Marvelous movie. They seemed to have pretty good control of sound by then, and seemed to have "released" the camera from its box enclosures --- lots of camera movement, crane shots, even had the camera follow the actors as they walked. All with that new-fangled sound equipment! Acting was actually very "modern", realistic. I felt like this was a true window into the 1920s. Thanks SO much for posting this!
I love music and films from the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, and early 1950s, which was precisely the time line of the Golden age of films and music, and it ended in the mid 1950s when the rock'n'roll age began, and then more big changes in the late 1960s with the revolutionary years (in films, music, and social culture). It had become a very different world by then from pre-mid 1950s
Very true..you can immediately recognize the 70's by the horrible film and caustic sound they used....gritty is too nice a word to describe most of these movies and I lived during this time.....movies prior to the 60s...only worthwhile viewing for the most part.😎
That's wonderful. I love Nancy Carroll and have a rare bit of her lost first sound film, Close Harmony including opening titles and her big production number. If you are ever in the Portland Or. area, would love to show it to you. Stars Buddy Rogers whom I once met and shook hands with.
A film about codependency, before there was even a term for it. What a tragic story - you could never call this heart wrenching situation a comedy... Beautifully acted and filmed, it's left me feeling sadder than I've felt in a long time...
What a sublime, astonishingly great movie. So entertaining and moving. Hard to believe that talkies as an art form were just beginning. This is very special.
A really wonderful film. Great central characters. Lots of heart. Comedy lives well with tragedy. Lots of dramatic counterpoint. The art direction and camerawork really brought it to life. I love this film.
This was Oscar Levant's first feature movie, in a role he had played on Broadway with the original title "Burlesque." The female lead was Barbara Stanwyck.
Good heavens! I never even knew Stanwyck had been on Broadway, much less in a singing and dancing role. I did not recognize Oscar Levant anywhere in this movie. Guess I need to got to IMDb to check out the credits. surely he is the piano player?
Gets me every time 😭😭 somehow it pulls you in. Rooting for these 2 in the train station as she makes tea on the bench.(all the people reading or doing things on the train before electronic devices. ) A giver always the sandwich fore tells their marriage. Remembering this is prohibition era. Cartoons of little girls trying to bring their daddy home from the bar. Sanctity of marriage and being human. I still can't accept he doesn't contact his wife once after going.. More forgiving tahan me.. but the end is happy, mostly for him as he said. Even more tragic is he only lived another 4 years or so dying when the car he was in was hit by a train. He was only 43. Thanks 🍕 PizzaFlix🎬
LOL right?! That set looks like it was built on the cheap, straight off the high school stage, which is a contrast to so many other scenes in the movie which were elaborate (the Follies number). Such a great movie though.
(guest) To think that in 1929, my Mother was 8 years old ! My Father was 10 ! I was " minus " 19 ! The great Depression was yet to happen... then WW2.. My Mother dodged bombs as she tried to get home through the 🔥Coventry Blitz🔥... My Father flew Spitfires & Hurricanes in the Battle Of Britain : he nearly didn't make it when the Luftwaffe riddled his plane with bullets......those sad times left scars on so may folks' lives. 😢🇬🇧🌹🎼🤔🌿🇬🇧
Hal Skelly danced great. Wonder if he would have been the scare crow in the Wizard of Oz if he wasn't tragically killed in the train/truck accident. He had the moves!
Great movie!! If you love back-stage tragi-comedies like I do, this is one of the best I've seen. Real vaudeville, burlesque, even Ziegfeld Follies' numbers! It's a tear jerker, gotta warn you, but the performances are pure entertainment. Makes me think of Buster Keaton, but must be a re-telling of no telling how many comics' lives sacrificed on the altar of the stage, all for a laugh.
This was such a great movie. I loved the vaudeville acts. I honestly expected the ending to be when he collapsed onstage, and that he was dead. I've known alcoholics and this guy made me cry because he portrayed it so well. I guess we are to draw our own conclusions as to what happened after, since she said she was staying with him. I choose to believe he quit the drink, and became a success again, only without letting so called fair weather friends influence him anymore, since his wife proved she was really the only one (besides Lefty) who really cared about him.
Surprisingly grim at times, but that only added to the feel of burlesque. Hal Skelly and Oscar Levant were both in the original BURLESQUE stage production, but Barbara Stanwyck in the lead declined to appear in the film version. Glad to see Babe Kane in the "figgity" number - she appeared in quite a few films but never broke into stardom (too specialized). Richard Whiting was the composer of the numbers before he made it big with hit after hit. According to Parrish & Pitts in THE GREAT HOLLYWOOD MUSICAL PICTURES, the film was also released as a silent (not unusual for that time period, even for musicals). One of the Ziegfeld numbers was shot in two-color Technicolor, although I didn't see that in this print
Dear Pizza, You have outdone yourself on this one. I was glued to this and even teared up over it during the many sad parts. I imagine this type of relationship existed during those hard times in this hard entertainment world. Thank you for showing it for us!
