Sally Rand Movies
Notorious Sally Rand was considered the greatest fan dancer ever, but before she caused a national scandal by performing her first "obscene" dance at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, Rand was a seductive movie actress during the '20s. A native of Hickory County, MO, she was born Helen Gould Beck. At age 13, she ran away and moved to Kansas City where she worked as a cigarette girl in a nightclub. She held several similar jobs until she entered Hollywood films as a lead and supporting actress in the mid-'20s. Though she appeared in numerous average-quality features, her film career collapsed with the advent of sound. Following her illustrious debut at the World's Fair, the naturally blonde, diminutive, and graceful Rand quickly rose to national popularity. By modern standards, her dances were tame. Never completely nude, she used to say "the Rand is quicker than the eye" and would prove it by deftly manipulating her fans, or a large bubble, in such a way as to give audiences a tantalizing taste, but never a banquet, of her natural bounty. Still, it was enough to get her arrested while simultaneously earning her the informal designation of a "national treasure." Rand continued doing fan dances up through her death in the late '70s. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 2007
Soundies: A Musical History collects a number of short musical films that played on a film jukebox called Panoram in the 1940s. Many consider these films to be the very first music videos, and this documentary includes appearances by some of the most beloved musical artists of all time including Louis Armstrong. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- 1941
Celebrity fan-dancer Sally Rand, the undraped sensation of the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, was the star of the 1938 Grand National production The Sunset Murder Case. Borrowing a page from the Bob Steele westerns, La Rand is cast as a nightclub dancer who hopes to avenge her father's murderer. She gets a job in the establishment run by the man she holds responsible for the killing, maintaining a harmless front by performing a nightly exotic dance (which by 1990s standards is about as erotic as a plastic shower curtain). In his first leading role, Reed Hadley plays the hero who rescues Sally in the nick of time, while Henry King's orchestra provides the music. In perpetual reissue well into the 1940s and 1950s (this synopsis is based on its 1941 re-release), Sunset Murder Case was sometimes retitled The Sunset Strip Case on the grind-house circuit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Rand, Reed Hadley, (more)
- 1934
Bolero stars George Raft as Raoul de Barre, an arrogant dancer who rises to fame in the years prior to, during, and after WW I. Raoul is helped along the way by his promoter brother Mike (William Frawley) and scores of willing females, matriculating from two-bit gigolo to the greatest ballroom dancer in Paris. Determining that nothing will stand in his way to the top, he regularly fires any female dancing partner who has the misfortune to fall in love with him -- until the last of his partners, the beautiful Helen (Carole Lombard) beats him to the punch by walking out on him. His heart weakened during the war, Raoul aspires to open his own nightclub, despite warnings that if he ever dances again the consequences will be fatal. On opening night of his new establishment, Raoul dances Maurice Ravel's "Bolero" with Helen, now the wife of a British nobleman. Having reached his emotional and professional pinnacle, Raoul collapses and dies in his dressing room -- as the nightclub patrons, oblivious to his fate, loudly demand an encore. Surprisingly, George Raft and Carole Lombard's dancing is doubled by others, but the same cannot be said of the inimitable Sally Rand, whose famous fan dance is tastefully re-created here. Raft and Lombard later reteamed in 1935's Rumba. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Raft, Carole Lombard, (more)
- 1933
In this drama, set within an urban hotel, a nightclub dancer witnesses a gangland killing and must flee for her life. She escapes to the Hotel Variety, a home for aspiring performers, and there meets a young dancer and his young son. Naturally the two fall in love. Unfortunately, the hitman has located her and has begun to search the hotel halls. Just as it looks like it's curtains for the woman, the clumsy killer falls from a hotel fire escape and dies. Later a friendly investor hires them all to be in his newest film. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hal Skelly, Olive Borden, (more)
- 1928
The "original" Harrison Ford and former Chaplin leading lady Georgia Hale are co-starred in Tiffany-Stahl's Woman Against the World. When a chorus girl is found murdered, girl reporter Carol Hill (Hale) takes it upon herself to solve the case. The police have arrested wealthy Schuyler Van Loan (Ford) and charged him with the murder, but Carol suspects that someone else was responsible. However, she can't prove it, and soon everyone in town -- including Van Loan's fiancee Bernice Claire (Gertrude Olmstead) -- has turned against the boy. As the date of Van Loan's execution approaches, Carol desperately tries to dredge up enough evidence to prove his innocence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harrison Ford, Georgia Hale, (more)
- 1928
In this silent crime drama, a police detective masquerades as a convict to befriend a young prison inmate who knows the location of the loot from a major robbery. It is there he learns that the boy doesn't know where it is. He does, however, know the name of the one who does. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Antonio Moreno, Claire Windsor, (more)
