In the midst of the Jazz Age, two friends wrestle with love and liberation. Diana (Joan Crawford) has a flamboyant personality that masks a sweet nature, while Ann (Anita Page) is outwardly reserved, but coldly manipulative on the inside. When Diana sets her sights on the rich, debonair Ben (Johnny Mack Brown), Ann gets competitive, and successfully steals Ben away from her. It’s only after they’ve married that Ben realizes what a cruel person Ann is, and that his heart really belongs to Diana.
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[youtube https://youtu.be/GklBQOIHPaE?t=424]
Video Quality
Our Dancing Daughters makes its long-awaited Blu-Ray debut with a brand new 1080p transfer sourced from a new 4K scan of the best surviving preservation elements available, which was a safety duplicate negative made in the 1960s. Considering that all of the surviving elements had horrible damage printed in, this restoration is simply stunning on all accounts. Anyone who is familiar with this era in film will greatly admire what the Warner Archive team has been able to pull off with this one. The film may look a bit soft at points, but this is due to the intentionally dreamy look the narrative demands.
The sumptuous black-and-white photography looks better than ever in high definition with natural grain fully intact and resolved perfectly. There is a fantastic amount of detail present in the interiors from the more straightforward apartments to the more lavish production design. The contrast is well defined, even during the brightly lit shots, and there is not much in the way of print damage to be found outside of a few stray moments. The presentation also showcases lovely texture on the costumes and impressive facial detail on close-ups. Black levels are pleasingly deep with no trace of black crush or compression artifacts. Warner Archive rarely delves back into the silent era, but this one holds up so well that we would welcome much more of the sort.
Audio Quality
The Blu-Ray comes with a restored DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track that is admirably strong. While this may be a silent picture, it is not completely devoid of sound as you get some minor off-screen conversations coming though. By and large, though, music is the focus which flows through with magnificent clarity. From beginning to end, the track maintains its fidelity with expert precision. There are a few odd moments when the high end of the track can feel a bit unstable, but this rarely pops up as a problem. Warner Archive has provided a lovely audio track that does not exhibit any glaring signs of age-related wear-and-tear. This disc does not provide subtitles as there is no dialogue spoken on screen.
Special Features
There are no special features provided on this disc.
Final Thoughts
Our Dancing Daughters feels like one of the earliest films that was coasting largely on vibes. While there is a pretty decent story which embraces the Pre-Code sentiment of love and liberation, this dreamlike atmosphere often makes you feel as if you are floating above the story. Joan Crawford shows very early signs of the force she would become in the years following this one. The pacing of this one is swift and keeps your attention capably throughout. If you are a silent film fan, you should have a good time with this. Warner Archive has delivered a fantastic Blu-Ray release worthy of the film with an amazing A/V presentation but nothing in the way of special features. I cannot recommend this disc highly enough for fans of the era. Recommended
Our Dancing Daughters can be purchased directly through the Warner Archive Amazon Store, MovieZyng or various other online retailers.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Warner Archive has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
