''Dance Pretty Lady'' is a 1931 British
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...
directed by
Anthony Asquith
Anthony Asquith (; 9 November 1902 – 20 February 1968) was an English film director. He collaborated successfully with playwright Terence Rattigan on ''The Winslow Boy'' (1948) and '' The Browning Version'' (1951), among other adaptations ...
and starring
Ann Casson
Ann Casson (6 November 1915 – 2 May 1990) was an English stage and film actress. She was a daughter of acting couple Sir Lewis Casson and Dame Sybil Thorndike and had three siblings: John, Christopher and Mary. She was married to actor Douglas ...
,
Carl Harbord,
Michael Hogan,
Moore Marriott
George Thomas Moore Marriott (14 September 1885 – 11 December 1949) was an English character actor best remembered for the series of films he made with Will Hay. His first appearance with Hay was in the film '' Dandy Dick'' (1935), but he ...
and
Flora Robson
Dame Flora McKenzie Robson (28 March 19027 July 1984) was an English actress and star of the theatrical stage and cinema, particularly renowned for her performances in plays demanding dramatic and emotional intensity. Her range extended from qu ...
. It was based on the 1912 novel ''
Carnival
Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras.
Carnival typi ...
'' by
Compton Mackenzie
Sir Edward Montague Compton Mackenzie, (17 January 1883 – 30 November 1972) was a Scottish writer of fiction, biography, histories and a memoir, as well as a cultural commentator, raconteur and lifelong Scottish nationalist. He was one of t ...
. The novel was subsequently remade as a 1946 film ''
Carnival
Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras.
Carnival typi ...
''.
Plot
During the
Edwardian era
In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King Ge ...
, a working-class
ballet dancer
A ballet dancer is a person who practices the Art (skill), art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet. They rely on years of extensive training and proper technique to become a part of a professional ballet company. B ...
begins a romance with a wealthy artist against a background of sharp disapproval.
Cast
*
Ann Casson
Ann Casson (6 November 1915 – 2 May 1990) was an English stage and film actress. She was a daughter of acting couple Sir Lewis Casson and Dame Sybil Thorndike and had three siblings: John, Christopher and Mary. She was married to actor Douglas ...
as Jenny Pearl
*
Carl Harbord as Maurice Avery
*
Michael Hogan as Castleton
*
Moore Marriott
George Thomas Moore Marriott (14 September 1885 – 11 December 1949) was an English character actor best remembered for the series of films he made with Will Hay. His first appearance with Hay was in the film '' Dandy Dick'' (1935), but he ...
as Mr. Raeburn
*
Flora Robson
Dame Flora McKenzie Robson (28 March 19027 July 1984) was an English actress and star of the theatrical stage and cinema, particularly renowned for her performances in plays demanding dramatic and emotional intensity. Her range extended from qu ...
as Mrs. Raeburn
*
Leonard Brett as Alf
*
Norman Claridge
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norma ...
as Jack Danby
*
Sunday Wilshin
Sunday Wilshin (26 February 190519 March 1991) was a British actress and radio producer; the successor to George Orwell on his resignation in 1943. She was born in London as Mary Aline Wilshin (corroborated by publicly available birth records; o ...
as Irene
*
René Ray
Irene Lilian Brodrick, Countess of Midleton (née Creese, known as Rene Ray, 22 September 1911 – 28 August 1993) was a British stage and screen actress of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s and also a novelist.
Acting career
Ray made her screen débu ...
as Elsie
*
Eva Llewellyn as Aunt Mabel
*
Marie Rambert Dancers as Dancers
*
Wendy Toye
Beryl May Jessie Toye, (1 May 1917 – 27 February 2010), known professionally as Wendy Toye, was a British dancer, stage and film director and actress.
Life and career
Toye was born in London. She initially worked as a dancer and choreographe ...
as Dancer
*
Alban Conway
*
Hermione Gingold
Hermione Ferdinanda Gingold (; 9 December 189724 May 1987) was an English actress known for her sharp-tongued, eccentric character. Her signature drawling, deep voice was a result of nodules on her vocal cords she developed in the 1920s and ea ...
References
External links
*
1931 films
Films directed by Anthony Asquith
Films set in the 1900s
British historical drama films
1930s historical drama films
Films set in London
British black-and-white films
1931 drama films
1930s English-language films
1930s British films
Films scored by John Reynders
English-language historical drama films
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