Dance Hall (film)

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Dance Hall
Petula Clark and Douglas Barr in Dance Hall
Directed by	Charles Crichton
Produced by	E.V.H. Emmett
Written by	E.V.H. Emmett Alexander Mackendrick Diana Morgan
Starring	Donald Houston Petula Clark
Music by	Joyce Cochrane Reg Owen Jack Parnell
Cinematography	Douglas Slocombe
Editing by	Seth Holt
Distributed by	General Film Distributors
Release date(s)	June 1950 (UK) April 30, 1951
Running time	80 min
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
IMDb profile

Dance Hall is a 1950 British film produced by Michael Balcon for release by Ealing Studios. The screenplay was written by E.V.H. Emmett, Diana Morgan, and Alexander Mackendrick. Charles Crichton directed a cast that included Petula Clark, Natasha Parry, Diana Dors, and Jane Hylton. Appealing mainly to a female audience, the film was an unusual departure for the studio, known at the time primarily for its classic comedies starring Alec Guinness.

The story line centers on four young women, factory workers who escape the monotony of their jobs by spending their evenings in the Palais, the local dance hall that serves as the colorful background for a rather thin plot. Clark is Georgie, who aspires to become a dance champion with her partner, Peter (Douglas Barr). Although the couple fails to win the Greater London Amateur Dancing Championships, they become romantically involved and announce their engagement at the climactic New Year's Eve festivities. Meanwhile, Eve (Parry) jeopardizes her marriage to Phil (Donald Houston) when she chooses someone else as her partner in the big competition.

Geraldo and Ted Heath and their bands provided most of the music and added to the authentic atmosphere captured by art director Norman Arnold.

Most critics thought the leads were too glamorous for the working-class ladies they represented, but agreed that Clark, slowly emerging from the children's roles that had served as the basis of her early film career, and Parry, in her screen debut, had captured the spirit of young, post-war women clinging to the glamour and excitement of the dance hall. Clark was featured on the cover of the June 1950 issue of The Dancing Times and was awarded the Institute of Dancing bronze and silver medals for her work in the film.