(1:22:00) "Meet my friend, Jerry Evans" ... It's Oscar Levant at twenty-two! (Lol, just like the time-mark.) Oscar was the piano player for "Burlesque", the wildly popular Broadway musical this movie's based on. 🎶💃🎶
Thrilled I ended up watching it again!!!! Was not that long ago I did the first but totally forgot the Happy Ending! Not a Sappy one either because of the way the last few lines were can out, for Better or Worse! Marriage is Not disposable, There are people have proven that not enough movies are about that. If I ever get that chance I will live an extra 30 to 40 years for sure! xoxo
George Burns and Gracie were fabulous back in their programs. Another thing about George Burns was that he really lived in up with the jazz and the flappers in the 1920s. He even recreated a version of it in the 1980s film "18 again" when his mind and soul had been swapped with grandson Charlie Schlatter. Schlatter (with Burns' mind in him) recreated a roaring twenties style party at his college in the film. With most of that movie's audience being younger though, I wonder how much of the 1920s stuff went over their heads
The Dance of Life, released USA 16 August 1929, UK November 1929 (London). Hal Skelly as Ralph 'Skid' Johnson; Nancy Carroll as Bonny Lee King; Dorothy Revier as Sylvia Marco; Ralph Theodore (as Ralph Theadore) as Harvey Howell; Charles D. Brown as Lefty Miller; Al St. John as Bozo; May Boley as Gussie; Oscar Levant as Jerry Evans; Gladys DuBois as Miss Sherman; James Quinn as Jimmy; Jim Farley as Champ Melvin; George Irving, Minister; Gordona Bennet, Amazon Chorus Girl; Miss La Reno, Amazon Chorus Girl; Corra Beach (as Cora Beach Shumway), Amazon Chorus Girl; Charlotte Ogden, Amazon Chorus Girl; Kay Deslys, Amazon Chorus Girl; Magda Blom, Amazon Chorus Girl; Thelma McNeil (as Thelma McNeal), Gilded Girl; John Cromwell, Speakeasy Doorkeeper; A. Edward Sutherland, Attendant; Theresa Allen, Chorine; Lorena Carr, The Lady of Holland; Jean Douglas, Amazon Chorus Girl; Richard 'Skeets' Gallagher (Undetermined Role); Marjorie Kane, Performer: 'The Flippity Flop'; William H. O'Brien, Room Service - Waiter #86; Guy Oliver, Telegraph Clerk.
I can see you've been crying Bonnie, I can tell, I've seen you cry a lot. She helped him out when he was broke, dealt with a drunkard on her honeymoon, got forgotten during his most successful time. So now that she found someone to really care about her, he is falling apart and everyone should be feeling sorry for him while she has to pick up the pieces. He is right, he got better, she got worst. She should have started a new life, love stinks, there is usually one that suffers and one that takes advantage of another's kindness. Like the man who was along with Skip for support said, all you need to do is love each other, it is as simple as that. Women are not supported to be long suffering doormats by saps, it is not healthy.
She was nothing but a doormat for the man who was nothing but a child. The movie ending........he stayed a drunk that couldn't keep a job, she had 6 kids and they fought every "blessed" day and taught their kids that life stinks. It was a good movie, but romance had nothing to do with it!
@@juliat6221 That wasn't the movie's ending. There is no definite ending. She decides to stick by him, for better or worse, and what happens afterward was left to interpretation, which is the best type of art.
Pretty great film..real vaudeville at its finest. My Aunt Margie told me when I was very young. That there was a great Uncle who was in vaudeville in our family. I wonder if that was my grandfather's twin brother she was talking about. She never elaborated and I never asked but have always wondered. This film is packed with a great storyline of wonderful substance. Thank you so much for sharing this gemstone!💎
This was an excellent movie and one of my favorite if I am wanting to visit the late 1920s. Codependent relationship with our stars, but they loved suffered and" loved each other and got a little bit of sleep".
Better than I expected. I never heard of Nancy Carroll... but I'll be looking for her other films. My only complaint is that some of the vaudeville production numbers went on too long. Certainly worth watching.
@@catholiccrusader5328 Yes. Nineteen-twenties skirts hit at knee bottom, never higher. Called "short," into their resurgence during WW2 when cloth needed for the war led again to higher hems. In 1947 the postwar "new look" sent hems back to mid calf length. Then from the early 1960s, the progressively higher hems were dubbed "mini-." Then in 1970s a neo-1930s "midi-" skirt length revived. Since then it's eclectically whatever a lady wills, for example just long pants, varying with the occasion and season.
I was so sad the whole time that she married an alcoholic. 😢💔 I know what that's like, and it's no fun😢at all ! But it was a pretty good show, well put together, good acting. The zig field follies was a lot of fun to watch. The costuming was amazing! I wonder if they've ever tried to colorize that. Probably not, it would take away from. The 1929 feel of the show🎉 Thank you
Well if that makes you sad think about this: 100 years from now everybody that’s alive on the planet today will be dead…And there will be 7 billion new people in our place.
@@jungleno. I do think about that, too.... so you gotta make your life count. It's such a small amount of time... I wonder what people 100 years from now will think about our clothes, and slang... not to mention our values. It would be interesting.
"For better or worse. Better for me and worse for you." Maybe if more of us thought this way we would stay married realizing that maybe we're actually getting the better part of the deal from our beloved than we are giving in return. How many arguments begin with accusations of "you never" or "you always" instead of "how can we make this better for the two of us?"
is there anyone out there who remembers Oscar Levant ( see 1;08:55 ) He was a regular on the old Jack Paar show years ago. He was quite the character. Played the piano and smoked constantly. Nervous as a cat. Recognized him immediately. He wrote these books about himself and his paranoia. Look forward to any comments.
Good eye! I didn't notice him until 1:22:00. I know Oscar Levant from 1950s movies where he plays the piano during New York cocktail parties ... smoking and making cynical comments. Always loved him. Surprised to see him here at age 22 ...already a Broadway success. Just read his full bio tonight. 💔
Oh, clearly at 1:22...I do remember him on various shows...he always had a cigarette and was a doleful character. He did so many things...composer, conductor, game show host. He was a genius.
He was more than just a piano player. He was best friends with the Gershwins especially George. He was renown for giving concerts especially playing George's Rhapsody in Blue and Concerto in F minor. Starred with Gene Kelly in An American in Paris, The Barkleys of Broadway with Astaire and Rogers and others.
