Ten Cents a Dance (1931): Pre-Code Melodrama, Starring Barabra Stanwyck, Directed by Lionel Barrymore

Blast from the Past: Stanwyck Revisited

In this pre-Code romantic melodrama, Barbara Stanwyck plays a married taxi dancer who falls in love with one of her customers.

Grade: B-

Ten Cents a Dance

Theatrical release poster

The film was inspired by the popular song, which is sung over the title sequence.

Stanwyck plays streetwise taxi dancer Barbara O’Neill, working at New York City dance hall, Palais de Dance. One of the dance hall’s wealthy patrons, Bradley Carlton, hands her $100, and agrees to hire Eddie Miller, her unemployed friend and neighbor .

Having fallen in love, they get married, but soon they are engaged in jealous fights when he finds out that she’s getting money from Bradley.

In the end, Barbara returns to the dance hall, where she is met by Bradley who invites her for an ocean liner to France, where she can obtain divorce and marry him.

Cast
Barbara Stanwyck as Barbara O’Neill
Ricardo Cortez as Bradley Carlton
Monroe Owsley as Eddie Miller
Sally Blane as Molly
Blanche Friderici as Mrs Blanchard
Martha Sleeper as Nancy Clark
David Newell as Ralph Sheridan
Victor Potel as Smith
Sidney Bracey as Wilson
Abe Lyman and His Orchestra
Aggie Herring as Mrs Carney
Harry Todd as Mr Carney
Phyllis Crane as Eunice
Olive Tell as Mrs Carlton
Al Hill as Jones
Pat Harmon as Casey

Credits:

Directed by Lionel Barrymore
Written by Jo Swerling, Dorothy Howell (continuity)

Produced by Harry Cohn, Frank Fouce

Cinematography: Ernest Haller, Gilbert Warrenton

Edited by Arthur Huffsmith
Music by Constantin Bakaleinikoff, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart

Production and Distribution: Columbia Pictures

Release date March 6, 1931 (US)

Running time: 75 minutes

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