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Dancing Co-Ed

1939, Movie, NR, 80 mins

Dancing Co-Ed: Review

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Lightweight, but amusing and tuneful, DANCING CO-ED was 19-year-old Turner's first starring role for MGM and showed off her legs (as well as those of others) to great advantage. Karns is a high-powered press agent (and when did anyone ever meet a low-powered press agent?) who launches a national contest to find the star for a new movie. Turner is planted in a college in the Midwest to be chosen in the fraudulent function, since there's no way they'll take a chance and get a non-pro. Turner is sent to to the school and, accompanied by Rutherford (who made GONE WITH THE WIND right after this job, going from the ridiculous to the sublime), Karns's secretary, she enrolls. Meanwhile, Karns is going across America conducting phony screen tests at various colleges. College newspaper editor Carlson suspects that the whole thing is a fake and threatens to do an expose in his publication. But by that time, he and Turner are in love and he need go no further when she confesses the truth to him. Carlson doesn't want her to appear at the contest so he has some pals kidnap her and keep her out of the way. In her place, Rutherford enters the contest and wins the chance for stardom in Hollywood. Lana decides to stay in the Midwest and marry Carlson. The very thin premise is not given more weight by the treatment accorded it, but the secondary players are uniformly excellent and Shaw, the most popular bandleader of the year, conducts his group in fine fashion. Shaw married Turner about two years later--the first of seven weddings for her and one among many for Shaw, as well. In a tiny bit as one of the students is Robert Walker, in his third small part before he moved on to become very successful in Hollywood. In another tiny bit is Constance Keane, before she changed her name and became the "Peek-a-boo girl" , Veronica Lake. Artie Shaw instrumentals: "Back Bay Shuffle," "At Sundown," "I'm Yours," "Nightmare," "Stealin' Apples," "Racket Rhythm"; song: "Jungle Drums" (Ernesto Lecuona, Carmen Lombardo, Charles O'Flynn). leave a comment
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