I noticed that the sound was pretty weird in this early talky--I think anyone would since it's so obvious. It was badly out of sync at times and it was kind of funny. It does not appear to be just a silent with sound added, as the film is VERY voice-intensive throughout. It looks like they shot it like a talking picture but either lost the sound track or added one later very haphazardly. BUT, on the positive side, so many of the films from 1927-1929 with sound are practically unintelligible when you try to watch them today--and "Dance Hall" is easier to understand than most. Too often, you can barely hear the actors because the sound technology was so bad--here they are mostly very loud and very clear--mostly. A few of the actors did mumble their lines a bit. And, I still wish they'd captioned this film before showing it on Turner Classic Movies.
Tommy (Arthur Lake) loves to dance and has won a lot of trophies with Gracie (Olive Borden). He loves her but is so tongue-tied he's never told her. When a slick aviator blows into town (Ralph Emerson), the pilot isn't afraid to express his feelings to Gracie and she's soon smitten with him. You almost feel sorry for Tommy, though he is a bit of a weenie and never speaks up about his feelings. And, he's too much of a nice guy to say anything when the pilot confides in him his feelings for Gracie. And, he whines a bit and needed to 'man up' so to speak. So will Tommy ever profess his love for Gracie? And, what will happen to the pilot? Tune in and see.
I actually thought this film wasn't quite as bad as most of the reviewers said. I guess this is because I've seen tons of 1927-1929 films and realize they can be a lot worse than this one! This isn't exactly a glowing review but in context, "Dance Hall" isn't a bad film at all. A good film? Well, not exactly--but a nice little time-passer, definitely.
A few final observations. Arthur Lake is known to old movie fans as Dagwood from the Blondie films--so if you are wondering where you saw him before, this is probably it. Also, the soda fountain routine was a variation on one Laurel & Hardy did a few months earlier in "Men 'O War". I wonder if some others used it before them.
Tommy (Arthur Lake) loves to dance and has won a lot of trophies with Gracie (Olive Borden). He loves her but is so tongue-tied he's never told her. When a slick aviator blows into town (Ralph Emerson), the pilot isn't afraid to express his feelings to Gracie and she's soon smitten with him. You almost feel sorry for Tommy, though he is a bit of a weenie and never speaks up about his feelings. And, he's too much of a nice guy to say anything when the pilot confides in him his feelings for Gracie. And, he whines a bit and needed to 'man up' so to speak. So will Tommy ever profess his love for Gracie? And, what will happen to the pilot? Tune in and see.
I actually thought this film wasn't quite as bad as most of the reviewers said. I guess this is because I've seen tons of 1927-1929 films and realize they can be a lot worse than this one! This isn't exactly a glowing review but in context, "Dance Hall" isn't a bad film at all. A good film? Well, not exactly--but a nice little time-passer, definitely.
A few final observations. Arthur Lake is known to old movie fans as Dagwood from the Blondie films--so if you are wondering where you saw him before, this is probably it. Also, the soda fountain routine was a variation on one Laurel & Hardy did a few months earlier in "Men 'O War". I wonder if some others used it before them.