''Dancing Dynamite'' is a 1931 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

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 Noel M. Smith. It premiered in New York on 18 August 1931, and was distributed by State Rights and Mercury Pictures. ''Dancing Dynamite'' was filmed on location at Santa Catalina Island.

Plot

Cast

* Richard Talmadge as Dick Barton * Blanche Mehaffey as Helen Van Lane * Robert Ellis as Lucas * Richard Cramer as Kelsey * Harvey Clark as Murray Van Lane * Dot Farley as Effie * Jack Ackroyd as Shorty *

Stanley Blystone William Stanley Blystone (August 1, 1894 – July 16, 1956) was an American film actor who made more than 500 films appearances from 1924 to 1956. He was sometimes billed as William Blystone or William Stanley. Early years Blystone was born in ...

as Bull Evans *

Walter Brennan Walter Andrew Brennan (July 25, 1894 – September 21, 1974) was an American actor and singer. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for ''Come and Get It (1936 film), Come and Get It'' (1936), ''Kentucky (film), Kentucky'' (19 ...

as henchman

Reception

A review from ''

The Film Daily ''The Film Daily'' was a daily publication that existed from 1918 to 1970 in the United States. It was the first daily newspaper published solely for the film industry. It covered the latest trade news, film reviews, financial updates, informati ...

'' on 16 August 1931 praised the film, particularly Talmadge's performance, writing; "Fast action meller with Richard Talmadge out tunting himself in thrill stuff that will please the fans."The Film Daily (Jul-Dec 1931)
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

. ''

'', August 16, 1931. p. 10 (370). Retrieved June 10, 2021. A negative review from '' Variety'' on 25 August wrote that ''Dancing Dynamite'' was a "badly knit story" adding "It is 63 minutes of silly clowning interspersed with acrobatics by Richard Talmadge."

References

External links

* * {{Noel M. Smith 1931 films 1931 crime drama films American black-and-white films American crime drama films Films directed by Noel M. Smith 1930s English-language films 1930s American films English-language crime drama films