Movie of the Week: Dance Fools Dance (1931) and Laughing Sinners (1931)
This week, we’ve got a Clark Gable/Joan Crawford pre-code double feature: Dance Fools Dance (1931) and Laughing Sinners (1931).
These two films were made back-to-back, as Clark, a rising star in MGM’s roster, and Joan, one of MGM’s shiniest stars, were engaged in heated love affair. Clark’s of course second fiddle to Joan in both of these.
In Dance Fools Dance, Joan is Bonnie Jordan, a rich girl suddenly thrown into the real world after her father dies and she finds out all his money is gone. She goes to work as a writer for the local newspaper. One of her assignments is to go undercover and get a story on a gangster, Jake (Clark). As Jake pursues her romantically, Bonnie finds out that her unscrupulous brother Rodney (William Bakewell) has hooked up with Jake’s gang and is in deep trouble.
Clark does not get much character development here–his character is bad, that’s all. Much like Night Nurse, the one dimensional baddie is rather stale, but to be expected in this kind of quickie pre-code. Joan spends most of the film looking worried and trying her best to fend off Clark’s advances (good luck there…).
In his few scenes, Clark gets to mutter some lines straight out of the “How to Be a Gangster” playbook:
“Now listen, kid. Money talks. And remember, in this business it’s the only thing that talks.”
“If we take you on, there’s certain rules of the game you’ve got to learn. Keeping your mouth shut’s one of them. But first, no matter what happens, don’t talk.”
“Now listen close. ‘Cause I don’t repeat myself! You got us into this jam and you’re going to get us out!”
“If you don’t come through, they’ll be a double murder!”
There’s not much for Clark fans here other than getting to see the beginnings of his screen partnership with Joan and (SPOILER) this is one of the very few films of his in which he dies. So there’s that.
Full review is here
Nutshell review is here
Laughing Sinners is an utter waste of Clark, Joan, and well, your time and energy, really.
Clark is Carl, a saintly Salvation Army officer who rescues Ivy (Joan), distraught over being dumped by her boyfriend (Neil Hamilton), from jumping off a bridge. Under Carl’s influence, Ivy gives up her hard-drinking, hard-partying nightclub lifestyle and joins the Salvation Army. Temptation proves to be too great though, when her ex-lover returns and she falls back into old habits.
It’s a mystery to me why on earth MGM would throw Clark, who had so far made women swoon in tough-guy roles, into this role as a vanilla sap. His character is so pure and so good you kind of want him to jump off the bridge himself. Clark wasn’t the first choice for the role, however; Johnny Mack Brown was originally cast as Carl. At a preview, audiences laughed at his performance and lack of chemistry with Joan. MGM replaced him with Clark and re-shot all of his scenes. Ouch.
Joan is blonde (doesn’t suit her) and dances up a storm in a little sequin outfit (people often forget nowadays that Joan was quite the little hoofer before she was an actress). This is her film, not Clark’s. What one can’t understand is why she is so in love with dull-as-dishwater Neil Hamilton. Huh? At least Clark gets to punch him in the face (rightfully so)…
Full review is here
Nutshell review is here
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