Tonight's Movie: Dance Charlie Dance (1937) - A Warner Archive DVD Review

DANCE CHARLIE DANCE (1937) is the final film reviewed here from the new Glenda Farrell Triple Feature collection, available on DVD from the Warner Archive.

I've previously reviewed THE LAW IN HER HANDS (1936), an entertaining film which I thought was the best of the set, and the disappointing HERE COMES CARTER (1936).

DANCE CHARLIE DANCE was based on a play by George S. Kaufman called THE BUTTER AND EGG MAN. Warner Bros. filmed the story multiple times over the years, with the best-known versions including AN ANGEL FROM TEXAS (1940) and THREE SAILORS AND A GIRL (1953).

Stuart Erwin plays Andy, a small-town guy who arrives in the big city, hoping to invest an inheritance in a theatrical production. He gets mixed up with no-good producer Alf Morgan (Allen Jenkins), who has a knack for producing flops.

Morgan's nice secretary (Jean Muir) likes Andy and eventually helps him finagle his money back. That's about the size of the plot of this 64-minute film.

Farrell plays Jenkins' wife. She's sadly underused, which makes the film's inclusion in the set a bit of a question mark. I hope we get a Farrell Vol. II, as I'd like to check out more of her films.

Given the cast, I expected to like the movie more than I did, but I guess I should have been forewarned given that I found the plot in the 1940 remake "a tedious yawner." That's about the size of it here as well. There are bits of amusing moments here and there but this isn't one of the better films made by anyone in the cast.

That said, I love the Warner Archive doing deep dives such as this, making rare films available. I really appreciate being able to check out a film for myself!

DANCE CHARLIE DANCE was directed by Frank McDonald and filmed by Warren Lynch.

A funny goof: Charlie is misspelled CHARLEY on a theater marquee.

The Warner Archive DVD is a good print. The disc includes the trailer.

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this DVD. Warner Archive releases are MOD (manufactured on demand) and may be ordered from Amazon and other online retailers.