Full Review Audience Member Some interesting proto-feminist stuff here with a fascinating early Lucille Ball performance, but not much of interest otherwise. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review s r I enjoyed it. Lucille ball was a ball of fire, while Maureen's motivations were oddly placed. Had it been better written it could have been great. 1001 movies to see before you die. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Dance, Girl, Dance

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis A burlesque queen (Lucille Ball) competes with an aspiring ballerina (Maureen O'Hara) for a divorced playboy (Louis Hayward).
Director
Dorothy Arzner
Producer
Erich Pommer
Screenwriter
Vicki Baum, Tess Slesinger, Frank Davis
Production Co
RKO Radio Pictures Inc.
Genre
Musical
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Aug 30, 1940, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Aug 11, 2008
Runtime
1h 30m
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