The story of a Boston dance teacher who gets shanghaied by buccaneers who might make his next steps be off the plank!
(83 min) Released 1936-05-22
Director: Lloyd Corrigan
Stars: Charles Collins, Frank Morgan, Steffi Duna
Russell Lewis ... dance director, Oscar nominated for "The Finale"
Adventure | Comedy | Music | Musical | Romance
Watched in color on Amazon Prime, full length; this is a public domain film.
See other Oscar nominees here. Russell Lewis has 3 films and 1 short as his IMDb credits, all as dance director: Becky Sharpe (1935, 1st color feature) and the other are not considered musicals. This is the 3rd 3-strip Technicolor feature, according to an IMDb trivia item.
The print quality is poor, nauseatingly blurry. Since Rita Hayworth is part of her family dance troupe here, billed as Royal Cansinos, and there was no specialty dance, I can only assume they were part of the larger ensemble. A couple of times I thought someone might be her, but never got close enough to be sure. I know what she looks like around this time, still with her original low hairline. It's still pretty low in Only Angels Have Wings (1939), as seen here:
The male lead, Charles Collins, dances well. He would have been a nice addition to some studio's roster of lead male dancers, but he made only 7 more movies in the next 36 years, and perhaps none as a dancer. The female lead, Steffi Duna, dances well also, but of her 26 films, only one other is listed in her Soundtracks credits.
The comedic cowards, Frank Morgan and Luis Alberni, lighten the mood a bit. Familiar face Jack La Rue is one of the villains; he provides menace and humor, as usual.
I find it strange that someone would invest in this property as the first 3-strip Technicolor musical. Never Astaire and Rogers at RKO. Perhaps this is partially why: if this did as badly at the box office as I suspect, RKO probably nixed any idea of converting F&G to color. (Plus they looked so grand in those big white rooms.)
The finale, the reason for the Best Dance Director Oscar nom, is pretty short for musicals of this era. A big musical finale is usually between 8 to 12 minutes; this is less than 4 minutes of dancing. The cape work was nice, but I'm sure I could nominate better scenes from this year.
If you watch this again, try a b/w print to catch La Cansino. And when you do, watch the dance class scenes. Future First Lady Pat Nixon is credited as one of those students.
Pioneer Pictures Corporation w/ distr. RKO, dir. Corrigan, 6-
My post on Oscar, Best Dance Direction, 1936-38
