swing dancing in movies
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- DirectorIrving CummingsStarsBetty GrableCarmen MirandaJohn PayneBroadway partners Vicky Lane and Dan Christy have a tiff over Christy's womanizing. Jealous Vicky takes up with her old flame and former dance partner, Victor Price, and Dan's career takes a nosedive. In hopes of rekindling their romance and getting Vicky back on the boards with him, Dan follows her to a ritzy resort in the Canadian Rockies, where she and Victor are about to open their new act. But things get complicated when Dan wakes after a bender to find that he's hired an outlandish Latin secretary, Rosita Murphy, which makes Vicky think he's just up to his old tricks again.
- DirectorArthur LubinStarsBud AbbottLou CostelloDick ForanTwo peanut vendors at a traveling rodeo show get in trouble with their boss and hide out on a railroad train heading west. They get jobs as cowboys on a dude ranch, despite the fact that both know nothing about cowboys, horses, or much of anything.
- DirectorArthur LubinStarsBud AbbottLou CostelloLee BowmanTwo sidewalk salesman enlist in the army in order to avoid jail, only to find that their drill instructor is the police officer who tried having them imprisoned.
- DirectorH.C. PotterStarsOle OlsenChic JohnsonMartha RayeOlsen and Johnson, a pair of stage comedians, try to turn their play into a movie and bring together a young couple in love, while breaking the fourth wall every step of the way.
- DirectorOscar MicheauxStarsCora GreenLarry SeymourHazel DiazTed Gregory is trying to be the first black producer to mount a show on Broadway, but he has trouble with his star singer.
- DirectorNick MeadStarsHugo SpeerLisa StansfieldPaul UsherWhen Martin gets out of prison, the guards warn him to get a job or end up back in jail. Martin decides to start his own band. The band is a smashing success until the police find out that it was backed with stolen money.
- DirectorRoy Del RuthStarsGeorge MurphyGinny SimmsCharles WinningerA reluctantly-retired vaudevillian clashes with his producer son, who thinks his father's entertainment is passe'--audiences need something more sophisticated. Meanwhile, the producer's father and sister secretly produce their own show.
- DirectorAndrew L. StoneStarsLena HorneBill RobinsonCab Calloway and His Cotton Club OrchestraThe relationship between an aspiring dancer and a popular songstress provides a retrospective of the great African-American entertainers of the early 1900s.
- DirectorCharles ReisnerStarsPhil ReganLeo CarrilloAnn DvorakGangsters take control of a record company and use toughguy tactics on unwilling performers.
- DirectorMitchell LeisenStarsCarole LombardFred MacMurrayCharles ButterworthA hair-dresser stranded in Panama moves in with an ex-soldier and his hypochondriac roommate; she and the former fall in love, but their romance is threatened by success and the arrival of his old flame.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsDanny KayeVirginia MayoBenny GoodmanWith her gangster boyfriend under investigation by the police, a nightclub singer hides out in a musical research institution staffed by bachelor professors - one of whom begins to fall for her.
- DirectorGeorge StevensStarsFred AstaireGinger RogersVictor MooreRoguish gambler/dancer "Lucky" Garnett is challenged by his fiance's father to come up with $25,000 to prove he's worthy of her hand. But after he falls in love with a dance instructor, Lucky'll do anything to keep from earning the bucks.
- DirectorH.C. PotterStarsFred AstairePaulette GoddardArtie ShawWhen perennial college students Danny O'Neill and Hank Taylor are forced to make it on their own, the competitive pair get jobs with Artie Shaw's band and reunite with ex-manager Ellen Miller.
- DirectorTim WhelanStarsMichèle MorganJack HaleyFrank SinatraWith their employer bankrupt, servants scheme to marry maid Millie to a rich husband. But Frank Sinatra lives across the street...
- DirectorVincente MinnelliStarsRed SkeltonEleanor PowellRichard AinleyA bumbling pants presser at an upscale hotel's valet service nurses an unrequited crush on a Broadway star. He gets more than he bargained for when she agrees to marry him, to spite her womanizing fiance, and encounters Nazi saboteurs.
- DirectorNorman TaurogStarsJudy GarlandVan HeflinFay BainterSmall-town Indiana girl Lily Mars dreams to be a stage actress. She begs visiting Broadway producer John Thornway for a role but he dismisses her as an amateur. She follows him to New York and worms her way into his show, and his heart.
- DirectorEdward BuzzellStarsEleanor PowellRed SkeltonBert LahrMiss Winters is a dancer with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and is asked to secretly transport a prototype magnetic mine to Puerto Rico. She thinks that she is working for the US Government, but fails to see why she would be involved.
- DirectorWill JasonStarsEileen PercyKenneth BrownSally EilersThis Pete Smith Specialty is a semihumorous look at basic first aid techniques for mishaps that often occur around the house. It was produced in cooperation with the Beverly Hills First Aid Unit of the American Red Cross Disaster Service.
- DirectorSpike LeeStarsDenzel WashingtonAngela BassettDelroy LindoBiographical epic of the controversial and influential Black Nationalist leader, from his early life and career as a small-time gangster, to his ministry as a member of the Nation of Islam and his eventual assassination.
- DirectorMark HallStarsJon FavreauRusty FrankIan MacleanThis two-hour documentary traces the history of swing, from its first emergence in the 1920s to its current revival across the United States, Canada and Europe. "This Joint Is Jumpin'" takes you back to a time when zoot suit-clad hepcats hit the dance floor with dolls in full-skirted dresses and seamed stockings. All troubles were forgotten to the hip sounds of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller. You'll also hear how the original swing bands influenced current groups like the Brian Setzer Orchestra and Big Bad VooDoo Daddy. So put on your dancing shoes and hit the floor because..."This Joint Is Jumpin'"!