He was a great pianist that started in the mid twenties playing piano in Ben Bernie's Orch. Sound films from 1925 of this band are on you tube. Sweet Georgia Brown is one, on DeForest Phonofilm. I saw him play a tune on a Jack Benny show. It was sad to see him all over the hill, trying to play like Gershwin.. but it was just a stuffy hodge podge. Still I respected him for his gifted musical life and talent.
They definitely did not know a man in India would be watching this film sitting at his dining table munching samosas and sipping tea --just 90 years after it's release; and that the man in the East would be feeling so indebted and thankful to the West. (Yes, yes; I know the bad things too-they all get outweighed by the good ones.)
OH LALA SUPER MERCI POUR CE CHEF D'OEUVRE D'ÉMOTIONS ET D'UNE HUMANITE RARE QUELLE LIBERTÉ ARTISTIQUE CHAPEAU BAS À TOUT L'ÉQUIPE AU DELÀ DES ÉTOILES !..
This really is such an important movie...the start of sound and the end of legit vaudeville. I was interested at about hour 1:20 :00 when Bonny was back in NY at the Ambassador Hotel...we all know that Valentino was staying there when he took ill. Since the film was made at Paramount in Astoria, Queens, this may very well be the Ambassador... A few years after this film "Skid" was killed when he was in a vehicle hit by a train (some reports say he was driving a truck looking for a lost dog, other say he was a passenger...NYTimes said a woman was in a car with him was critically injured. ) So many tragedies...
'fire away, zeppelin': brutal! Nancy Carroll's maneuverability in the dance shows how well balanced the female physique is; in her case: Excellent - she's quite the babe 💜💜💜. Sad, sad story, tho': Part @ the end reminded me of Bozo the Clown's last show, which I watched little realizing that he was soon 2 die 👁️.
I love Nancy! This may be her best film. She could sing, dance and act. And that sweet coo of a singing voice!! All her own! She's got a stunning number in Paramount on Parade, she made a year after this. It may be on youtube. Find it. You will love it. The number is called "Dancing to Save Your Sole". 😊
If she's sore right after getting off the horse just wait until tomorrow. Muscles you did not know you had. If you ride often enough it doesn't hurt. I really love these old movies. They actually have plots! Human stories. CGI and superheroes aren't my cup of tea. While I'm in awe of the technology of today, the old films were groundbreaking in their day. Not easy to find a pre-1930s talkie. Those making movies back then were the real pioneers of the industry. And what an industry! Meant to entertain the masses and maybe pass on a message about the resilience of the human spirit.
It amazes me how the 1930's-style light musical comedy was hatched fully formed & almost perfected - seemingly at their first try. How did they get a handle on incorporating sound dialog, so instantly?? It's miraculous. There's no way to overstate the $$ investment, coordination of technologists and production & film crew and actors, and the learning curve for all involved, to make the very first talkies work, the way this one does. And no one knew yet if this would all turn out to be a passing fad! Was it even worth equipping all the theatres for sound? What a risky investment - they wouldn't even settle on a single standard of sound technology for almost a decade. At first, talkies from different studios required different projectors!
Because, historically in production the films had written scripts and dialogue that wasn’t recorded. It was simple to transfer over to sound once the equipment was perfected.
@@goforbroke4428 I wasn't talking about the work itself - light theatre was still a big thing, no one had to invent it, and actors & writers often crossed over from it. I was referring to the entire transformation of how a movie was made, notable the 100 and 1 technical things that were later taken for granted: Mic placement, suppression of unwanted sounds, foley-type enhancements to the original shots, new demands placed on established actors including speaking technique and mic-awareness, synchronization, set acoustics, etc, etc, etc. Despite the old silent studios being confronted with so many new considerations, requirements - and newly invented equipment that wasn't even commercialized yet! - they seemed to have pulled it all together, lickety split. Amazing.
This is sad. This man betrayed his wife and was busy drugging it up and partying, and he could care less about her but she ends up coming back to him just to prop him up and losing her chance at a good marriage with a healthy and decent man and a new life. It's sickening and a good example of how women, especially, in their misguided caretaking ways end up enabling drug addicts and losers - even giving their hard earned money to dangerous and crazy people on the streets and subways, thinking they are being do-gooders. There are many reasons why most men don't respect women and this is one of them. Men don't respect women when they can get away with everything, and be the biggests losers, addicts, and violent crazies yet there will always be women giving them money and tolerating their behaviours. Women need to GROW UP and realize that men don't think like them and men wouldn't put up with the shit that women accept. Remember the Will Smith incident where he smacked that so-called comedian for continually insulting Smith's wife? Remember the woman who went all virtuous and said on media "use your words" as in not your fists? She is another example of a misguided woman who does not understand men. Words will go through one ear out the other and it's actions that matter! Women blah blah all the time yet still accept shit from men, and men know this!. Will Smith's punch on that lame "comedian" especially in front of a mass audience was a much more effective deterrence to future insults than a bunch of words. We talk a lot about the ways that men need to change to better themselves as human beings in the world (yes, men are the leaders in crimve and overall bad behaviour) but it's not politically correct to talk about women's enabling behaviours, lack of common sense in dress and behaviour with regards to safety, and shrinking violet behaviours (as if lowering down in your seat and staring at your phone will deter a predator or make you invisible). Men tend to be the majority of predators but many women also make it easy for these criminals by not having confidence, education, and preparation to deal with situations and block the predators. Both men and women are still very infantile in this world and while it seems that men are at a higher level of infantility or primitiveness, the women are not far behind. We all need to grow up and change into better humans where situations like the infantile drugging and partying and co-dependence shown in this movie are not tolerated anymore.
