Once a bum, always a bum. Pro tip: don’t marry a man who was skipping town over owing money when you first met him. So much drama packed into just 77 minutes. I loved it and I love Barbara.

50 Days 50 Pre-Code Pictures:
Picture #11:
Ten Cents A Dance
____________________________________

Until This I Was Not Aware One Of My Favorite Silent/Golden Age Actors Lionel Barrymore Was A Director Also, So When I Came Across This, Saw His Name And Then Looked At The Cast And Saw The One The Only Barbara Stanwyck I Lost My Mind, I Couldn't Believe My Eyes, I Tried Not To Get My Hopes Up To High Because I've Seen A Lot Of Pre-Code Pictures And Know Their Reputation, I'm Glad I Didn't Expect Much Because I Didn't Get Much, Stanwyck Is Obviously Outstanding And I Couldn't Take My Eyes Off Her For A Second, Barrymore's Directing Is Competent, But There Is Not Much To It, I Had Low Expectations So I Was Not Disappointed.

Next Review: Operator 13 (1934)

i too would go into debt to dance with barbara stanwyck

Fascinating how she plays the role so well as a street smart looking for everything good in human and not taking them for granted - she mastered that essence in Ladies of Leisure and The Miracle Woman. Cortez plays his part well opposite her, and whoever played Eddie in this movie requires a few stretches, but believably, he's a prick the whole time in the film and makes you want to punch him in the face.

Barbara Stanwyck’s husband in 10 Cents A Dance is such a monumental arsehole, it makes the film - which in many other aspects is forgettable - gripping. He’s cruel, he’s lazy, he philanders, he’s got a gambling addiction (for which he blames his wife), he’s drowning in self-pity. He’s awful. 

Watching the film, you get increasingly desperate for the inevitable moment when she kicks him to the kerb. 

And when it happens, it’s spectacular.

Scavenger Hunt #49 (10/30)
Task #19: Go to anyone that gave Movie #18 a 5-star rating and watch a movie they saw in March

Pretty mundane, but Barbara Stanwyck is so appealing, who really cares?

tag yourself i am the girl barbara took under her wing in the beginning who clearly has a crush on barbara

A typical scenario of the early thirties: a poor, but honest, girl has a choice between two men, one poor and one rich. Within this basic plot, many variations in the character of each man and the interactions among the principals are possible and determine the woman’s ultimate choice. In a pre-code film the interactions are sharper and sex is more prominent than in films made post the code. In this film, since the poor man is played by shifty-looking Monroe Owsley, Barbara Stanwyck’s ultimate choice of rich Ricardo Cortez is obvious from the beginning. Stanwyck puts some intensity and snap into her performance but overall the film lacks vitality and sharpness. It is weakly written, slow moving, and slackly directed. Lionel Barrymore briefly reduced his acting in favor of directing, a poor decision he quickly reversed.

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Solid plot, the only thing that bugged me was that Stanwyck's character was so strong and perceptive yet she fell for the guy anyway. But no strange car chases here, just a credible story of just deserts.

'A DIEZ CENTAVOS EL BAILE', la última película que dirigió Lionel Barrymore, es un precode en toda regla (hay una referencia constante, aunque encubierta, a la prostitución). Lo mejor, Stanwyck esta vez interpretando un papel más cándido de lo que nos acostumbraría después.

Barbara Stanwyck spends 65 minutes as the doting lover and wife before finally coming alive in the final 10, giving this film some much needed edge.

Stanwyck is gorgeous and talented and a star and amazing.

“Isabel, maybe you should stop binge watching Barbara Stanwyck movies and find a better quarantine coping mechanism” 

“.
.
N̶̡͉̣̬̟̠̯͈̺̪̐͆͊͆̅̓͒͘͘͞Ō̴̟̟̯͚̣̬͋̀̆̆̌̂̈́̋͢͝
.
❤️“

Stanwyck seems slightly miscast here. While she does an admirable job, she always reads as more levelheaded and world-wise than the script is laying out. It’s hard to make the strings swell and the hankies to come out when I have the gut feeling that Stanwyck’s character could survive much worse.

Liked this. Particularly liked Ricardo Cortez

50 Days 50 Pre-Code Pictures:
Picture #11:
Ten Cents A Dance
____________________________________

Until This I Was Not Aware One Of My Favorite Silent/Golden Age Actors Lionel Barrymore Was A Director Also, So When I Came Across This, Saw His Name And Then Looked At The Cast And Saw The One The Only Barbara Stanwyck I Lost My Mind, I Couldn't Believe My Eyes, I Tried Not To Get My Hopes Up To High Because I've Seen A Lot Of Pre-Code Pictures And Know Their Reputation, I'm Glad I Didn't Expect Much Because I Didn't Get Much, Stanwyck Is Obviously Outstanding And I Couldn't Take My Eyes Off Her For A Second, Barrymore's Directing Is Competent, But There Is Not Much To It, I Had Low Expectations So I Was Not Disappointed.

Next Review: Operator 13 (1934)

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

want stany to punch me, too

Sailor: "We get paid tomorrow. Thirty fish."
Barbara Stanwyck: "What are you gonna do, buy a row boat?” 

Every Barbara Stanwyck fan knows what the lonely rich guy from the dance hall means when he says what he likes about her is the combination of "hate and hunger" in her eyes.  Buddy, we all feel that way.

"Directed by Lionel Barrymore" was a combination of words I never knew existed until I saw this, and it turns out he directed 15 movies. Jo Swerling's script has some great wisecracks when they're in the dance hall. Outside the dance hall, it's a meh story about a taxi dancer (Stanwyck) who talks tough on the rail, but falls in love with a broke customer who turns out to be a bum.

11/05/2020

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.