- 1928
The rampant male chauvinism in A Girl in Every Port might be hard for contemporary audiences to stomach, but fans of director Howard Hawks will be delighted. Victor McLaglen and Robert Armstrong play Spike and Salami, two sailors who become close pals but only after dukeing it out over a dame. Together, Spike and Salami travel all of the world in search of women and adventure and women. Their friendship is sorely tested when Spike decides to settle down to marry French fortune hunter Marie (Louise Brooks), but eventually Salami convinces his pal that this "skirt" just ain't worth it. Famed exotic dancer Sally Rand co-stars as one of the heroes' many sexual conquests. A Girl in Every Port was remade two years later as Goldie, with Spencer Tracy, Warren Hymer and Jean Harlow. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor McLaglen, Robert Armstrong, (more)
Having scored big-time box office with his first Biblical epic, The Ten Commandments (1923), Cecil B. DeMille hoped to top this success with his 1927 The King of Kings. Inasmuch as he was now dealing with the life of Christ, DeMille had to be careful to serve up equal amounts of showmanship and reverence. The first creative challenge: how to "introduce" Christ in a tasteful manner? The answer: as a blind child is cured through Jesus' intervention, DeMille cuts to the child's point-of-view, slowly fading in on the kindly countenance of H.B. Warner as the Son of Man. Still, DeMille remained DeMille, especially in his handling of the character of Mary Magdalene (Jacqueline Logan). No longer a tattered streetwalker, Mary Magdalene is now a glamorous courtesan, replete with legions of gorgeous slave girls (one of whom is "bubble dancer" Sally Rand) and dressed in revealing Hollywood-style gowns. In fact, the film opens on this character, as she ruminates over the defection of her favorite customer, Judas Iscariot (Joseph Schildkraut), who is spending far too much time with Jesus of Nazareth. Upon visiting Jesus herself, she immediately repents, casting off all her prior sins. Once again, the efficacy of the Cecil B. DeMille formula is proven: redemption has no dramatic value unless the film shows viewers why the sinner needs to be redeemed. Once he's gotten his box-office considerations out of the way, DeMille adheres faithfully to the particulars of Jesus' life, betrayal, trial, Crucifixion, and Resurrection. (Again, however, the director improves a bit upon his source material: the storm that follows the Crucifixion is of the same spectacular dimensions as the parting of the Red Sea in Ten Commandments, while the Resurrection is filmed in vibrant Technicolor). To back up the authenticity of his images, DeMille -- with an assist from scenarist Jeannie Macpherson -- utilizes Scriptural quotes in his subtitles. And to avoid any untoward publicity while filming, DeMille required all of his actors to sign legal documents preventing them from indulging in any sort of "sinful" activity; this meant that poor old H.B. Warner had to steer clear of alcoholic beverages for nearly a year, though he more than made up for lost time after his contract ran out. Prepared to mercilessly lambaste The King of Kings, DeMille's critics were disarmed by his reverent, tasteful approach to the subject. Years after the film's release, a specially prepared 60-minute version of the 18-reel King of Kings was making the rounds of religious groups, church basements, and Easter-weekend telecasts. The film was remade in 1961 by producer Samuel Bronston and director Nicholas Ray, with Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- H.B. Warner, Dorothy Cumming, (more)
- 1927
Former D.W. Griffith cameraman Karl Brown held the directorial reins for His Dog. Joseph Schildkraut stars as a roughneck gardener who squanders his monthly pay at the local tavern. While weaving his way home one night, Schildkraut rescues a wounded collie then takes the dog home with him, despite the protestations of his daughter, who is deathly afraid of all animals. Dog and master become inseparable companions, but the friendship is sorely threatened on the inevitable day that Schildkraut must choose between his beloved pet and his equally beloved liquor. He chooses the dog, who ultimately proves his true worth by rescuing Schildkraut's daughter from a reckless driver. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joseph Schildkraut, Julia Faye, (more)
- 1927
Based on Peter B. Kyne's Tidy Toreador, this fairly outrageous Western romp featured Universal's lackadaisical cowboy Hoot Gibson as Billy Halen, foreman of "Pop" Tully's (Otis Harlan) Peaceful Valley Ranch. Suffering a bad case of poison ivy, Billy finds not only relief but an improved appearance in mud collected from a nearby marsh. Jasper Thornby (Frank Beal) hears of the miracle mud, which also promises to improve the appearance of the wearer, and attempts to buy Tully's ranch. The old man declines, and Jasper instead purchases the mortgage, ordering Pop to pay or get out. A plan by Thornby's secretary (Edward Coxen) to kidnap Billy fails, and the cowpoke-turned-entrepreneur instead sells his patent medicine to a rival druggist, thus earning enough money to save Pop Tully's ranch. Appearing as the villain's innocent ward is Sally Rand, the future "fan dancer." A WAMPAS Baby Star of 1927, Rand had enjoyed little success in films when she discovered her lucrative second career during the 1932 Chicago World's Fair. The rest, as they say, is show business history. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hoot Gibson, Sally Rand, (more)
- 1927