To think these actors would be 115 years old or so if they were still alive today. Early vaudeville was just in its infancy before Bob Hope took to the stage.
I thought this was beautiful, and very well portrayed. There was a very poignant dance number to a haunting tune that was reprised three times - at 27.40. 58.07. and at the very end, 1.49.26. Does anyone know what the tune was? And many thanks Pizzaflix for these great films!
Head and shoulders above most musical from 1929, sound and camera work was first rate. Nancy Carroll was a WOW! Skid Johnson was the original baggy pants comic but a much younger Joe E Brown would have been an improvement in the role
Marvelous movie. They seemed to have pretty good control of sound by then, and seemed to have "released" the camera from its box enclosures --- lots of camera movement, crane shots, even had the camera follow the actors as they walked. All with that new-fangled sound equipment! Acting was actually very "modern", realistic. I felt like this was a true window into the 1920s. Thanks SO much for posting this!
I love music and films from the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, and early 1950s, which was precisely the time line of the Golden age of films and music, and it ended in the mid 1950s when the rock'n'roll age began, and then more big changes in the late 1960s with the revolutionary years (in films, music, and social culture). It had become a very different world by then from pre-mid 1950s
Interesting review...tx🍿🤗
Very true..you can immediately recognize the 70's by the horrible film and caustic sound they used....gritty is too nice a word to describe most of these movies and I lived during this time.....movies prior to the 60s...only worthwhile viewing for the most part.😎
The film is very clear.
@@dsb7925why did the 70s have those particular issues?
Great upload. I have to see this. My great grandmother is Nancy Carroll. I grew up in Hollywood and we would visit her star
That's wonderful. I love Nancy Carroll and have a rare bit of her lost first sound film, Close Harmony including opening titles and her big production number. If you are ever in the Portland Or. area, would love to show it to you. Stars Buddy Rogers whom I once met and shook hands with.
@@benzo4029 Can't PFlx play it for everyone?
Wow!!! I loved Nancy Carroll in SO many pre-Code movies!!!
That’s wonderful
Did u ever know her?
A film about codependency, before there was even a term for it. What a tragic story - you could never call this heart wrenching situation a comedy... Beautifully acted and filmed, it's left me feeling sadder than I've felt in a long time...
What a sublime, astonishingly great movie. So entertaining and moving. Hard to believe that talkies as an art form were just beginning. This is very special.
For 91 years old, this movie has held up well.
My goodness, is it really that old?!?
Really enjoyed this movie, a great opportunity to see real talent from days gone by...wonderful
I've wanted to see this film for 50 years, no kidding, and it did not disappoint. Thanks so much for bringing it to me.
A really wonderful film. Great central characters. Lots of heart. Comedy lives well with tragedy. Lots of dramatic counterpoint. The art direction and camerawork really brought it to life. I love this film.
Thanks for discovering this old discarded film.
Better than 99% of the romantic comedies made these days.
You call this tragedy a romantic comedy? It was heart-breaking from start to finish.
Agree 12:39
Wonderful acting! Very heartfelt story of humans weakness and self destruction.... Ms.Right🌷
I'm so in love with these old films x
This was Oscar Levant's first feature movie, in a role he had played on Broadway with the original title "Burlesque." The female lead was Barbara Stanwyck.
Good heavens! I never even knew Stanwyck had been on Broadway, much less in a singing and dancing role. I did not recognize Oscar Levant anywhere in this movie. Guess I need to got to IMDb to check out the credits. surely he is the piano player?
@@cattycorner8Oscar Levant listed in the cast as "Jerry" who played the piano at the reunion party in New York.
@@petercrossley2956 LOL Of course! Isn't that where he always is? I should have known. Thanks so much for replying, Peter
excellent early talkie. Nancy Carroll was very talented and beautiful on the stage. thanks PF🎥🎥🎥
Last night, a little under the influence, I watched this film.
I cried twice.
Thanks for watching PizzaFLIX. May the Sauce be with you!
It's a really great film and a tear jerker.
@@cattycorner8 Proves that loves does conquer all
Wow !! A three hankie ending. A classic of the era. Thank you for giving this to us in 2022.
Gets me every time 😭😭 somehow it pulls you in. Rooting for these 2 in the train station as she makes tea on the bench.(all the people reading or doing things on the train before electronic devices. ) A giver always the sandwich fore tells their marriage. Remembering this is prohibition era. Cartoons of little girls trying to bring their daddy home from the bar. Sanctity of marriage and being human. I still can't accept he doesn't contact his wife once after going.. More forgiving tahan me.. but the end is happy, mostly for him as he said.
Even more tragic is he only lived another 4 years or so dying when the car he was in was hit by a train. He was only 43. Thanks 🍕 PizzaFlix🎬
I just read that he was killed in 1934. He was a prodigious talent.
So beautifully done in every way. This movie deserves the most meticulous restoration.
Boy, that dressing room door had a mind of its own. Sometimes it would close and sometimes it didn't, but it still is a one shot scene.
hahahahhaha! Happy 2021
LOL right?! That set looks like it was built on the cheap, straight off the high school stage, which is a contrast to so many other scenes in the movie which were elaborate (the Follies number). Such a great movie though.
@@robertocampano2089 And Happy 2023!
(guest)
To think that in 1929, my Mother was 8 years old !
My Father was 10 !
I was " minus " 19 !
The great Depression was yet to happen... then WW2..
My Mother dodged bombs as she tried to get home through the 🔥Coventry Blitz🔥...
