Our Dancing Daughters

Our Dancing Daughters
Directed by	Harry Beaumont
Produced by	Hunt Stromberg
Written by	Josephine Lovett Marion Ainslee Ruth Cummings
Starring	Joan Crawford John Mack Brown
Music by	William Axt
Cinematography	George Barnes
Editing by	William Hamilton
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	September 1, 1928 (1928-09-01)
Running time	85 minutes
Country	United States
Language	Silent film English intertitles

Our Dancing Daughters is a 1928 MGM silent drama film starring Joan Crawford and John Mack Brown (later billed after a career decline as "Johnny Mack Brown"), about the "loosening of youth morals" that took place during the 1920s. The film was directed by Harry Beaumont and produced by Hunt Stromberg. This was the film that made Joan Crawford a major star, a position she held for the following half century.

Plot

"Dangerous Diana" Medford (Crawford) is outwardly flamboyant and popular but inwardly virtuous and idealistic, patronizing her parents (Dorothy Cumming and Huntley Gordon) by telling them not to stay out late. Her friend Ann (Anita Page) chases boys for their money and is as amoral as her mother (Kathlyn Williams). Diana and Ann are both attracted to Ben Blaine (John Mack Brown). He takes Diana's flirtatious behavior with other boys as a sign of uninterest in him and marries Ann. Diana becomes distraught for a while. Later, Diana throws a party which Ann hopes to attend with her lover, Freddie (Edward J. Nugent). She gets into an argument with her husband about the party but attends anyway; Ben attends behind Ann's back. Ben and Diana realize their love for each other, and, when Ann falls to her death due to drunkenness, the two are free to unite. Others in the cast include Nils Asther as Norman, Dorothy Sebastian as Beatrice, and Evelyn Hall and Sam De Grasse as Freddie's parents.

Cast

Joan Crawford ... Diana 'Di' Medford
John Mack Brown ... Ben Blaine
Nils Asther ... Norman
Dorothy Sebastian ... Beatrice 'Bea'
Anita Page ... Ann 'Annikins'
Kathlyn Williams ... Ann's mother
Edward J. Nugent ... Freddie (billed as Edward Nugent)
Dorothy Cumming ... Diana's mother
Huntley Gordon ... Diana's father (billed as Huntly Gordon)
Evelyn Hall ... Freddie's mother
Sam De Grasse ... Freddie's father (billed as Sam de Grasse)

Reception

Bland Johnson in the New York Mirror commented, "Joan Crawford...does the greatest work of her career."^[1] It grossed $1,099,000 worldwide.

References

1. ^ Quirk, Lawrence J.. The Films of Joan Crawford. The Citadel Press, 1968.

External links

• Our Dancing Daughters at Rotten Tomatoes
• Our Dancing Daughters at the Internet Movie Database
• Our Dancing Daughters at AllRovi
• Review on notcoming.com