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Nix on Dames Reviews

1929
1 hr 7 mins
Drama, Music
NR

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In her first important screen role, Mae Clarke is cast as Jackie Lee, a saucy vaudeville dancer. Jackie comes between acrobat-partners Bert (Robert Ames) and Johnny (William Harrigan), despite their promises to one another never to let a "dame" break up their act. Much of the dialogue is comprised of show-business slang, which must have been confusing to 1929 filmgoers but provides an endless source of enjoyment to the contemporary movie buff. The musical numbers were imaginatively staged, notably a "post-card" routine in which a photograph suddenly comes to life (and this was 12 years before this bit was "introduced" in Citizen Kane!) Filmed in New York, Nix on Dames features several Broadway performers in the supporting cast, including Gilbert-and-Sullivan specialist George McFarlane and African American actress Louise Beavers, here dropping her usual "maid" characterization to offer a soulful spiritual.

This is a so-so backstage drama as were many of the early song-and-dance films, created mainly to use the new device of sound. Ames and Harrigan play a vaudeville acrobatic team who have partnership problems when both fall for dancer Clarke. The direction shows some imagination, including a sequence involving a postcard coming to life. But the film ultimately suffers from its lack of purpose and turns into little more than just another showcase for song and dance.