My Father flew Spitfires & Hurricanes in the Battle Of Britain : he nearly didn't make it when the
Luftwaffe riddled his plane with bullets......those sad times left scars on so may folks' lives.
😢🇬🇧🌹🎼🤔🌿🇬🇧
Wonderful film tearjerker too! Stunning zeigfield display!
Hal Skelly danced great. Wonder if he would have been the scare crow in the Wizard of Oz if he wasn't tragically killed in the train/truck accident. He had the moves!
Great movie!! If you love back-stage tragi-comedies like I do, this is one of the best I've seen. Real vaudeville, burlesque, even Ziegfeld Follies' numbers! It's a tear jerker, gotta warn you, but the performances are pure entertainment. Makes me think of Buster Keaton, but must be a re-telling of no telling how many comics' lives sacrificed on the altar of the stage, all for a laugh.
Yes Buster Keaton and his falls and timing came to mind!
@@sphinxmuse Yes! all the way down to the slap shoes.
Wonderful, wonderful movie. I cried at the end. Must watch.
This was such a great movie. I loved the vaudeville acts. I honestly expected the ending to be when he collapsed onstage, and that he was dead. I've known alcoholics and this guy made me cry because he portrayed it so well. I guess we are to draw our own conclusions as to what happened after, since she said she was staying with him. I choose to believe he quit the drink, and became a success again, only without letting so called fair weather friends influence him anymore, since his wife proved she was really the only one (besides Lefty) who really cared about him.
I thought he was dead too! I hope he did stop drinking also & he stayed sober. Alcohol is so destructive.
Hal Skelly is terrific and Nancy does very well, too
This is great. Love these old movies!
You can find so many here on RUclips. What a treasure chest!
Surprisingly grim at times, but that only added to the feel of burlesque. Hal Skelly and Oscar Levant were both in the original BURLESQUE stage production, but Barbara Stanwyck in the lead declined to appear in the film version. Glad to see Babe Kane in the "figgity" number - she appeared in quite a few films but never broke into stardom (too specialized). Richard Whiting was the composer of the numbers before he made it big with hit after hit.
According to Parrish & Pitts in THE GREAT HOLLYWOOD MUSICAL PICTURES, the film was also released as a silent (not unusual for that time period, even for musicals). One of the Ziegfeld numbers was shot in two-color Technicolor, although I didn't see that in this print
Probably the silent version was for distribution around the country to theaters who had not yet installed sound equipment especially in small towns.
They should colorize that big production number to replace the lost color one! They can do that easy now.
Dear Pizza, You have outdone yourself on this one. I was glued to this and even teared up over it during the many sad parts. I imagine this type of relationship existed during those hard times in this hard entertainment world.
Thank you for showing it for us!
(1:22:00) "Meet my friend, Jerry Evans" ... It's Oscar Levant at twenty-two! (Lol, just like the time-mark.) Oscar was the piano player for "Burlesque", the wildly popular Broadway musical this movie's based on. 🎶💃🎶
Thrilled I ended up watching it again!!!! Was not that long ago I did the first but totally forgot the Happy Ending! Not a Sappy one either because of the way the last few lines were can out, for Better or Worse! Marriage is Not disposable, There are people have proven that not enough movies are about that. If I ever get that chance I will live an extra 30 to 40 years for sure! xoxo
Love the vaudeville acts. makes me happy.
THIS IS MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE !
A Sort Of Burns and Allen story with a star is Born thrown in.
George Burns and Gracie were fabulous back in their programs. Another thing about George Burns was that he really lived in up with the jazz and the flappers in the 1920s. He even recreated a version of it in the 1980s film "18 again" when his mind and soul had been swapped with grandson Charlie Schlatter. Schlatter (with Burns' mind in him) recreated a roaring twenties style party at his college in the film. With most of that movie's audience being younger though, I wonder how much of the 1920s stuff went over their heads
The Dance of Life, released USA 16 August 1929, UK November 1929 (London). Hal Skelly as Ralph 'Skid' Johnson; Nancy Carroll as Bonny Lee King; Dorothy Revier as Sylvia Marco; Ralph Theodore (as Ralph Theadore) as Harvey Howell; Charles D. Brown as Lefty Miller; Al St. John as Bozo; May Boley as Gussie; Oscar Levant as Jerry Evans; Gladys DuBois as Miss Sherman; James Quinn as Jimmy; Jim Farley as Champ Melvin; George Irving, Minister; Gordona Bennet, Amazon Chorus Girl; Miss La Reno, Amazon Chorus Girl; Corra Beach (as Cora Beach Shumway), Amazon Chorus Girl; Charlotte Ogden, Amazon Chorus Girl; Kay Deslys, Amazon Chorus Girl; Magda Blom, Amazon Chorus Girl; Thelma McNeil (as Thelma McNeal), Gilded Girl; John Cromwell, Speakeasy Doorkeeper; A. Edward Sutherland, Attendant; Theresa Allen, Chorine; Lorena Carr, The Lady of Holland; Jean Douglas, Amazon Chorus Girl; Richard 'Skeets' Gallagher (Undetermined Role); Marjorie Kane, Performer: 'The Flippity Flop'; William H. O'Brien, Room Service - Waiter #86; Guy Oliver, Telegraph Clerk.
Thank you. I like the old movies. Good acting. "For better or for worse."
Great story line. Having your heart broken to realize what you really had.
Thanks for watching PizzaFLIX. May the Sauce be with you.
@@PizzaFLIX I can't wait to be able to "Make my sauce for my Pop!"
We can hear the telegraph sent,I was a office Boy during my teens and walk to the telegraph office in Downing street Penang.
What a great little movie!! Thanks for the treat!!
