ada the leading man is my tpye

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Hattie I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

gkeith_1 Spoilers. Observations. Opinions.Okay. Blah. I did ff through a lot of the dialogue and triangle banter. I hate black and white. That made this film somewhat of a downer. No real Busby Berkeley here, but I sort of liked the Berkeley-esque Harlequin-esque special effects. Gable was too mean most of the time. Was he a clone of Warner Baxter in 42nd Street? Let's put on a show. Yes. No. Where's da money? Oh, I know. Some rich guy's the answer. $$$$$$$$$$$. Guy Kibbee. Franchot Tone. Baxter was dying of some illness. Gable was dying of meanness and diarrhea of the mouth. The Stooges were adorable here, except for the slapping. I normally do not like them, and don't appreciate their brand of hilarity. Fred Astaire too wooden. Looked like a kid-adult Pinocchio. Nelson Eddy. Did we even see him? Wasn't any Jeanette MacDonald here. No plot for Eddy. He just told a lot of ancients that they should be 1933 "modern", but today in 2017 this film ITSELF is 84 years old and quite a bit outdated. Oh, the irony! Nelson, you and 1933 are so far back in the past that we here in the future are snickering at your pomposity. Tone looked divine. He could really wear that top hat and tails. So dashing and debonair. Or was that Astaire's forte?Crawford's Adrian dancing costumes were excellent. Did she have the huge flailing arms, awkward bent-over posture and gawky tap steps of Ruby Keeler in 42nd Street? Still, it was enjoyable watching her as an earnest hoofer instead of her meanie films of years later. Anyway, Adrian never failed, and his costuming still makes me love his designs. Dirndls, subserviency white aprons, lederhosen, alpine hats, stereotypical "bier". Wooden shoes clopping all over the cobblestones? Hitler just ate this all up. He must have loved Astaire looking like that goofy wooden Pinocchio. Uncle Adolph must have been proud. Heil Freddie. Besides, wasn't Astaire's original last name Austerlitz really German or Austrian? Did Astaire and his sister Adele change their last name because of the Germanic inference, just like the British royal family did in the era of World War One? Being German wasn't cool at that time because they were the enemy, while in this film of 1933 Astaire is clowning it up as if Germans are the greatest guys in all the world. The super Adolph was soon coming to town, but the Germans were in 1933 being portrayed as one big, friendly, goofy hail-fellow-well-met. Anything for a buck, Astaire, who will make a lot more bucks later with that divine Ginger Rogers. At least Ginger Rogers was elsewhere, having a good old time in 42nd Street. MGM, b/w musicals were not your forte. When you switched to color, you killed everybody else. The lion looks terrible in black and white. Poor Leo. I did like the old hag women being turned into pre-code Art Deco vamps. That was a set of quite good special effects. I am a degreed historian, futurist, actress, singer, dancer, fashion designer, stage makeup artist, film critic and movie reviewer.

atlasmb This pre-code production is well worth seeing. Regardless of how good or bad this film is, I believe it is a seminal film. As the studios were trying to determine what the American film-going public wanted, they "stumbled" across some formulae and some talent that paved the way for future success.Although I was never a great fan of Joan Crawford, in her early films--such as this one--she possesses a raw energy that is engaging. Here she plays the titular role, the Dancing Lady, and must have been considered a dancing talent to land the role. There have been discussions on the IMDb bulletin boards about the level of her dancing talent. Was her dancing "clunky"? Perhaps, but I believe the style of the day was somewhat ungraceful, in general. As I was watching her early dancing scenes, I was thinking that it would take Astaire to elevate the form on screen. Sure enough, he appears in the film--and he does add some class to the dance scenes.But it is Gable whose masculine energy really carries this film. He plays Patch Gallagher, the director of the Broadway show where Crawford's Janie Barlow gets her big break. She has dancing in her blood. Gallagher recognizes her talent and rewards her with a starring role. During the time they work together, she gets under his skin, making things awkward for Gallagher, who likes to keep things simple.The careers of Gable, Crawford, Astaire and even Nelson Eddy, among others (including the Three Stooges) may be said to originate in Dancing Lady. In just a few years, they all would be established box office stars. Gable would transform film's idea of the masculine lead. Astaire would elevate dancing in film with his graceful moves and refined choreography. And MGM would have a solid foundation for its burgeoning stable of talent.

writers_reign Released in November, 1933,Dancing Lady beat 42nd Street onto the screen by one month and it would be interesting to know if contemporary audiences and critics noticed the strong similarities between the two putting-on-a- Broadway-musical-chorus-girl-turns-star plots. Certainly 42nd Street boasted a better score although having said that the Burton Lane-Harold Adamson number Everything I Have Is Yours is not exactly chopped liver. On the other hand 42nd Street lacked the bizarre element of Dancing Lady which boasts not only the Three Stooges billed separately under their own names but nevertheless doing their schtick as perfected in vaudeville and with a role - as Gable's PR - for their 'leader', Ted Healey, arguably the worst song Rodgers and Hart ever wrote which is done no favors in the wooden voice of Nelson Eddy. Arthur Jarrett (who?) gets to sing Everything I Have Is Yours and, saving the best till last, Fred Astaire (as himself) appears in his first-ever Hollywood film. The DVD print is surprisingly good and this is more than worth a look.

fwdixon I enjoyed "Dancing Lady" despite the fact that the titular "Lady" (Joan Crawford) is about as graceful as a pregnant camel. Other than her lead-footed dancing, Joan give a good performance. How many other movies can claim to feature The 3 Stooges, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone, Joan Crawford, Fred Astaire and Nelson Eddy? Even Eve Arden shows up in a bit part (years before being reunited with Joan in "Mildred Pierce"!) Only MGM could have come up with a cast like this! Nevertheless, it's apparent that MGM was still learning how to put on a proper musical. Warner's musicals of the period are light years ahead of this. The songs are terrible and, other than Fred Astaire's numbers, the dancing is mediocre. Maybe I'm making it sound awful but it really isn't. It's a fun 90+ minutes to pass away a rainy afternoon.