AFI Catalog of Feature Films
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Dangerous Curves
Director: Lothar Mendes (Dir)
Release Date:   13 Jul 1929
Premiere Information:   New York opening: 13 Jul 1929
Duration (in mins):   73
Duration (in feet):   7,287
Duration (in reels):   9
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Cast:   Clara Bow (Pat Delaney)  
    Richard Arlen (Larry Lee)  
    Kay Francis (Zara Flynn)  
    David Newell (Tony Barretti)  
    Anders Randolf (Col. P. P. Brock)  
    May Boley (Ma Spinelli)  
    T. Roy Barnes (Pa Spinelli)  
    Joyce Compton (Jennie Silver)  
    Charles D. Brown (Spider)  
    Stuart Erwin (First Rotarian)  
    Jack Luden (Second Rotarian)  
    Oscar Smith (Negro porter)  

Summary: Pat, a circus bareback rider, loves Larry, the star tightrope walker, who is infatuated with his partner, Zara Flynn, who in turn loves Tony Barretti of Larry's act. Pat tells Larry of Zara's duplicity, and as a result he sustains an injury in a fall from the wire. He takes to drinking heavily, but Pat persuades him to return to the circus; and in order to bolster his confidence, she works with him in a comic act. To Pat's dismay, however, he again falls under her spell. Meanwhile, Zara and Tony have been secretly married, but they fail to get bookings and Zara rejoins Larry in the tightrope act; to Pat's dismay he again falls under her spell. However, when Larry learns Zara is married, he again takes to the bottle, and Pat is forced into a scheme whereby she saves his reputation, though it costs her her own job. At last, realizing her sacrifice, Larry discovers that he loves Pat. 

Production Company: Paramount Famous Lasky Corp.  
Distribution Company: Paramount Famous Lasky Corp.  
Director: Lothar Mendes (Dir)
Producer: B. F. Zeidman (Supv)
Writer: Donald Davis (Scr)
  Florence Ryerson (Scr)
  Lester Cohen (Story)
  Viola Brothers Shore (Dial)
  George Marion Jr. (Titles)
Photography: Harry Fischbeck (Dir of photog)
Film Editor: Eda Warren (Film ed)
Country: United States
Language: English

Copyright Claimant Copyright Date Copyright Number
Paramount Famous Lasky Corp. 12/7/1929 dd/mm/yyyy LP528

Physical Properties: Sd: Movietone
  Sd, also Si: Also si; 7,395 ft.
  b&w:

 
Genre: Comedy-drama
Sub-Genre: Carnival/Circus
 
Subjects (Major): Alcoholism
  Circuses
  Reputation
  Baeback riders
  Aerialists

Note:  

Bibliographic Sources:   Date   Page
Film Daily   21 Jul 1929.   
New York Times   15 Jul 1929   p. 25.
Variety   17 Jul 1929   p. 53.

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The American Film Institute is grateful to Sir Paul Getty KBE and the Sir Paul Getty KBE Estate for their dedication to the art of the moving image and their support for the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and without whose support AFI would not have been able to achieve this historical landmark in this epic scholarly endeavor.
 
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