As a follow-up to the successful marital farce Up in Mabel's Room, PDC Productions came out with a film version of the evergreen Avery Hopwood stage comedy Getting Gertie's Garter. Charles Ray, once again trying vainly to shed his "boy next door" image, stars as a bachelor lawyer who gives a jeweled garter and a photograph to his girlfriend Marie Prevost. Upon becoming engaged, however, Ray realizes that his bride-to-be is not the understanding type. Thus, he spends the rest of the picture trying to retrieve the garter from Prevost, who isn't about to give up the precious -- and embarrassing -- keepsake. Famed fan dancer Sally Rand shows up in a supporting role, as does that ubiquitous movie fussbudget Franklin Pangborn. Getting Gertie's Garter was remade in 1944 with Dennis O'Keefe and Marie McDonald. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Rand, Harry Myers, (more)
- 1927
Heroes in Blue is predicated on the rivalry between two Irish-American clans. Sally Rand, the daughter of one family, falls for John Bowers, the policeman son of the other family. Their relationship is sorely strained when Rand's stepbrother Gareth Hughes turns out to be the pyromaniac whom Bowers has been ordered to seek out and arrest. Hughes ends up killing Bowers' father and brother, sparking a "retribution" climax in which Rand's fireman dad is forced to kill Hughes while the latter is setting fire to a tenement building. Heroes in Blue includes a cute "inside" gag in which Sally Rand and John Bowers attend a movie -- in which the stars are Sally Rand and John Bowers! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Bowers, Sally Rand, (more)
- 1927
Based on a story by 17th-century Spanish playwright Calderon de la Barca, A Night of Love is based on the ancient (and historically suspect) tradition of droit du seigneur. Ronald Colman stars as gypsy prince Montero, whose wedding night is rudely interrupted by the despotic Duke de la Garda (Montague Love). Exercising his prerogative as a titled landowner, the Duke abducts Montero's young bride and "has his way" with her. The poor girl dies from the disgrace, whereupon the hot-blooded Montero swears revenge. So it is that during the Duke's subsequent wedding party, in rides Montero to kidnap the new duchess, Princess Maria (Vilma Banky). Though fully intending to rape Maria in the same manner that his bride was violated, Montero is too honorable to take advantage of his lovely captive. Accordingly, Maria slowly falls in love with her handsome abductor, leading to a magnificently melodramatic climax as the heroine pleads for the hero's life when the Duke sentences Montero to burn at the stake. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronald Colman, Vilma Banky, (more)
- 1926
Celebrated "fan dancer" Sally Rand plays a minor role in the crime melodrama Shadow on the Wall. Under threat of death, young Creighton Hale is forced into a life of crime. At the behest of his brutish mentor, Hale poses as the long-lost child of a millionaire, the better to lay claim to the old man's fortune. The millionaire decides to find out if Hale is an impostor by subjecting him to a bizarre test. Years earlier, the missing son's twin brother cast a shadow upon the wall of his room, which was promptly outlined in chalk. When the twin died, his room was left undisturbed -- including his shadow. If Hale can match his brother's shadow, it will prove beyond doubt that he is who he claims to be. Miraculously, Hale does match the shadow and is welcomed into the millionaire's household with open arms. Inevitably, however, Hale suffers the pangs of guilt and confesses his masquerade -- whereupon he beats his bullying mentor to a pulp, simultaneously winning the heart of the millionaire's pretty adopted daughter Eileen Percy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eileen Percy, Creighton Hale, (more)
- 1926
The titular "man bait" is svelte shopgirl Madge Dreyer (Marie Prevost), who can't convince her customers and male co-workers to keep their hands to themselves. When she rebuffs the advances of her boss, Madge is fired, whereupon she finds work at a dime-a-dance joint. Here she meets and falls in love with young Jeff Sanford (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.), who -- surprise! -- turns out to be the son of Madge's ex-boss. Though the rest of Jeff's family disapproves of his choice in women, his brother Gerald (Kenneth Thomson) is delighted -- he'd like to spend some quality time with Madge himself. In a wholly expected development, Madge ends up with Gerald, while Jeff dutifully returns to his society fiancee. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marie Prevost, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., (more)
- 1925
Cecil B. DeMille's century-hopping extravaganza The Road to Yesterday begins in the present (1925, that is). Wealthy Joseph Schildkraut can't understand why his wife Jetta Goudal is so cold to him. Goudal senses that Schildkraut had once done her dirt....in a previous life. Likewise unhappily married are William Boyd and Vera Reynolds. All four principals are on an express train which crashes. While unconscious, the foursome flash back to their previous existences in Elizabethan England. Schildkraut was then a knight, Goudal a gypsy, and Boyd and Reynolds were royal hangers-on. Just as Schildkraut is about to burn Goudal at the stake, the four protagonists return to the present. Armed with the knowledge of their past misdeeds, the lovers all vow to set things right in their current lives. Nobody believed The Road to Yesterday back in 1925 (any more than anyone believes it today), but everybody enjoyed it for what it was: a slam-bang piece of pure entertainment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joseph Schildkraut, Jetta Goudal, (more)
