Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

InspireGato Film Perfection

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

donofthedial This looks like it was meant to be a June Have film...one that she turned down.Dreadful film. Only worth watching for William Powell and people like Adolph Menjou. Mark Stevens - not so hot. Betsy Drake. The worst. Can't act sing or dance. Whines well. Magnificent cleavage, though. Yeah, right. You could play Scrabble on her 'chest'. No way any guy was going to wait two years for her. That dancing! Snakes on a plane.Really, Bill Powell is the only reason to see the film, except to see how badly a play can be transfered to film in one case such as this - badly vs THE BANDWAGON just a few years later which is a masterpiece.

GManfred A forerunner of "The Band Wagon", "Dancing In The Dark" is a flop. It is strictly for die-hard Wm. Powell fans, for whom their idol can do no wrong. This potboiler of a picture does a lot of wrong, however, and lacks the charm and vitality of its descendant.Sorely missed is the terrific score of Schwartz & Dietz and the songs that are included are mishandled. The storyline plods along as though the screenwriters struggled to stay awake. The picture is further sabotaged by the boy/girl leads, who are 'B' actors and lack charisma and glamor. Mark Stevens is colorless and Betsy Drake is a wallflower and detract from the overall effectiveness of the story.The only reason to watch it is for the always dapper and magnetic William Powell who carries the film, such as it is, and does the best he can in a thankless part. Adolph Menjou, Walter Catlett and other veteran character actors are on hand to lend whatever help they can give but the cause is a lost one.This is a picture to watch if you are sick in bed. Put the remote on top of the TV, and you will feel so much better when you get up to change the channel.

edwagreen I'm really in the dark about this picture.William Powell must have been in his dotage to have accepted the role of the conceited has-been actor in this disappointing 1949 film. After a terrific success three years before with Lucille Ball and Clifton Webb in "The Dark Corner," why did Mark Stevens get the part of the Hollywood hot-shot who really was that at all? As for Betsy Drake, this girl is plain awful in her singing and dancing routine. That's the ending number of this abysmal movie.There were certain things that were rushed here such as her screen test and when they're trying to convey that her father in the movie is Powell. Did he really realize that Drake was his daughter during their first encounter?

russellld This is a good film for fans of William Powell, Betsy Drake, Jean Hersholt, and/or films about Hollywood or the road to success. Inspirational in that "we're gonna make it" way, however corny that can be. The plot twists are good, if melodramatic, the "schemes" hatched by the characters to achieve their objectives are clever, and there are some good musical numbers, although these are far fewer than in the musical, "Bandwagon," which is based on the same source. I found it a very pleasant evening's entertainment.