The Dance of Life


The Dance of Life is the first of three film adaptations of the popular Broadway play Burlesque, the others being Swing High, Swing Low and When My Baby Smiles at Me.
The Dance of Life was shot at Paramount's Astoria Studios in Astoria, Queens, and included Technicolor sequences, directed by John Cromwell and A. Edward Sutherland.

Plot

comic Ralph "Skid" Johnson, and specialty dancer Bonny Lee King, end up together on a cold, rainy night at a train station, after she fails an audition and he complains about her treatment by the impresario of the show and quits. They decide to team up and apply for work with a much better show on "the big wheel".

Cast

In 1957, the film entered the public domain because the claimants did not renew its copyright registration in the 28th year after publication.

Preservation status

No color prints survive, only black-and-white prints made in the 1950s for TV broadcast.