- Film Review
- Reviewed By Tony Sloman
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4 out of 5
This cracking biopic of 1920s chanteuse Ruth Etting was originally intended as a vehicle for Ava Gardner, but MGM wisely brought in Doris Day, giving her a sexy new image and pairing her again, after Starlift and The West Point Story, with tough guy James Cagney, and, boy, how those sparks fly! Though censorship has diluted this tawdry saga of a kept woman and her obsessive and sexually inadequate gangster sponsor, the truth is not glossed over, despite the exquisite CinemaScope framing and top-notch production values that make the tale less squalid than it obviously actually was. Doris is a knockout, performing the title number and Ten Cents a Dance with great understanding, but it's the Oscar-nominated Cagney, in a great later role, as "the Gimp", who walks away with the movie.
Plot Summary
Biographical musical drama starring Doris Day and James Cagney. In the 1920s, singer Ruth Etting has her early career shaped by Chicago gangster Martin "the Gimp" Snyder, who becomes obsessed with her.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Ruth Etting
- Doris Day
- Martin "the Gimp" Snyder
- James Cagney
- Johnny Alderman
- Cameron Mitchell
- Bernard V Loomis
- Robert Keith (1)
- Frobisher
- Tom Tully
- Georgie
- Harry Bellaver
- Paul Hunter
- Richard Gaines
- Fred Taylor
- Peter Leeds
- Eddie Fulton
- Claude Stroud
- Jingle girl
- Audrey Young
- Greg Trent
- John Harding
Crew
- Director
- Charles Vidor
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