When I to the end it was a little sad, but a great film!
Hooray 😃 for the plus size chorus girls!
Don’t put glitter on it. They aren’t “plus size” they’re fat.
How come you never hear anyone refer to men as “plus size “?
🤪🤣🤪 Who doesn’t luv a little glitter!!! 🤩😉🤩
Because men are held to a different standard . . . society wouldn’t refer to men as plus size.✌🏽
@@sashatv382 Men are held to higher standards. Not much is expected of women except to look good.
How unfortunate for woman!
@@sashatv382 not really. It enables many of them to cruise through life.
Beautiful. A tear jerker, too. 😢 TYSM!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼💕🙋♀️
I can see you've been crying Bonnie, I can tell, I've seen you cry a lot. She helped him out when he was broke, dealt with a drunkard on her honeymoon, got forgotten during his most successful time. So now that she found someone to really care about her, he is falling apart and everyone should be feeling sorry for him while she has to pick up the pieces. He is right, he got better, she got worst. She should have started a new life, love stinks, there is usually one that suffers and one that takes advantage of another's kindness. Like the man who was along with Skip for support said, all you need to do is love each other, it is as simple as that. Women are not supported to be long suffering doormats by saps, it is not healthy.
She had sucker stamped on her forehead.
She was nothing but a doormat for the man who was nothing but a child. The movie ending........he stayed a drunk that couldn't keep a job, she had 6 kids and they fought every "blessed" day and taught their kids that life stinks. It was a good movie, but romance had nothing to do with it!
J M ugotit. Transference is a condition by which the apatheser zaps the energy of the empathiser
Sheesh…it’s just a movie.
@@juliat6221 That wasn't the movie's ending. There is no definite ending. She decides to stick by him, for better or worse, and what happens afterward was left to interpretation, which is the best type of art.
Pretty great film..real vaudeville at its finest. My Aunt Margie told me when I was very young. That there was a great Uncle who was in vaudeville in our family. I wonder if that was my grandfather's twin brother she was talking about. She never elaborated and I never asked but have always wondered.
This film is packed with a great storyline of wonderful substance.
Thank you so much for sharing this gemstone!💎
Thanks for watching PizzaFLIX. May the Sauce be with you.
Thank you so much for uploading this great movie the acting was outstanding.
It's really too bad we moved away from rail travel across the country.
Rails are still pretty dangerous without enough security on board. One conductor doesn't do it.
This was an excellent movie and one of my favorite if I am wanting to visit the late 1920s. Codependent relationship with our stars, but they loved suffered and" loved each other and got a little bit of sleep".
Hal Skelly co-starred with Barbara Stanwyck in the Broadway show BURLESQUE from which this film is derived.
Better than I expected. I never heard of Nancy Carroll... but I'll be looking for her other films. My only complaint is that some of the vaudeville production numbers went on too long. Certainly worth watching.
The sillences were too long, too. Left us back in the silents era.
Thank you for sharing.
Always been a huge Nancy Carroll fan, but really enjoyed Skelly. Sure wish there was more of him to see here
Me too and she looks good in black skirts. Imagine that; up until the 1920's girls wore long dresses but after WWI mini-skirts was in!
@@catholiccrusader5328 Yes. Nineteen-twenties skirts hit at knee bottom, never higher. Called "short," into their resurgence during WW2 when cloth needed for the war led again to higher hems. In 1947 the postwar "new look" sent hems back to mid calf length. Then from the early 1960s, the progressively higher hems were dubbed "mini-." Then in 1970s a neo-1930s "midi-" skirt length revived. Since then it's eclectically whatever a lady wills, for example just long pants, varying with the occasion and season.
He was killed just a few years after this.
Hal Skelly was killed when a train hit his truck. He made movies up until he died in 1934. Tragic.
@@joserrapere5928 He was so amazingly talented.
I was so sad the whole time that she married an alcoholic.
😢💔
I know what that's like, and it's no fun😢at all !
But it was a pretty good show, well put together, good acting.
The zig field follies was a lot of fun to watch. The costuming was amazing!
I wonder if they've ever tried to colorize that.
Probably not, it would take away from.
The 1929 feel of the show🎉
Thank you
I always feel sad when I see movies this old & remember that every person in this movie has passed away by now.
Well if that makes you sad think about this:
100 years from now everybody that’s alive on the planet today will be dead…And there will be 7 billion new people in our place.
@@jungleno. I do think about that, too.... so you gotta make your life count. It's such a small amount of time... I wonder what people 100 years from now will think about our clothes, and slang... not to mention our values. It would be interesting.
I was thinking the same thing. The children of today have a lot to tell their grandchildren and great grandchildren .
Nancy Carroll = Classic American beauty----too bad we don't have more of them nowadays.......
"For better or worse. Better for me and worse for you." Maybe if more of us thought this way we would stay married realizing that maybe we're actually getting the better part of the deal from our beloved than we are giving in return.
How many arguments begin with accusations of "you never" or "you always" instead of "how can we make this better for the two of us?"
If you’ve ever been hurt in a relationship, you might think the other way around.
Absolutely *love* this film !! ♡
is there anyone out there who remembers Oscar Levant ( see 1;08:55 ) He was a regular on the old Jack Paar show years ago. He was quite the character. Played the piano and smoked constantly. Nervous as a cat. Recognized him immediately. He wrote these books about himself and his paranoia. Look forward to any comments.
Good eye! I didn't notice him until 1:22:00. I know Oscar Levant from 1950s movies where he plays the piano during New York cocktail parties ... smoking and making cynical comments. Always loved him. Surprised to see him here at age 22 ...already a Broadway success. Just read his full bio tonight. 💔
Oh, clearly at 1:22...I do remember him on various shows...he always had a cigarette and was a doleful character. He did so many things...composer, conductor, game show host. He was a genius.
