Dance, Girl Dance (1940) at Reel Classics: a review

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Movie Review:

- Worth a look if...

dir. Dorothy Arzner at RKO Radio Pictures
with Maureen O’Hara (as Judy), Lucille Ball (as Bubbles), Ralph Bellamy (as Steve) and Louis Hayward (Jimmy Harris)

Maureen O’Hara and Lucille Ball star as dancers in this weakly romantic comedy about two very different personalities in the same chorus line. O’Hara is the young Irish red head (complete with her original accent) who loves classical dance more than anything in the world, and Ball is the burlesque queen who loves rich men. The romance comes in when they end up competing for the same man, but it’s not really all that important who wins. The most significant theme is that of the serious dancer struggling to overcome her crass, bourgeois surroundings and establish herself as an artist.

O’Hara may have received top billing in this film, but with the exception of a scene in which Judy lashes out at the jeering burlesque crowd who is mocking her classical dance, Ball steals the show with her outlandish personality and entertaining strip tease dances. Overall it’s interesting as one of O’Hara’s earliest films (her second in the U.S.), but you’ll get more out of it if you’re a Lucy fan anxious to see her on the big screen. Oh, and if you like cat fights, this film has a tempestuous one.

Reviewed: September 6, 1999

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