Dancing Co-Ed

This is a movie I didn't know about until I checked the "classics" section at my local library and saw this title there. The fact it starred Lana Turner and Artie Shaw-who I knew were once married-was the reason I felt I had to check it out. Ms. Turner plays a dancer who enrolls in a college to qualify for a contest for a movie even though she's already picked for it! I'll stop there and just say this was quite funny with fine support by people like Roscoe Karns, Ann Rutherford, Monty Woolley, Thurston Hall, and Leon Errol. I especially liked the last one's dance steps. Shaw provides plenty of great music. While some of the plot seems out of joint, most of the dialogue is quite funny though don't try to make too much sense of that. So on that note, I recommend Dancing Co-Ed.

This is perhaps Lana Turner's finest vehicle. It showcases her unbelievable beauty and vitality, and it also spotlights her generally undiscovered comedic talents. The plot of this film involves a nation-wide search for a "dancing co-ed" to replace a movie-star in a big budget film. Lana's character has been planted at one of the colleges under consideration, however the student-editor of the school newspaper suspects that the company has already chosen its girl. Under the theory that Sherlock Holmes never suspected Watson, Lana becomes his assistant, and successfully evades his search...of course, the two fall in love....

This movie gave me some of the biggest laughs I've ever had. It is simple, yet wonderful, and one of the most enjoyable films. Chalk up Dancing Co-Ed as another of 1939's countless cinema classics.

A musical is about ready to be filmed for a fictional studio. The only problem is that the lady from the dance team to star in the film is pregnant and they need to find a replacement. Roscoe Karnes has an idea to stage a phony search in colleges across the country for the actress' replacement--though in reality, he has already chosen Lana Turner for the role. So, he enrolls Lana at a college and pretends to have an honest to goodness competition. Unfortunately, complications arise and the film becomes a nice little romantic farce.

This is a rather old fashioned but fun old MGM musical that oddly stars Lana Turner. While I was surprised how well she could dance, you just normally don't think of her and dancing. Apparently it was originally to have been an Eleanor Powell film and it sure feels like one. Either could have done a fine job in this film, though seeing Turner in her more natural look of 1939 was very refreshing--with much less make-up and more natural looking hair. She was quite beautiful and more natural looking--making me wish that more co-eds had looked like this when I was in college. Uh, oh,...if my wife reads this, I am toast! By the way, while not a great film, it's a very good film and one even curmudgeons can enjoy.

More than a bit corny but Lana Turner was exceptional I thought as was Artie Shaw playing himself. No only was that a great band with Buddy Rich on drums but Artie was such a handsome guy and pretty good as an actor as well. A couple of years later he married Lana so she must have noticed him! She certainly bought a fresh beauty to the screen! She also acts very well and brings a sense of realism to the story that would otherwise be lacking. She certainly is impressive.

As usual with these films one of the really good reasons for watching it these days is the Artie Shaw band but they don't get a lot of time without having dialogue over them so its hard to realise how well they sound even by 21st century standards. This sort of big band has a wonderful sound and I love it.

I saw this movie several times, in another life (before WWII), with another title (Invitation To Dance)and in another world (Eastern Europe). Artie Shaw was already a star, but didn't fill the expectations, perhaps too bright to stay in rank with other jazzmen.I never found an opportunity to see it again, is not even available at Amazon. I caught it last week on a TCM program, although the advertised cast mentioned only the names of Lana Turner and...Thurston Hall! In my humble opinion, this movie may illustrate a duel between the two great clarinet wizards, Benny Goodman The King Of Swing and Artie Shaw the King of Clarinet.The Midwestern jazz and majorette parade imitates but hardly matches the motorcade introducing Hollywood HOTEL (S. Sylvan Simon ain't Busby Berkeley!) but the dance contest sequence is excellent, with a special mention for TRAFFIC JAM, both for the music and for the staging. That air is bathing in Count Basian atmosphere, like the LADY BE GOOD rendition of the same line-up - with Buddy Rich for added entertainment.And in his second (and last) full-length movie,SECOND CHORUS, Artie Shaw lined up his Concerto For Clarinet, a masterpiece largely shown, not for just two minutes, like SING, SING, SING, in HH. The plot was entertaining, with many good quips and dialog. Good mentions for Roscoe Kearns and Ann Rutherford.And Lana Turner is, at least this time, fresh and unsophisticated. A must for all the Artie Shaw and Swing Era fans, although the jazz sequences - except TRAFFIC JAM - are unreasonably shortened. Harry Carasso, Paris, France