Bolero (1934 film)

Infobox Film
name = Bolero


caption =
director = Wesley Ruggles
producer =
writer = Carey Wilson
Kubec Glasmon
Ruth Ridenour
Horace Jackson
starring = George Raft
Carole Lombard
Sally Rand
Ray Milland
music = Ralph Rainger
Maurice Ravel
photography = Leo Tover
distributor = Paramount Pictures
released = 23 February 1934
runtime = 85 min.
language = English
country = USA
budget =
imdb_id = 0024903

"Bolero" is a 1934 film starring George Raft and Carole Lombard. The movie was a rare chance for Raft to star and to play a dancer, which had been his profession in New York City, rather than a gangster.

Plot summary

The film opens shortly before World War I. Raoul De Baere (Raft) is a dancer from New York City, aiming to become king of the European nightclub circuit. He tries to get Annette (famed exotic dancer Sally Rand) to be his dancing partner, but she refuses. He recruits Helen Hathaway (Lombard) instead and devises a very athletic routine to be accompanied by Ravel's "Boléro" (an anachronism, as the composition was not written until 1928).

He falls in love with Helen, but she does not reciprocate, and marries Lord Robert Coray (Ray Milland). Raoul serves in the U.S. Army in World War I and emerges with a weakened heart. Nevertheless, he vows to carry on with his career. He opens a smart nightclub in Paris, and recruits Annette (now desperate for work) as his new partner. On the opening night, as he is about to start the show, he finds her drunk and unable to perform. Fortunately, Helen is in the audience and agrees to stand in. Raoul hopes that she will rejoin him. Desperate to impress the audience, he overdoes his athletic routine, collapses and dies.

Cast

*George Raft as Raoul DeBaere
*Carole Lombard as Helen Hathaway
*Sally Rand as Arnette
*Ray Milland as Lord Robert Coray
*Frances Drake as Leona
*William Frawley as Mike DeBaere (Raoul's brother)

Production

The film predates the Hays Code, and at least two scenes would have been banned by the code. Firstly, George Raft tells Carole Lombard, when she auditions in his hotel room, to do so in her underwear; she complies. Later, Rand performs her famous fan dance, in which she hides her nudity behind two enormous, expertly positioned ostrich feather fans.

A double was used for Lombard in many of the shots in the dance scenes.

Although the film is regarded as a musical, [Clive Hirschhorn, "The Hollywood Musical", pub. Octopus, 1981] there are no songs.

Reception

The film was such a success that the following year Raft and Lombard made another film with a fairly similar plot and title, "Rumba". However, this was much less successful.

Influence

The dance routine was copied by Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean for their famous ice dance routine to the same music.Fact|date=June 2007

References

* Clive Hirschhorn, "The Hollywood Musical", pub. Octopus, 1981
* John Douglas Eames, "The Paramount Story", pub. Octopus, 1985
* "Radio Times Guide to Films", pub. BBC Worldwide, annual

External links

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