He was more than just a piano player. He was best friends with the Gershwins especially George. He was renown for giving concerts especially playing George's Rhapsody in Blue and Concerto in F minor. Starred with Gene Kelly in An American in Paris, The Barkleys of Broadway with Astaire and Rogers and others.
He was a great pianist that started in the mid twenties playing piano in Ben Bernie's Orch. Sound films from 1925 of this band are on you tube. Sweet Georgia Brown is one, on DeForest Phonofilm. I saw him play a tune on a Jack Benny show. It was sad to see him all over the hill, trying to play like Gershwin.. but it was just a stuffy hodge podge. Still I respected him for his gifted musical life and talent.
oh those cloche hats!!
Urbex Mermaid Love those hats- of course - afterwards, they all had “hat hair” which is why the hair styles evolved as they did.
@@GiftSparks You are right! Thanks for My "Learning something Today!!!
Nancy had a "Hat face.". Meaning she looked good in a hat. Some flappers didn't look good in those deep cloches. But Nancy did!
I love the cloche, I want more than one.
So lives were complicated before 2019. Who knew? Thanks for the movie.
You said Craig B. We forget so easily I guess, Happy 2021 xoxo
WW1 started in July 1914.... Spanish flu 1918-1920... WW2 1939-1945... I would say things were complicated! The beginning of the end for many
They definitely did not know a man in India would be watching this film sitting at his dining table munching samosas and sipping tea --just 90 years after it's release; and that the man in the East would be feeling so indebted and thankful to the West.
(Yes, yes; I know the bad things too-they all get outweighed by the good ones.)
God bless you fellow movie watcher. Jesus is the way to eternal life
Did not know that Oscar Levant made movies back then . He was a favorite guest on the Tonight Show in the Jack Paar days !
He was Ben Bernie's pianist in his orchestra and they made a sound film from 1925 ... It's on youtube. Great life had he.
a well done movie thank-you.
Nora !
Those eyes are expressive!
Please express the magic behind those 😊
Btw Fantastic movie
Just found your channel and loving these old black&white movies!!! Thank you so much, new sub!!!
"I just love weddings don't you Bozo ?
Yeah, and I seen some pretty good funerals too.
Laughed my ass off !
OH LALA SUPER MERCI POUR CE CHEF D'OEUVRE D'ÉMOTIONS ET D'UNE HUMANITE RARE QUELLE LIBERTÉ ARTISTIQUE CHAPEAU BAS À TOUT L'ÉQUIPE AU DELÀ DES ÉTOILES !..
this was a good movie. thank you for the upload.
A very oldie but goodie... thanks for watching PizzaFLIX
0:35 Oscar Levant in his first movie role (Jerry)! I heart early talkies. There's a magic to them.
Ah, nice catch! 🐟
He's only in it for a few minutes, but he's quite a presence. The first of many musical sidekick roles. American in Paris is best of all.
I love Oscar. He was something else.
This really is such an important movie...the start of sound and the end of legit vaudeville. I was interested at about
hour 1:20 :00 when Bonny was back in NY at the Ambassador Hotel...we all know that Valentino was staying there when he took ill. Since the film was made at Paramount in Astoria, Queens, this may very well be the Ambassador... A few years after this film "Skid" was killed when he was in a vehicle hit by a train (some reports say he was driving a truck looking for a lost dog, other say he was a passenger...NYTimes said a woman was in a car with him was critically injured. ) So many tragedies...
Remarkable period piece.
'fire away, zeppelin': brutal!
Nancy Carroll's maneuverability in the dance shows how well balanced the female physique is; in her case: Excellent - she's quite the babe 💜💜💜.
Sad, sad story, tho': Part @ the end reminded me of Bozo the Clown's last show, which I watched little realizing that he was soon 2 die 👁️.
I love Nancy! This may be her best film. She could sing, dance and act. And that sweet coo of a singing voice!! All her own! She's got a stunning number in Paramount on Parade, she made a year after this. It may be on youtube. Find it. You will love it. The number is called "Dancing to Save Your Sole". 😊
These movies are people, not ideas. Modern audiences see inept performance. But then they must have felt the pulse of themselves. The hope of dreams.
If she's sore right after getting off the horse just wait until tomorrow. Muscles you did not know you had. If you ride often enough it doesn't hurt. I really love these old movies. They actually have plots! Human stories. CGI and superheroes aren't my cup of tea. While I'm in awe of the technology of today, the old films were groundbreaking in their day. Not easy to find a pre-1930s talkie. Those making movies back then were the real pioneers of the industry. And what an industry! Meant to entertain the masses and maybe pass on a message about the resilience of the human spirit.
This is the earliest one I have seen so far. And it is very nice...
It amazes me how the 1930's-style light musical comedy was hatched fully formed & almost perfected - seemingly at their first try. How did they get a handle on incorporating sound dialog, so instantly?? It's miraculous. There's no way to overstate the $$ investment, coordination of technologists and production & film crew and actors, and the learning curve for all involved, to make the very first talkies work, the way this one does. And no one knew yet if this would all turn out to be a passing fad! Was it even worth equipping all the theatres for sound? What a risky investment - they wouldn't even settle on a single standard of sound technology for almost a decade. At first, talkies from different studios required different projectors!
Because, historically in production the films had written scripts and dialogue that wasn’t recorded. It was simple to transfer over to sound once the equipment was perfected.
