Ten Cents a Dance

Fans of pre-Code films will forgive this 1931 Columbia Pictures feature directed by Lionel Barrymore (his last directorial effort) if only because it stars Barbara Stanwyck in an early role. As is the case with all stars, she is even then true in every moment, entirely believable, and far surpasses the wooden script and the rest of the cast. Most embarrassing is Monroe Owsley as her no-good husband; he is particularly bad, totally false, overacting. Ricardo Cortez has a thankless role and does his best. This is a perfect example of how a star can make something out of nothing by the sheer power of her personality.

Between the tacky title and the pre-Code year (1931), I was expecting a carload of cheap thrills. Happily, the first ten minutes does deliver. There's the tawdry lineup of taxi dancers waiting to get mauled; the over-loud bouncy band; and the tacky guys eager for ten cents of hard-boiled maybe's. Then there's the dressing room where the girls get to trade war stories and smooth out their nylons. No, it's not exactly the uptown social register, but it is colorful as heck. Plus, the slinky, gum-popping Stanwyck couldn't be more at home.

But then the story goes all soap-opera, as Barbara (Stanwyck) tries to hang onto her philandering husband, a very un-charismatic Eddie (Owsley), who also happens to steal from his employer (Cortez) who also happens to be an uptown socialite who also happens to have a yen for Barbara, of all people. Yes, it does get a little confusing. But hang on anyway, since our suddenly very faithful ex-taxi dancer has to suffer big time in order to deserve her eventual reward. I expect there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

No, I didn't get the cheap thrill carload I was hoping for. But Stanwyck does compensate for a lot. Plus I really liked the camaraderie amongst the girls, sort of like what you find among men in combat. But then I guess that fits. Anyhow, if you have a preference for weepies and gum-popping dames, this stone age talky fills the bill.

Barbara Stanwyck's character isn't that usual confident and sexually charged young woman she had perfected back in the early 30s. In this she is more fragile but as you'd expect from her, she pulls this role off perfectly. In this life her job is being a brassy dance hall hostess selling herself to sex hungry men but trying hard not to let this seedy occupation encroach on her actual life. In that life she is an optimist, an innocent girl waiting for Mr Right to sweep her off her feet - but she's a realist too and when she's given the option of a young handsome millionaire who seems too good to be true or a guy, down on his luck from her own apartment block she picks whom she considers the sensible choice. Wrong!

Unlike in most pictures, this millionaire is actually as good as he seems (if not better). Barbara's guy from the apartment turns out to be a monster. Not an over the top movie monster but a believable vulnerable young man with his own issues. His insidious nastiness fuelled by his own insecurities and self loathing quickly bubbles up to the surface making him a cruel bully coercively controlling his doting vulnerable wife. We the audience can see this happening long before his devoted , loyal wife and we're shouting at her to wake up and see the truth but she muddles on in her own rose coloured fantasy world towards disaster. You can see similar stories being played out today both on tv and in sadly in the real world. This isn't the best portrayal of such 'toxic relationships' but it's interesting to see a 1931 take on this.

Despite the naturalistic acting, a bit part for Loretta Young's sister, the wonderful way this brilliantly captures the feel of 1931 (as a piece of time travel, this picture's fabulous) it's not "a great film." Lionel Barrymore, for a change is not acting but directing and he does a reasonable job (although I can't see anything which particularly demonstrating any individuality or style). It does however succeed absolutely in the goal of any motion picture - it affects you emotionally. The Barbara character is a bit wet but you definitely empathise with her. You will also definitely hate that pig she ends up with.

... I wouldn't give you a plugged nickel for that heel husband of hers.

When we first meet Barbara O'Neill (Barbara Stanwyck) she's hustling dances at a dime a piece in a cheap Depression era dance hall. She seems to have a good enough head on her shoulders, one good enough to prevent her from descending down into prostitution or believing the lies of the customers that might want things to go further. This is not the tough hardened Stanwyck of Baby Face. However she genuinely likes Bradley Carlton (Ricardo Cortez), a wealthy businessman who just enjoys talking to her. She asks him for one favor, and that not for herself - to hire an out of work and soon to be homeless young guy who lives at the same boarding house she does, Eddie Miller (Monroe Owsley). She gets her favor.

For some reason the common sense Barbara has with men in the dance hall seems to elude her when it comes to Eddie. Beggars can't be choosers, but unfortunately so many are and Eddie is no exception. When he learns Barbara is working in a dance hall, not a dance school as she told him, he busts in and insists she quits and manages to fit a proposal somewhere in there too. The two hastily marry, and Eddie, once so grateful for a forty dollar a week job that would keep him fed and a roof over his head soon wants more than he has - more of a job, a higher class lifestyle, maybe even a higher class woman. I'll let you watch and see where all of this goes.

It was fun to see Ricardo Cortez playing a good guy for a change - not a doormat - just a good guy. I also really liked the playing of the title song in its entirety after the movie ends - it was a nice Depression era touch.

Columbia programmer "inspired by the song by Rodgers and Hart," and in fact it's sung over the credits, including the "pansy" line, which got censored in future film renditions. But all it really inspires is the setting, a dime-a-dance hall, where Stanwyck, in an early, prototypical role, is pursued by a rich (Cortez) and poor (Owsley) guy, and in a clever reversal, the nice-seeming poor guy turns out to be a cad and the rich guy is genuine and caring. Stanwyck's facial expressions alone are touching and assured, and she even cries convincingly, unlike many more actressy actresses of the period. Owsley is callow and unlikable, but then that's what he's playing, and Cortez underplays well, with liquid eyes that are indeed the mirrors to this character's soul. It's indifferently directed by Lionel Barrymore and has little in production value, but Jo Swerling's screenplay isn't bad, and the pre-Code candor is a treat.