Dancing in the Dark (1949)

Crappy film

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

This looks like it was meant to be a June Have film...one that she turned down.Dreadful film. Only worth watching for William Powell and people like Adolph Menjou. Mark Stevens - not so hot. Betsy Drake. The worst. Can't act sing or dance. Whines well. Magnificent cleavage, though. Yeah, right. You could play Scrabble on her 'chest'. No way any guy was going to wait two years for her. That dancing! Snakes on a plane.Really, Bill Powell is the only reason to see the film, except to see how badly a play can be transfered to film in one case such as this - badly vs THE BANDWAGON just a few years later which is a masterpiece.

To the person, I think her name was Blanche, who complained in her first sentence posted here that "Dancing in the Dark" was shot in black and white, I think she might want to get her television checked--the version broadcast on the Fox Movie Channel was in Technicolor. Also, I did not think Betsy Drake was that bad. Neither did Cary Grant. He was married to her at the time--and for the ten years after the movie was released. Ms. Drake's singing, on the other hand, was not so good. She was dubbed with someone else's voice, and it looked like they used a double for her in the dancing scenes as well. Betsy Drake is still among the living, by the way. She is now in London having given up acting to become a writer and a psychologist. Cary Grant left Ms. Drake for Sophia Loren, who, as it happened, would not marry him. She preferred Carlo Ponti.

Betsy Drake must have been "Dancing in the Dark" in this 1949 film starring William Powell, Mark Stevens, Adolph Menjou and Gene Hersholt. Black and white with not much budget, 20th Century Fox apparently used this movie musical to promote "The Prince of Foxes" (which they also didn't bother to shoot in color) rather than Betsy Drake. Nobody was doing her any favors by putting her in this film.William Powell plays a much hated has-been movie star named Emery Slade. Down on his luck and too proud to accept charity, he convinces Melville Crossman, the head of 20th Century Fox, that he can sign a Broadway star to a contract for a big film (not this one). The star is the daughter of his former show business partner. Fox puts him on as an agent and sends him to New York with a publicist, Bill Davis (Mark Stevens). Bill is in love with an aspiring performer, Julie Clarke (Drake). But she won't marry him until she's had her chance. Unbeknownst to Bill, Julie goes to see Slade to try and get an audition for the movie, not realizing that an item about it in the trade papers isn't really true. Drunk and half asleep, when Emery wakes up and sees Julie, he thinks she's an old girlfriend. There's a good reason for that. Maybe you can guess what it is. He did. Anyway, Emery discourages the Broadway star from taking the role and works with Julie so that Crossman will cast her.There are a couple of problems with this film. The first one is that it looks cheap. The second one is Betsy Drake. A pretty woman, Drake was only a fair actress, a non-dancer and a non-singer. So what is she doing in a musical playing an aspiring musical performer? Good question.William Powell is wasted here, as is Mark Stevens.At the end of the movie, there is a big premiere for "The Prince of Foxes." Crossman's office was apparently a replica of Zanuck's office, and name Melville Crossman was apparently a pseudonym that Darryl F. Zanuck used when he wrote scripts. I hope he didn't write this one.

I adore William Powell, and while this movie is not one of his best he does a fair job of portraying an unlikeable, self-centered has-been. Unfortunately, Betsy Drake fails to rise to his level, even if it isn't one of the highest of his career. It's difficult to imagine that Powell's character would look twice at someone as non-descript as Ms. Drake, with a personality akin to lukewarm oatmeal. This part would have benefitted enormously from a Barbara Stanwyck, or another actress with strength. As it is, there is no sizzle, no logical motivation for the course of action, and no empathy between leads. I hate to admit it, but I could only hang in there for 1/2 of the film, and if I couldn't watch Mr. Powell for the full length of time, I highly doubt that any but a truly crazed fan could. Give it a miss.