@@goforbroke4428 I wasn't talking about the work itself - light theatre was still a big thing, no one had to invent it, and actors & writers often crossed over from it. I was referring to the entire transformation of how a movie was made, notable the 100 and 1 technical things that were later taken for granted: Mic placement, suppression of unwanted sounds, foley-type enhancements to the original shots, new demands placed on established actors including speaking technique and mic-awareness, synchronization, set acoustics, etc, etc, etc. Despite the old silent studios being confronted with so many new considerations, requirements - and newly invented equipment that wasn't even commercialized yet! - they seemed to have pulled it all together, lickety split. Amazing.
as Skid stumbled in at 1:40:00, i thought, "he's pretending to be drunk." as the scene continued, "oh, damn, he's _not_ pretending."
What touching performances and storyline. The ending had me misty eyed for both leads but it was realistic. I rate this movie a 9.
Hal Skelly/Skid Johnson was so endearing, you can sort of understand why Bonny stuck around
Fawkthat, What a waste of a beautiful woman!
So good !! Love conquers plenty ?
Thank you.
Oscar Levant bits 1:12:00 1:21:50 1:22:58 1:25:25 He looks a right gangster in this one. Wish he'd been in it more!
This is sad. This man betrayed his wife and was busy drugging it up and partying, and he could care less about her but she ends up coming back to him just to prop him up and losing her chance at a good marriage with a healthy and decent man and a new life. It's sickening and a good example of how women, especially, in their misguided caretaking ways end up enabling drug addicts and losers - even giving their hard earned money to dangerous and crazy people on the streets and subways, thinking they are being do-gooders. There are many reasons why most men don't respect women and this is one of them. Men don't respect women when they can get away with everything, and be the biggests losers, addicts, and violent crazies yet there will always be women giving them money and tolerating their behaviours. Women need to GROW UP and realize that men don't think like them and men wouldn't put up with the shit that women accept. Remember the Will Smith incident where he smacked that so-called comedian for continually insulting Smith's wife? Remember the woman who went all virtuous and said on media "use your words" as in not your fists? She is another example of a misguided woman who does not understand men. Words will go through one ear out the other and it's actions that matter! Women blah blah all the time yet still accept shit from men, and men know this!. Will Smith's punch on that lame "comedian" especially in front of a mass audience was a much more effective deterrence to future insults than a bunch of words. We talk a lot about the ways that men need to change to better themselves as human beings in the world (yes, men are the leaders in crimve and overall bad behaviour) but it's not politically correct to talk about women's enabling behaviours, lack of common sense in dress and behaviour with regards to safety, and shrinking violet behaviours (as if lowering down in your seat and staring at your phone will deter a predator or make you invisible). Men tend to be the majority of predators but many women also make it easy for these criminals by not having confidence, education, and preparation to deal with situations and block the predators. Both men and women are still very infantile in this world and while it seems that men are at a higher level of infantility or primitiveness, the women are not far behind. We all need to grow up and change into better humans where situations like the infantile drugging and partying and co-dependence shown in this movie are not tolerated anymore.
感無量。最後絶句でした。コミックを売り物にする舞台ダンスですが，コメディではないですね。私が見た中で一番古い映画でしたが，内容は新鮮。笑いを誘う醜い（失礼）踊り子たちのラインダンスといい，タップやピエロのドタ靴，早い動作などチャップリンに先行するもの。終わりのシーンは余韻がありすぎ，ジーンと来て・・幸福とは何かを真剣に問う，そして丁度読んでいた『石川三四郎・魂の導師』の言葉が重なりました。「自己の理想のために努力する吾々自身の力進的生活そのものに幸福が存在する」と。カワイイ健気なヒロインの愛こそ・・・です。感謝です。
To think these actors would be 115 years old or so if they were still alive today. Early vaudeville was just in its infancy before Bob Hope took to the stage.
Vaudeville started around 1880 so by the time Bob Hope entered circa 1920's it was well established.
I thought this was beautiful, and very well portrayed. There was a very poignant dance number to a haunting tune that was reprised three times - at 27.40. 58.07. and at the very end, 1.49.26. Does anyone know what the tune was? And many thanks Pizzaflix for these great films!
Swanee River?
It's Swanee River and these days it's probably not PC because it's about going back to the plantation. Still it has a beautiful and touching melody.
@@annarodriguez9868 Thank you so much, and so glad this popped up again, as I was hoping to watch the film again! Warmest wishes to you.
💯 Swanee River
Head and shoulders above most musical from 1929, sound and camera work was first rate. Nancy Carroll was a WOW! Skid Johnson was the original baggy pants comic but a much younger Joe E Brown would have been an improvement in the role
I thought Hal Skelly was brilliant.
_When are you going to marry that big breath of fresh air from Wyoming?_
That was a great line!!! Beautiful place but I wouldn't mind it being from NYC,cough,hm hahaha
A beautiful story about a real alcoholic and a woman who truly loves him.
A young Oscar Levant on piano! How cool is that!!
Just think about this. The 3 or 4 oldest people in the world now would have been in their twenties when this movie was made.
Hello....thank you...xxx
It's sad when a man destroys his life and marriage...
You never met my ex-wife.
One of the best movies I've ever seen. And I'm very picky.
Nineteen twenty-nine ... apparently before the stock market crash. Everyone is still snappy, the loss of a job no big deal.
Great movie, great commenters!
Thank you
This is a heritage film.
A good movie,very down to earth.
Great movie.
My mom would have been 6 years old at the his time.
GOOD! TOUCHING!!
Was this the 'r' rated movie from the 20's? Burlesque!
Poor skid row Skid fought the Battle of the Bottle and lost it all big time.
that was really sad
Far better film quality than most of the stuff from the 1960's and 1970's. And without the 'political correctness' of today.