Dance, Girl, Dance Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Dance, Girl, Dance Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 30, 2020

Dorothy Arzner's "Dance, Girl, Dance" (1940) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include new programs with director Francis Ford Coppola and critic Sheila O'Malley. The release also arrives with an illustrated leaflet featuring an essay by critic Sheila O'Malley and technical credits. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Life becomes a lot easier once you accept that success comes at a price and are prepared to pay for it. It is irrelevant how you define success, or the path you choose to pursue it, because if you live your life believing that you are owed something, you will never reach your ultimate goal. If you are extraordinarily lucky you might come close, which will allow you to spend the rest of your time pretending that you did as well as you intended, but deep inside you will always know that you settled down for less. This is an old truth that has survived many tests over the years.

Dorothy Azner’s film is about two girls that pursue success in New York City during the Depression Era and discover the price they ought to pay for it. They are talented dancers and former members of a large troupe from Akron, Ohio whose employment contract has been unexpectedly terminated. The two girls are also roommates and almost completely broke.

To make ends meet, the girls choose new career paths. The more outspoken one, Bubbles (Lucille Ball), lands a gig as a dancer in a burlesque theater and after a few quick trials becomes its biggest star. The pay is great, but the theater’s clientele has very little interest in Bubbles’ dancing moves. The overwhelmingly male crowds simply can’t get enough of her beautiful curves, so the more provocative her numbers become, the greater the enthusiasm for her talent gets. The second girl, Judy (Maureen O’Hara), gathers the courage to audition for a renowned ballet troupe, but on the day when she is supposed to meet its impresario her elderly mentor (Maria Ouspenskaya) dies in an awful accident and she changes her mind. Convinced that it wasn’t meant to be, Judy then reluctantly accepts an offer from Bubbles to become her partner, performing in a separate number that helps her roommate’s popularity grow even more. Around the same time, the girls also begin seeing two wealthy bachelors (Ralph Bellamy and Louis Hayward), and once again use the opportunities that emerge from the relationships to further separate their chosen career paths.

Without Dorothy Arzner’s name attached to it this film likely would have been forgotten by now because it does not tell a memorable story, which as odd as it may sound is actually the reason why it is worth seeing. Here’s why: It uses a variety of cliched situations to offer a truthful summation of the type of compromises that young girls would have been expected to make while pursuing their dreams in pre-war America. Also, the film stereotypes both sexes but in ways that make the big picture crystal clear -- success does not happen because you deserve it; it happens when you seek it and while you do become willing to give up a lot for it. It is quite refreshing because this is precisely how the real world continues to be today; it is not a fair place where at some point everyone gets a participation trophy, but a giant stage where only the most persistent, thick-skinned, and focused ‘performers’ discover success.

O’Hara’s performance isn’t one of her best. Most of the time it looks like she is reacting to scripted situations rather than going through events that are emerging organically in her character’s life. Ball is a lot more convincing as the overly ambitious and willing to take advantage of any situation dancer. Virtually all of the memorable contrasts throughout the film emerge when she is before the camera. Bellamy and Hayward are used to channel male stereotypes that only further hurt the authenticity of the situations the female leads are placed in.

The dances will not impress those expecting quality and brilliance of the type that are present in big-budget musicals from the same era. Ball’s burlesque performance is the most spirited one, but it is impossible to describe as special.

Dance, Girl, Dance Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Dance, Girl, Dance arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.

The following text appears inside the leaflet that is provided with this Blu-ray release:

"This new digital transfer was created in 4K resolution on a Lasergraphics Director film scanner from the 35mm nitrate original camera negative at Motion Picture Imaging in Burbank, California. Due to deterioration of the camera negative, some sections were scanned from a 35mm fine-grain master positive preserved by the Museum of Modern Art. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, and warps were manually removed using MTI Film's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for jitter, flicker, and small dirt. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35mm fine-grain's optical soundtrack using Avid's Pro Tools and iZotope RX.

Colorist: Russell Smith/Criterion Post, New York.
Sound transfer: Deluxe, Hollywood."

While viewing the film I did not detect any obvious shifts in density and possibly fluidity levels that would have revealed the reconstructive work. Frankly, even obvious transitions do not produce any significant fluctuation (see screencapture #20). So, depth, delineation, and clarity are usually very good, and in certain areas actually outstanding. The new master is also very carefully graded, which I think is one of the main reasons why the reconstructed segments blend so well. The blacks are solid but do not appear boosted, while the grays and whites come with plenty of gentle nuances (see screencaptures #15 and 19). Image stability is excellent. Lastly, if there was any wear and tear before the restoration, and of course there was, now it is impossible to tell because the entire film looks very healthy. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Dance, Girl, Dance Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 1.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The audio is clear and stable. From time to time it becomes a tad 'thin', but it is quite easy to tell that it is actually how the recording equipment has captured the sound around the leads. Rather predictably, dynamic intensity is limited as well. There are no purely technical anomalies to report in our review.

Dance, Girl, Dance Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• B. Ruby Rich - in this new program, critic B. Ruby Rich discusses Dorothy Arzner's career. The program was created for Criterion in 2019. In English, not subtitled. (16 min, 1080p).

• Francis Ford Coppola - in this new program, director Francis Ford Coppola remembers his interactions with Dorothy Arzner while studying at UCLA and discusses her career. The program was created for Criterion in 2020. In English, not subtitled. (11 min, 1080p).

• Leaflet - an illustrated leaflet featuring critic Sheila O'Malley's essay "Gotta Dance" and technical credits.

Dance, Girl, Dance Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Maybe if Lucille Ball's character was given a lot more time in front of the camera Dance, Girl, Dance would have been a better film. Ball brings lightness and energy that can genuinely excite and occasionally even fool you that it is only a matter of time before you witness cinematic greatness. But the film wants Maureen O'Hara to be its star and, sadly, her performance is quite average. I find the sincerity of the message that emerges from the film quite refreshing, but the rest is entirely predictable and ultimately underwhelming. Criterion's release is sourced from a very strong new 4K master, so if Dance, Girl, Dance is one of your favorite films, consider adding it to your collection. If it is not but you still want to see it, find a way to RENT IT first.