THE BEST DANCE FILMS

First on the political front, Joe Biden did okay enough in his press conference last night to continue his presidential campaign.  Many concerns remain, but the other options are riskier.

There were two embarrassments:  Answering his first question, Biden messed up the name of his own understudy, as he tried to speak on Harris’ ability to swap onto the ticket as a replacement.

“I would not have picked Vice President Trump to be Vice President if I didn’t think she was qualified to be President.” The gaffe came just hours after Biden drew gasps from the room of diplomats for mistakenly calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by the name of his foe who invaded the country, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Pundits keep saying that a vice presidential pick won't make any difference for electoral votes.  On one hand, that's mostly true in that this individual won't much affect the outcome of the race.  However, in the case of Donald Trump, if he picks J.D. Vance, as is most likely, battleground states will not be influenced.  He is, incidentally,  a lawyer from Yale, serving as editor of the Yale Law Journal, and who served in the Marine Corps in Iraq.  Will only be only 40 years old next month.  His endorsement by Trump helped him win his Ohio senator's seat.  Worked with high tech gurus Peter Thiel, Eric Schmidt, Marc Andreessen and Steve Case.  Ron Howard directed a film version of Vance's book, Hillbilly Elegy, for Netflix.  In 2017 was a CNN contributor.  Close friend of Donald Trump, Jr.  Vance did, though, in 2016 call The Donald reprehensible and America's Hitler.  They have since made up.

If somehow Trump and Nikki Haley got together, her presence on the ticket would be bad news for Joe Biden.  She will draw back into the Trump camp some no-Trumpers.  At this time, her viability for the vice-presidency is nill, a huge plus for Democrats.  If she just shifted 2% of the Republican and 5% of Independent votes, that would make a huge difference in a very close election.

How to choose the best dance film of all time depends on who is doing the analysis, and how young you are.  For example, the 21 best picked by Elle earlier this year is a nice list.  Plus, they specify how you can stream these movies.  However, they all the way back only to 1977.  Saturday Night Fever was rated #14.  #1 is the 1987 Dirty Dancing.

Screen Rant has the best 15 dance movies.

• #6 is the 1961 West Side Story.
• #4 is the Magic Mike Franchise (2012, 2015, 2023).
• #3 is the 1952 Singin' in the Rain
• #2 is the 1978 Grease
• #1 is the 1987 Dirty Dancing

Five years ago, Dance magazine picked the greatest dance movies of all time.  They did cite that 71 years ago, a new movie hit theaters:  The Red Shoes.  That one did not make the final five best, but the oldest was West Side Story in 1961.

Two years ago, Teen Vogue had final list of 45 best dance movies.  #39 was the 1936 Swing Time, with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.  But that was the only one reaching back so far, with no productions in the 40s and 50s so recognized.  #1, incidentally, was the 2018 Suspiria, produced by Amazon, with Dakota Johnson as the lead.  

Rotten Tomatoes has rated 30 dance films.  

• #1 was the 1952 Singin' in the Rain, one of their 100 films.  
• The other 100 film was the 2017 Dance Academy, #2.  
• Red Shoes in 1948 was at 99 and #4.  

• 
  I don't know if there is a mistake here, but #7 was Suspiria, a 1977 film at 94, but this one is a horror movie starring Jessica Harper.  
• Has to do with a ballet school, so maybe.  
• Strange, though, that the 2018 Suspiria was rated by Rotten Tomatoes  at 65, but did not make this list.   About  a dance audition in 1970s Berlin.

• 
  Good list, but the scores drop rapidly.
• #13  Saturday Night Fever (1977) 82
• #16  Dirty Dancing (1987)  72
• #20  Footloose (1984) 55
• #25  Flashdance (1983) 37
• 
  But what about all those Busby Berkeley, Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell musicals?
• Who can forget Busby Berkeley, from 1933-35 made 14 films.  Start with 42nd Street and move on to those Gold Diggers productions.

• 
  Astaire actually began dancing in 1917, and by 1933, a movie executive said, Can't act.  Can't sing. Balding.  Can dance a little.  Performed in over 40 films until 1977.  Rotten Tomatoes ranked his 1957 Silk Stocking with Cyd Charrise at 100.  Why isn't this dance film among the best?  Is never mentioned.
• Then there is Eleanor Powell, who danced on film only once with Astaire. , Broadway Melody of 1940.  Never danced together again.  Various reasons, but mostly she was too good.  Here again, 3 minutes of the best two.

Then, I wondered, why aren't films like The Nutcracker, Merry Widow and Die Fledermaus not on these best lists. 

• Actually, those idiotic TeenVogue selections did include at #20 the 1993 The Nutcracker with Macaulay Culkin alongside dancers from the New York City Ballet.

