Those Who Dance

1930 film by William Beaudine

April 19, 1930 (1930-04-19) (U.S.)

(Limited release)

Running time

75 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglish

Those Who Dance is a 1930 American Pre-Code crime film produced and distributed by Warner Bros., directed by William Beaudine, and starring Monte Blue, Lila Lee, William "Stage" Boyd and Betty Compson. It is a remake of the 1924 silent film Those Who Dance starring Bessie Love and Blanche Sweet.^[1] The story, written by George Kibbe Turner, was based on events that occurred among gangsters in Chicago.

Plot

A police detective (Monte Blue) is after a famous gangster (William Boyd). The detective disguises himself and lives incognito in the house of the gangster by pretending to be an out-of-town gangster who has just murdered someone. The detective pretends to be the sweetheart of a girl (Lila Lee) who suspects her brother has been framed for murder by Monte Blue. Blue's moll (Betty Compson) is also in on the conspiracy as she became fed up with his cheating, lying and mistreatment. The life of Lee's brother, who has been sentenced to death in the electric chair, depends on their getting evidence against Boyd.

Cast

Lila Lee as Nora Brady
Monte Blue as Dan Hogan
William "Stage" Boyd as Diamond Joe Jennings
Betty Compson as Kitty
William Janney as Tim Brady
Wilfred Lucas as Big Ben Benson
Cornelius Keefe as Pat Hogan
DeWitt Jennings as Captain O'Brien
Gino Corrado as Tony
Richard Cramer as Steve Daley
Harry Semels as Hood
Nick Thompson as Hood

Foreign-language versions

Foreign-language versions were made in Spanish (Los Que Danzan), German (The Dance Goes On or Der Tanz geht weiter), and French Counter Investigation (Contre-Enquête). They are all apparently lost.^{[citation needed]}

Pre-Code material

The film contains a lot of Pre-Code material. For example, Lila Lee's character is called "a professional virgin" and two unmarried couples live together. There is a reference to homosexuality where a man is vaguely called being "that way" about Tim Brady (played by William Janney), etc.

Preservation

The complete film survives in 16 mm. It was remastered in this format by Associated Artists Productions in 1956 and included in a package of vintage feature films syndicated to television stations. A 16 mm print is housed at the Wisconsin Center for Film & Theater Research.^[2] Another print exists at the Library of Congress.^[3]

References

^ Munden, Kenneth White (1997). The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States: Feature Films, 1921–1930. University of California Press. p. 802. ISBN 0-520-20969-9.
^ "Those Who Dance (1930)". Wisconsin Center for Film and Theatre Research, Feature Film Database. Archived from the original on July 14, 2018. Retrieved July 14, 2018.
^ The American Film Institute (1978). Catalog of Holdings: The American Film Institute Collection and The United Artists Collection at The Library of Congress. Washington. p. 183. OCLC 5102838.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)