Grade: C-
Synopsis: After her father goes bankrupt, a spoiled socialite (Joan Crawford) goes to work as an undercover newspaper reporter investigating a murder that points to a gangster (Clark Gable).
There really isn’t much to Dance, Fools, Dance. It’s a pre-code melodrama with gangster dressing that’s highlighted by a couple of good turns by Joan Crawford and Clark Gable, though it only shows up here because my TIVO mistook this William Holden, who played Crawford’s character’s father, for the more famous one, who was only 13-years-old when this film was made, and thus probably wouldn’t have been believable as Crawford’s dad.
That said, the film isn’t that bad either. It moves along at a pretty good click and Crawford is good in the lead. Her scenes with Gable are the film’s highlight, and since it’s a pre-code picture, it’s just racy enough to stay interesting. Unfortunately, Crawford’s character’s brother, played by Lester Vail, is a bit too one-dimensional, reduced to little more than a plot device that robs the film of a potentially powerful dramatic angle. Further, the story itself is quite ridiculous if given even the slightest thought, though the aforementioned brisk pacing does a good job of keeping you from doing just that.
All and all if you’re a big fan of Crawford or Gable, Dance, Fools, Dance is certainly worth a look, but others can easily pass.
