Starring Frank Morgan, Alice Brady, Russell Hardie, and Eddie Quillan
Directed by William Mack
Music and Lyrics by various
Dancing Lady wasn't MGM's only attempt to imitate the new Warners-style backstagers then in vogue...but this one has an unusual pedigree. In 1930, MGM producer Harry Rapf filmed a series of enormous dance numbers in 2-strip Technicolor for what he intended to be his biggest revue yet, The March of Time. Filming began in mid-1930...just as musicals began to fall out of favor with the viewing public. He tried for the next three years to figure out how to get those numbers to the public. Some ended up in a movie made for the German market; others were dumped in shorts. The rest finally went into this through-the-years melodrama...or at least, they originally did. How does this tale of three generations of a show business family look now? Let's begin at the theater, as Lulu (Brady) and Ted (Morgan) Hackett begin their performance, and find out...
The Story: Lulu and Ted raise their son Ted Jr. (Hardie) to be part of their vaudeville act, The Three Hacketts. He's even more popular on the vaudeville circuit than they are, and is soon offered a starring role in a Broadway show. He also goes against his parents' wishes and marries the lovely Anne Ainsley (Madge Evans). Mistrust and his big head after his success tears apart him and Anne, even after they give birth to a son, Ted III (Quillan). When tragedy strikes, he turns his son over to Lulu and Ted Sr. to raise and joins the army. Years later, when Ted III becomes and even bigger success in talking pictures, he brings his grandparents out to be a part of his success...but his grandfather ends up having to save him from following the same path of drink and degradation as his father.
The Song and Dance: Brady and Morgan dominate the film as the central Hacketts. Brady has some hilarious moments, especially early in the film, where she has to keep her husband on the straight and narrow and away from conniving chorus girls. Morgan does equally well; he has a wonderful speech to his grandson in the finale where he reminds him of just how much show business is in his blood.
Favorite Number: "We are the Two Hacketts" introduces us to Lulu, Ted, their old-fashioned song and dance act, and the running gag of some unknown admirer always tossing Lulu flowers. Later, it becomes "We are the Three Hacketts" when first Hardie, then a fast-tapping young Mickey Rooney joins the act. "The Honeysuckle and the Bee" is the big dance routine for Evans and the Albertina Rasch Dancers. Evans gets to show off some amazing limber acrobatic work at one point as she turns cartwheels in a huge dress. The brief "Snow Ballet" returns us to the Albertina Rasch girls, as chorines in fluffy winter wear prance in a winter landscape. The finale has us "Knee Deep In Rhythm," as the girls join Quillan for a big dance routine that shows just what Ted III learned from his vaudeville roots.
Trivia: For all the fuss over using the March of Time numbers, they're mostly missing from the copy currently shown on TCM.
Moe and Curly Howard of The Three Stooges have cameos as the clowns who strip off Ted Jr.'s costume when he's fired from a show. They're virtually unrecognizable in the makeup.
Nelson Eddy debuts, briefly singing "In the Garden of My Heart," though it's mostly heard in the background.
The film also features many similarities to the life of Buster Keaton, who was working at - and feuding with - MGM at the time. He was all too aware of it, and it only added to the growing friction between him and the studio. Didn't help that his March of Time scenes were cut from the film.
What I Don't Like: Oh lord, the melodrama runs thick and fast here. I love the "through the years" theme that focuses on one family, but neither Hardie nor Quillan can handle the dramatics and come off as silly and dull next to Morgan, Brady, and even Madge Evans. You'd never believe these apple-cheeked pretty boys would drink anything worse than an ice cream soda on a Sunday, let alone allow their families to fall to ruin.
I wish director William Mack would focus on the musical numbers. He keeps cutting away to everyone's reactions to them and things going on in the background...which is why we don't get to see any number complete and in full. The movie is really something of a mess. It was created to showcase those huge March of Time numbers and seems dull and pointless without them.
The Big Finale: Completely unnecessary unless you're a huge fan of 30's musicals, historical show business stories, or anyone involved.
Home Media: At the moment, it can only be seen occasionally on TCM.
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