Dames (1934)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Directors:

Ray Enright
Busby Berkeley

Writers:

Robert Lord (story) &
Delmer Daves (story) ...

Release Date:

1 September 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical

Plot:

Multi millinaire Ezra Ounce wants to start a campain against 'filthy' forms of entertainment, like Broadway-Shows...

Plot Keywords:

Show Girl | Staten Island New York City | Theater | Broadway New York City | Dancer

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Joan Blondell	...	Mabel Anderson
Dick Powell	...	James 'Jimmy' Higgens
Ruby Keeler	...	Barbara Hemingway, aka Joan Grey
Zasu Pitts	...	Matilda Ounce Hemingway (misspelled Mathilda in opening credits)
Guy Kibbee	...	Horace Peter Hemingway
Hugh Herbert	...	Ezra Ounce
Arthur Vinton	...	Bulger, Ounce's Bodyguard
Phil Regan	...	Johnny Harris, Songwriter
Arthur Aylesworth	...	Train Conductor
Johnny Arthur	...	Billings, Ounce's Secretary
Leila Bennett	...	Laura, Matilda's Maid
Berton Churchill	...	Harold Ellsworthy Todd
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bess Flowers	...	(scenes deleted)

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1936) | USA:Approved (PCA #103)

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Vitaphone Corporation, The

Trivia:

In the "Dames" number, Dick Powell as a Broadway producer doesn't want to see composer George Gershwin, but when asked by his secretary about seeing Miss Dubin, Miss Warren and Miss Kelly, he lets them enter his office. Al Dubin and 'Harry Warren' wrote the music, and Orry-Kelly was costume designer of this picture.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: While Joan Blondell is singing "The Girl at the Ironing Board", a stage hand is seen in the background hanging a clothesline.

Quotes:

Barbara Hemingway: I'm free, white, and 21. I love to dance AND I'm going to dance.

Movie Connections:

Featured in And She Learned About Dames (1934)

Soundtrack:

When You Were a Smile on Your Mother's Lips (and a Twinkle in Your Daddy's Eye)

When one Ruby Keeler isn't enough...try Dr. Silver's Golden Elixir

"Dames" is a mindless Depression musical starring Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Joan Blondell, Zasu Pitts, Hugh Herbert and Guy Kibbee. Herbert plays Ezra Ounce, part of the moral right and president of the Ezra Ounce Foundation of American Morals who wants to stop filth, and one way to do this is to close those decadent Broadway shows. Guy Kibbee and Zasu Pitts are the Hemingways, his relatives, who are to be the recipients of $10 million of Ezra's money if they are deemed worthy. Unfortunately, their daughter Barbara (Ruby Keeler) is a dancer in love with a 13th cousin, Jimmy Higgens (Dick Powell), the rotter of the family, who wants to put on a Broadway show and feature Barbara. Papa Hemingway is blackmailed into backing said show by Mabel (Joan Blondell), who took over his train compartment en route to New York and threatens to tell the world something went on between them if he doesn't back the production.

The film features Powell singing "I Only Have Eyes For You" in his pretty tenor and some amazing choreography by Busby Berkeley. Thanks to the triple strong version of his 79% proof hiccup remedy, Dr. Silver's Golden Elixir, Uncle Ezra and the Hemingways watch the show thoroughly bombed. And that's really the only way to see "Dames." Berkeley's choreography is like an acid trip, with those wild kaleidoscope patterns he does. For "I Only Have Eyes For You," Powell sings it to Keeler, and then the entire female chorus hold photos of Ruby in front of them, later appearing as brunettes with her hairstyle and in the same white dress she wears. Keeler becomes the iris of an eye, and at the end of the number, a huge puzzle formation of her face appears.

Why one Keeler isn't enough is anybody guess because one is nearly too many. A team of galloping horses doesn't make as much noise as she does when dancing. Not for nothing do they call it hoofing. She's pretty as a picture but her acting is strictly from a drama school found inside of a matchbook. I suspected in "42nd Street" that her numbers were edited to hide the fact that she was behind the beat (as she was every time a song began) - in "Dames," she is unable to even talk in a correct song rhythm, so that answers that.

Dick Powell, who as a producer would help Sam Peckinpah and Aaron Spelling get their starts, was a perfect musical comedy juvenile. It wasn't until the 1940s when he escaped and completely turned his career around by becoming a film tough guy. Later, he went into directing and finally launched a highly profitable producing career as one of the founders of Four Star Productions.

Joan Blondell brings great energy to her role, and she's adorable with her blond hair, blue eyes, and round face. She couldn't sing worth a darn but unfortunately is called upon to do so in "Dames." At the time of the filming, she was supposedly 7 months pregnant with her son Norman (by husband George Barnes), but it's not noticeable. Two years after the release of "Dames," she married her costar Powell; he adopted Norman in 1938.

One thing troubles me about "Dames" - Keeler is late to opening night, and Blondell has to do her first number. It's assumed she's not even coming. What would they have done with "I Only Have Eyes For You" and all those Rubys without the original? I don't know. It's an interesting question to ponder, if you do any thinking at all while watching "Dames."