Dance, Girl, Dance

An unusual backstage musical where O'Hara, a budding ballerina, is forced to find work in burlesque houses. She becomes a stooge for stripper Ball while both compete for the affections of playboy Hayward. Ball plays it crassy and brassy all the way, hip-grinding to stardom while O'Hara is the butt of on-stage jokes as she attempts to perform ballet for lowbrow audiences jeering and taunting her artistic efforts. At one point she stops mid-way during an act and reads the riot act to the mostly males present, a hortatory tirade that seems out-of-place in this otherwise humdrum and hokey programmer. Today the film is a feminist cult product, especially because it was ...