Dance Madness is a 1926 American silent comedy film directed by Robert Z. Leonard based upon a script by Frederica Sagor. The film starred Claire Windsor, Conrad Nagel, and Hedda Hopper.[1]
Dance Madness | |
---|---|
Directed by | Robert Z. Leonard |
Written by | Frederica Sagor |
Starring | Claire Windsor Conrad Nagel Hedda Hopper |
Cinematography | John Arnold William H. Daniels |
Edited by | William LeVanway |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
|
Running time | 70 mins. |
Country | United States |
Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
According to the credited screenwriter, Frederica Sagor, Dance Madness was "patently a rewrite" of The Guardsman, a work by Ferenc Molnár that was later directly adapted for film. Sagor notes the screenplay was not written by her, but by Alice D. G. Miller, and she only provided script rewrites.[2]
Plot
editAs described in a film magazine review,[3] Roger Halladay weds May Russell, a former dancer. He becomes infatuated with Valentina, the notorious masked Russian dancer. May discovers that Valentina's husband is Strokoff, who taught her dancing. The two women unite to teach Roger a lesson. May, always masked, poses as Valentina while trying to seduce Roger and arranges to have Strokoff find them while they are embracing. Roger runs away, followed by his masked charmer until he discovers that she is his wife and they are reconciled.
Cast
edit- Conrad Nagel as Roger Halladay
- Claire Windsor as May Russell
- Hedda Hopper as Valentina
- Douglas Gilmore as Bud
- Mario Carillo as Strokoff
- Elmo Billings
- Estelle Clark as Minor Role (uncredited)
- Joyzelle Joyner as Dancer (uncredited)
- Belva McKay as Minor Role (uncredited)
Preservation
editReferences
edit- ^ Progressive Silent Film List: Dance Madness at silentera.com
- ^ Mass, Frederica Sagor (1999). The Shocking Miss Pilgrim: A Writer in Early Hollywood. University Press of Kentucky. pp. 65–67. ISBN 0-8131-2122-1.
- ^ Pardy, George T. (February 6, 1926), "Pre-Release Review of Features: Dance Madness", Motion Picture News, 33 (6), New York City, New York: Motion Picture News, Inc.: 702, retrieved February 4, 2023 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Arne Andersen's - Lost Film Files (Metro-MGM - silentsaregolden.com Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
External links
edit- Dance Madness at IMDb
- Dance Madness at AllMovie
- Stills at silenthollywood.com
- Early Technicolor discoveries from the BFI National Archive on YouTube (Dance Madness clip starts at 1:56)