Dance Hall (1950 film)
| Dance Hall | |
|---|---|
 Original UK quad format poster | |
| Directed by | Charles Crichton |
| Produced by | E.V.H. Emmett |
| Screenplay by |
E.V.H. Emmett Diana Morgan Alexander Mackendrick |
| Starring |
Donald Houston Bonar Colleano Petula Clark Natasha Parry Jane Hylton Diana Dors |
| Music by |
Joyce Cochrane Reg Owen Jack Parnell |
| Cinematography | Douglas Slocombe |
| Edited by | Seth Holt |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | GFD (UK) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 80 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Dance Hall is a 1950 British film directed by Charles Crichton. The film was an unusual departure for Ealing Studios at the time, as it tells the story about four women and their romantic encounters from a female perspective.[2]
Plot
The story line centres on four young female factory workers who escape the monotony of their jobs by spending their evenings at the Chiswick Palais, the local dance hall, and having problems with their boyfriends or hoping to find some.[3]
Main cast
- Donald Houston as Phil
- Bonar Colleano as Alec
- Natasha Parry as Eve
- Petula Clark as Georgie Wilson
- Jane Hylton as Mary
- Diana Dors as Carole
- Gladys Henson as Mrs Wilson
- Sydney Tafler as Jim Fairfax
- Douglas Barr as Peter
- Fred Johnson as Mr Wilson
- James Carney as Mike
- Kay Kendall as Doreen
- Eunice Gayson as Mona
- Dandy Nichols as Mrs Crabtree
Music
The bands of Geraldo and Ted Heath provide most of the music in the dance hall.
Reception
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.[4]
The film premiered on 8 June 1950 at the Odeon Marble Arch in London,[1] and the reviewer in The Times wrote that "the trouble with the film is that the characters do not match the authenticity of the background, and the working girls, who are the heroines, are too clearly girls who work in the studio and nowhere else", and concluded that the film "is not without its interest, but it does not quite live up to the high standards set by the Ealing Studios."[5]
Unusually for an Ealing production at that time, the film tells the story about the four women and their romantic encounters from a female perspective, presumably the input of screenwriter Diana Morgan. Today, the film is mainly interesting as "an historical piece full of incidental detail: visual reminders of London bomb sites and trolleybuses, and references to 'Mac Fisheries', 'Music While You Work', football results and rationing."[2]
References
- 1 2 The Times, 8 June 1950, page 3: Picture Theatres – Odeon, Marble Arch Linked 2015-06-01
- 1 2 BFI Screenonline, Roger Philip Mellor: Dance Hall (1950) Linked 2015-06-01
- ↑ Capsule write-up ("Grim drama but well done") for Dance Hall's July 1957 TV broadcast in U.S. (on WSUN, channel 38 in Florida, licensed to city of St. Petersburg)
- ↑ George Perry: Forever Ealing: a celebration of the great British film studio (Pavilion/Michael Joseph, 1981) ISBN 9780907516064
- ↑ The Times, 12 June 1950, page 6: New films in London Linked 2015-06-01
External links
- Dance Hall in the British Film Institute's "Explore film..." database
- Dance Hall at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
- Dance Hall at the British Board of Film Classification
- Dance Hall on IMDb
- Dance Hall at AllMovie