It's great to find this Dorothy Arzner movie (she was hired as the director when Roy Del Ruth had a dispute with producer Erich Pommer and resigned) available today on an excellent Warner DVD, although one has the feeling that the somewhat strained, repetitive and even rather dull and boring at times Maureen O'Hara/Louis Hayward story is merely a sop for the censor and that the movie's real appeal is actually directed at third-billed Lucille Ball who is handed all the torchy dialogue and all the sexy stagework. Ball rises to the occasion with bells on and – like the movie's own impatient audiences – we too tend to suffer through O'Hara's scenes (although she doesn't outstay her welcome half as long as Hayward does) and wait impatiently for Ball's return. Yes, thank heavens for Lucille Ball who spices up what would otherwise be a rather dreary screenplay about the ingénue who wants to be a great dancer and the totally irrelevant but even more dreary story of the tipsy millionaire playboy whose wife has understandably divorced him. Similarly, while the burlesque numbers with Lucy are super, super- attractive, I cannot say the same about the ho-hum attempts at "modern" dance. The choreography is uninspired.

The Lucille Ball of "Dance Girl Dance" is a mean, nasty character-Selfish, vindictive, and quite trashy. While Lucy wasn't so nice in "The Big Street", you did understand the selfish nightclub singer she was playing, and you got to see her repent. Here, Lucy does not repent; She just gets meaner and meaner. That would be O.K., but the storyline surrounding her is totally absurd. Maureen O'Sullivan is the top billed star of this drama with a few musical numbers thrown in. She is a chorus girl in a gambling joint that is busted, leaving her and fellow dancer Lucy out of a job. O'Sullivan wants to become a ballerina, and returns to the troop run by the very masculine Maria Ouspenskaya, seen in a man's suit, much like the film's director, Dorothy Arzner. Ball becomes the star in a burlesque show, and in her effort to help out former roommate O'Sullivan has her hired as the "stooge" in her act---a classy dancer that will get the audience booing and begging Ball's "Bubbles" to return. The act is a hit (with the on-screen audience, not the viewer), and Ball ascends to stardom while O'Sullivan makes money becoming a huge joke. As O'Sullivan gets some off-stage publicity, Ball becomes vindictive, and before you know it the two are getting into it right in front of the audience.This ridiculous set-up expects us to believe that a burlesque show like this could be a smash hit and pack in high society. Yes, there were burlesque shows on Broadway in the 1940's ("Sons O' Guns", "Star and Garter"), but those were the few and the exception, classy all-star revues with a variety of acts, not just burlesque. The fact that this gets so ugly with its boring oh-so-sweet "Butter wouldn't melt in her mouth" heroine, and the vicious Lucy really defys reality. Ball's first big number, "My Mama Told Me There'd Be Days Like This" is alright, but the other numbers are poor, and the sight of the unfortunate O'Sullivan fluttering around like a ballerina is silly as well. Louis Hayward and Ralph Bellamy are the poor unfortunate men involved in this mess which only comes alive in the fight scene between the two women. I must admit though while watching Lucy's strip number, I fantasized about her character in "The Fuller Brush Girl" coming out afterwards with her overlong eye lashes and strange hoochie coochie dance to get the audience riled up even more.

Aspiring dancers try to make it big in New York City. This is a forgettable movie that can't decide if it wants to be a comedy, a drama, or a musical when it grows up. A good cast is wasted. Ball is the main attraction here, energetically singing and shaking her groove thing as a dancer named Bubbles. O'Hara, playing Miss Goody Two-Shoes, isn't given much to do, but handles herself well. Hayward is underwhelming as a ladies' man. Bellamy fares better as a decent fellow who's smitten with O'Hara. Arzner, while historically important as a female director in Hollywood, fails to make this interesting. Despite the cast, it feels like a B movie.

I love classical Hollywood as much as anyone I know, but I am also aware that the films are often mechanical and emotionally distant. Very few reach the level of Dance, Girl, Dance. The plot is great. It is not exactly original, but it seemed that way to me. I was entirely hypnotized. This is due to the direction, characterizations, and acting. This is one of the few Hollywood films of the era directed by a woman, Dorothy Arzner. Generally, you can't tell this fact, except for in the climactic scene of the film, where Maureen O'Hara delivers a powerful feminist speech. The direction is amazing, but it's definitely subtle and sometimes hard to catch. All the characters in this film, especially the lead two, are very well realized. They're people, and we believed them. The acting is the best of all. Lucille Ball may be best known for her television show, but she was a great movie actress, as well. I can't say that I've seen too many of her films, but it would shock me if she was ever better than she is in Dance, Girl, Dance. She is the spark of the film, and Maureen O'Hara is the emotional core. I think that her part represents one of the best female characters to be found in the cinema. O'Hara is simply fabulous as a ballet dancer who has to lower her artistic standards to make a living. And, like I mentioned before, listen for that speech she gives near the end of the film. I hadn't heard of this film before. I had never heard of Dorothy Arzner. I love the feeling that I've made a major cinematic discovery. This is most definitely one of those. 10/10.