- DirectorJudy PritchettStarsDaniel HermannFrankie ManningJudy PritchettThis documentary explores the Big Apple dance in the context of American history.
- DirectorThomas CarterStarsRobert Sean LeonardChristian BaleFrank WhaleyA group of teens adores forbidden music in Nazi Germany just before the outbreak of World War II.
- DirectorMark SandrichStarsFred AstaireGinger RogersEdward Everett HortonA ballet dancer and a showgirl fake a marriage for publicity purposes, then fall in love.
- DirectorMark SandrichStarsFred AstaireGinger RogersRandolph ScottA Navy sailor tries to rekindle a romance with the woman he loves while on liberty in San Francisco.
- DirectorSam WoodEdmund GouldingStarsGroucho MarxChico MarxHarpo MarxA sly business manager and the wacky friends of two opera singers in Italy help them achieve success in America while humiliating their stuffy and snobbish enemies.
- DirectorMark SandrichStarsFred AstaireGinger RogersRalph BellamyA psychiatrist falls in love with the woman he's supposed to be nudging into marriage with someone else.
- DirectorWolfgang ReithermanStarsPhil HarrisEva GaborSterling HollowayWith the help of a smooth talking tomcat, a family of Parisian felines set to inherit a fortune from their owner try to make it back home after a jealous butler kidnaps them and leaves them in the country.
- DirectorWolfgang ReithermanStarsPhil HarrisSebastian CabotLouis PrimaBagheera the Panther and Baloo the Bear have a difficult time trying to convince a boy to leave the jungle for human civilization.
- DirectorHarry BeaumontStarsPreston FosterGail PatrickLee WildeStephanie and Terry are identical twins who have been separated since their parents divorced seven years before. Each envies the life style of the other so they decide, without telling Jeff or Mary, to switch families for a day or two. They soon find that it is harder than just looking like someone to be able to do what that person is expected to do. After they find that their charade may bring their parents back together they agree to continue it. A major complication starts when Jeff's girlfriend and co-worker Alice finds out the real story.
- DirectorArthur H. LeonardStarsTim MooreElwood SmithDuke WilliamsA couple of theatrical producers try to get backing for their musical show.
- DirectorHoward W. KochStarsMamie Van DorenLori NelsonJohn RussellFollows two vagrant sisters working for crooked characters at a rock 'n' roll prison-farm.
- DirectorWolfgang ReithermanStarsPhil HarrisEva GaborSterling HollowayWith the help of a smooth talking tomcat, a family of Parisian felines set to inherit a fortune from their owner try to make it back home after a jealous butler kidnaps them and leaves them in the country.
- DirectorJohn CleinStarsHenry ArmstrongWillie BryantMae E. JohnsonHenry Jackson, known as Little Dynamite, is a Golden Gloves champion who agrees to turn professional when approached by fight manager Ed Watson, despite the opposition raised by his father and Fanny Singleton, his sweetheart. Jackson is ready to fight for the championship when he runs into Frank Harrison, an old school friend. Harrison is not the faithful friend that Jackson believes him to be; he is betting heavily that the heavily-favored Jackson will lose the bout. To ensure that he does, Harrison introduces Jackson to hot mama Jerry Jordan, who is instructed to make him drink and stay out late to mess him up. The day of the fight, Harrison orders Jerry to slip Jackson a sleeping potion just before he leaves for the fight. Jerry, now in love with Jackson, finally agrees after Harrison threatens her. A few hours before the fight, Jackson, Harrison, Jerry, and Harlem hanger-on Windy are in Harrison's apartment when Jerry proposes a toast to Jordan. When he is not looking, she slips the sleeping potion into his glass. Windy sees her and switches glasses with Jackson. Jerry, ringside at the fight, sees the boy she loves getting a bad beating. Sobbing wildly, she leaves the arena and runs to a near-by church, where she drops on her knees and prays to God to forgive her and to let Henry win.
- DirectorMark SandrichRobert AllenStarsBing CrosbyFred AstaireMarjorie ReynoldsAt an inn which is open only on holidays, a crooner and a hoofer vie for the affections of a beautiful up-and-coming performer.
- DirectorWilliam A. SeiterStarsJean ArthurJohn WayneCharles WinningerFacing forty, a NYC spinster on a bus tour of the West encounters a handsome rodeo cowboy who helps her forget her unsuitable city suitors.
- DirectorNathan JuranStarsAllison HayesWilliam HudsonYvette VickersWhen an abused socialite grows to giant size because of an alien encounter and an aborted murder attempt, she goes after her cheating husband with revenge on her mind.
- DirectorEdward H. GriffithStarsFred AstaireJoan LeslieRobert BenchleyFred Atwell sneaks away from his famous squadron's personal appearance tour and goes incognito for several days off.
- DirectorRaoul WalshStarsGeorge BurnsGracie AllenMartha RayeGracie Alden tries to graduate college to get an inheritance.
- DirectorBusby BerkeleyStarsMickey RooneyJudy GarlandCharles WinningerA group of vaudevillians struggling to compete with talkies hits the road hoping for a comeback. Frustrated to be left behind, all of their kids put on a show themselves to raise money for the families and to prove they've got talent, too.
- DirectorBusby BerkeleyStarsMickey RooneyJudy GarlandFay BainterJudy Garland and Mickey Rooney star in a musical directed by Busby Berkeley as two talented teenagers dreaming of success as Babes on Broadway.
- DirectorBenjamin StoloffStarsBob BurnsJack OakieKenny BakerA songwriter uses the songs one of his pupils writes while sleeping for his own contract.