filmbriefs
Director

Dorothy Arzner

2
briefs
13:00
average
26 min
in total
On film.briefs2
13:00

Dance, Girl, Dance

Dorothy Arzner · 1940

Dorothy Arzner’s 1940 RKO drama follows two dancers — a ballerina and a burlesque performer — navigating patronage, poverty, and prejudice in Depression-era America. Structured around contrasting performance worlds, it foregrounds labour over glamour, material constraint over romantic fantasy, and direct address over emotional exposition. Though commercially unsuccessful on release, its formal rigour and ethical clarity have secured its place as a landmark of early feminist cinema.

13:00

Merrily We Go to Hell

Dorothy Arzner · 1932

Dorothy Arzner’s 1932 Paramount drama follows a Chicago reporter’s descent into alcoholism and infidelity, and his wife’s measured, devastating response. Fredric March and Sylvia Sidney anchor a tightly paced narrative where every glance and pause carries weight, and the title’s irony is sustained to the final frame.