Bolero

This movie from 1934 shows the viewer an era that must have seemed alien at the time and downright forgotten and strange to modern audiences.. Watching it is like a history lesson. George Raft shows us why he was known as the fastest dancer in the world at the beginning of the movie when he was a young man and just starting out on his career. The story line is not something we would see again especially as it is set in Europe. We get to see Paris and Brussels amongst other great cities with horse drawn-carriages, strange dance routines and the basic idea that you can dance your way out of poverty in nightclubs and make that career last. Carole Lombard stripped down to her underwear with stocking and suspenders to say the least, is a sight to behold. A year later and this wouldn't be allowed, the crotch of her panties on view. In a scene where Raft tells her that if she stripped naked he wouldn't be interested shows us how much more natural films were before the Hays code ; granny wasn't so innocent. Raft's lecherous and lascivious grin in one particular dance routine put him at odds with the cool elegance of Carole Lombard. They seem an odd couple -I believe at the time they had a romance- when not dancing and it is easy to see why she marries some-one else. Nothing comes between Raft and his dancing. A rare screen appearance by Sally Rand shows us that this lady's talents were limited to her fantastic fan dance, but who can tire of watching that????? Not enough of Bolero though, the theme of the movie being this music but we see very little of the dance routine or music considering the length of the composition. Raft is a better actor here than in many later parts in better movies, he knew this world and felt comfortable with it . Watch and enjoy.

Raoul De Baere (George Raft) wanted nothing more than to be a dancer. He was wasting his talents in a coal mine when he could be burning up the dance floor, but he had two problems:

1. He needed money. He couldn't focus on dancing while slaving away in a coal mine.

2. He needed a female partner. No one wanted to see a man dance solo.

He was able to solve both problems. First, he got money from his brother Mike (William Frawley) which allowed him to focus on dancing. Second, he found a female partner, who became the first of several. But Raoul's dreams always took him past where he currently was. He wanted to keep climbing to greater and greater heights.

His break came when he moved to Paris to dance. There he made a name for himself and even landed a new and better partner: Helen Hathaway (Carole Lombard). He had only one rule for her: don't fall in love with him because business and pleasure didn't mix. His previous partner, Leona (Frances Drake), fell in love with him and it ruined their working relationship. However, telling a person not to fall in love is like telling a person not to breathe.

It was interesting seeing George Raft in a role other than a gangster or a New York cabbie. I don't think he has a lot of range, but he held his own in this film. Carole Lombard is almost always good. I especially liked her in "Twentieth Century."

The storyline of "Bolero" was shockingly original and compelling. I was expecting a standard romance with Raoul and Helen with a standard rise, fall, and rise again rollercoaster that we get with sports and entertainment movies, but we didn't get that. I liked the direction it went even if the ending was bittersweet.

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Bolero, the film named after Maurice Ravel's classic instrumental orchestral composition is one of George Raft's very few non-gangster successes. That's because it takes advantage of Raft's other great talent, that of a dancer. It's how he started out in show business and like James Cagney, got to display that aspect of his talent way too little.

Raft is perfectly cast as the stop at nothing to get to the top man who uses and discards women partners like Kleenex. The only one who really understands him is his down to earth brother William Frawley who serves as his manager. But when Carole Lombard comes into his life, it throws his game plan off kilter. But just a little bit.

The film is set in the years before, during, and just after World War I. Just as he's really got it made with the opening of his own club in Paris, the war breaks out which Raft considers something done to hurt him personally. But he decides unlike Gene Kelly in For Me And My Gal to turn things to his advantage. The war will be over in a few weeks he reasons, why not enlist and get great publicity as the biggest patriot in show business. That enlistment sets off a chain of events that ends in tragedy.

Speaking of Gene Kelly, if Bolero had been done at MGM instead of Paramount a decade or two later this film would have been great for him. Raft was a good dancer, but he was not a creative individual the way Kelly was. Look at what he did with An American In Paris, this could have been another film like that.

Still it's not bad, Raft and Lombard, make an exciting couple on the dance floor, especially doing that dance to an abbreviated version of Ravel's Bolero. There's also good performances by Frances Drake and Sally Rand as a couple of Raft's discarded dames and by up and coming Ray Milland as the English lord also interested in Lombard.

In other hands though, Bolero could have been a classic.

George Raft's character, Raoul, is embarrassed at a talent show as the film opens and he does his very fast Charleston - it really is a sight to see - and the crowd boos as he is pulled off stage by the "cane around the neck" method.

He vows to succeed at dancing, and finds a good female dancing partner, but she is demanding that she be his romantic partner as well. Hungry to continue the fame and cash, Raoul pretends that he likes her that way. One night when she quits in a jealous rage, in walks Helen Hathaway (Carole Lombard) and offers to be his dance partner. Raoul accepts on the condition that she pass an audition, and promptly shows the clingy partner the door.

One of the oddest scenes to somebody who doesn't know about the precode era is the scene where Helen auditions. She strips down to her underwear in Raoul's hotel room so she can freely move as Raft says that she could be naked for all he cared, this is strictly business. Six months later this would not have been allowed, but from about 1930-1934, scenes such as this were very common in film.

Helen and Raoul do become a famous dance team, all the time talking a little too much about how they do not care for each other romantically, that they are strictly business. Things look like they might be turning romantic for awhile. Then, while in France, the native Belgian Raoul, noticing all of the soldiers in the audience, stops mid performance to tell the audience he will be enlisting in the army tomorrow. Helen is impressed with his patriotism, only to find out it is all a stunt - Raoul says the war should last "two weeks tops", but will be great publicity after this little skirmish is over. This type of blatant manipulation repulses Helen and she walks out on the partnership and the building relationship. How will this all work out since we know WWI did not last just two weeks? Watch and find out.

Points of interest include Ray Milland with one of the silliest looking fake mustaches of all time as a wealthy suitor of Helen's, Carole Lombard early in her career when she was playing the tall elegant type, not the screwball comedienne, fan dancer Sally Rand doing an actual fan dance number, and of course George Raft being given an entire film in which to display his tremendously graceful dancing talents. Finally, there is William Frawley, later of I Love Lucy fame, as Raoul's brother and irascible agent.

I'd recommend it, if only to see Raft dance. Some movies that were actually about Raft as a dancer such as "Stolen Harmony" seemed to go to great trouble to NOT show Raft dancing. Why I'll never know.

"Bolero" is a pleasant little film....not one I'd rush out to see but one still worth seeing. It's particularly nice because although George Raft is known more for playing tough guys, here he's actually doing what he did best...dance.

When the film begins, Raoul (Raft) is working in a dance hall...dancing with old ladies for a pittance. He knows he's too good for that and soon find himself a dance partner and they hit it big in nightclubs. But there's a problem...Raoul always maintained that this was business but his partner is more interested in romance and her professionalism was lacking. Soon, he meets Helen (Carole Lombard) and she agees with him...it's business. And, not surprisingly, the act hits it even bigger...so big that Raoul has the money to do what he's drempt about...open his own nightclub. But a pesky little thing called WWI intervenes....so what's next?

The most interesting thing about this film for me was its Pre-Code sensibilities. Because Hollywood routinely ignored the old Production Code, a few shocking things occur in this one...such as a supporting actress being Sally Rand (doing a cleaned up version of her famous fan dance) and Raft with his hands on Lombard's boobs during the Bolero number! Shocking to imagine but things were pretty rique back before July, 1934!

Overall, a pleasant musical which is a tad better because again and again, the film surprised me by not using all the usual cliches and story elements. See the picture...see what I mean.