• 
  Screen Rant selected the top ten Nutcracker productions.
• #10 was that same 1993 Nutcracker.
• The 2010 Bolshoi Ballet version was #4.
• #1 was The Nutcracker (1977) starring Mikail Baryshnikov.  Rotten Tomatoes audiences had this film at 75.
• Don't watch the 2010 The Nutcracker, with Elle Fanning and Nathan Lane.  RT scores of 0/27.
• Also, The Nutcracker in 3D (also in 2010) got 32 zeros from 32 RT reviewers.
• Interestingly enough, way back in 2001, there was Barbie in the Nutcracker.  RT reviewers gave it a 20 score.

• 
  The first Nutcracker was in 1892, which was said not to be a success, but this Tchaikovsky ballet began to gain prominence with the Balanchine production with the New York City Ballet in 1954, featuring 90 dancers, 62 musicians, 40 stagehands and 125 children, led by Maria Tallchief.  In fact, this performance sort of gave birth to American ballet.  No RT review.

• 
  Looked into Franz Lehar's Merry Widow.
• The 1934 Jeanette MacDonald and Maurice Chevalier film got 82/78 scores from RT. 
• RT had the 1952 version with Lana Turner and Fernando Lamas at 56.
• If you actually want watch a 3 hour, 1996 production of The Merry Widow, click on that.

Then, of course, there is that ultimate dancing film, That's Dancing!  Click on that link, and it's the whole movie.  Unlike the 1985 That's Entertainment! series that only used MGM films, TD included clips from other studios.

• Hosted by Gene Kelly, Ray Bolger (he passed away two years later), Liza Minnelli, Sammy Davis Jr and Mikhail Baryshnikov.
• For the first time you saw the complete routine by Ray Bolger for his If I Only Had a Brain, which shortened in The Wizard of Oz.
• Dedicated to:

• Tommy Abbott
• June Allyson
• Ann-Margret
• Fred Astaire
• Lucille Ball
• Mikhail Baryshnikov
• Jennifer Beals
• David Bean
• Busby Berkeley
• Eric Blore
• Monte Blue
• Ray Bolger
• John Brascia
• Lucille Bremer
• James Cagney
• Irene Cara
• Leslie Caron
• Gower Champion
• Marge Champion
• Cyd Charisse
• Joan Crawford
• Dan Dailey
• Jacques d'Amboise
• Sammy Davis Jr.
• Doris Day
• Gloria DeHaven
• Isadora Duncan
• Buddy Ebsen
• Taina Elg
• Eliot Feld
• Margot Fonteyn
• Loie Fuller
• Clark Gable
• Judy Garland
• Virginia Gibson
• Cary Grant
• Jack Haley
• Margaret Hamilton
• Carol Haney
• June Haver
• Robert Helpmann
• Judy Holliday
• José Iturbi
• Michael Jackson
• Marine Jahan
• Van Johnson
• Ruby Keeler
• Gene Kelly
• Paula Kelly
• Michael Kidd
• Charles Laskey
• Ruta Lee
• Vivien Leigh
• Bambi Linn
• Peter Lorre
• Susan Luckey
• Shirley MacLaine
• Dean Martin
• Léonide Massine
• Matt Mattox
• Joan McCracken

Films featured:

• The Dumb Girl of Portici (1916)
• So This Is Paris (1926)
• Flying High (1931)
• 42nd Street (1933)
• Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
• Rufus Jones for President (1933)
• Dames (1934)
• The Gay Divorcee (1934)
• Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
• Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935)
• Roberta (1935)
• The Littlest Rebel (1935)
• Born to Dance (1936)
• Swing Time (1936)
• Honolulu (1939)
• The Wizard of Oz (1939)
• Gone with the Wind (1939)
• On Your Toes (1939)
• Down Argentine Way (1940)
• Babes on Broadway (1941)
• Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
• Bathing Beauty (1944)
• Kismet (1944)
• The All-Star Bond Rally (1945)
• The Harvey Girls (1946)
• Till the Clouds Roll By (1946)
• Ziegfeld Follies (1946)
• Good News (1947)
• The Red Shoes (1948)
• Neptune's Daughter (1949)
• Three Little Words (1950)
• Royal Wedding (1951)
• An American in Paris (1951)
• The Merry Widow (1952)
• Singin' in the Rain (1952)
• The Band Wagon (1953)
• Give a Girl a Break (1953)
• Kiss Me Kate (1953)
• Latin Lovers (1953)
• Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)
• It's Always Fair Weather (1955)
• Jupiter's Darling (1955)
• Oklahoma! (1955)
• Carousel (1956)
• Invitation to the Dance (1956)
• Les Girls (1957)
• Silk Stockings (1957)
• Indiscreet (1958)
• tom thumb (1958)
• West Side Story (1961)
• Viva Las Vegas (1964)
• Sweet Charity (1969)
• The Boy Friend (1971)
• Cabaret (1972)
• Saturday Night Fever (1977)
• The Turning Point (1977)
• Fame (1980)
• Flashdance (1983)

-