Dance, Girl, Dance (1940)

While dancing in an Ohio nightclub, two disparate dancers are attracted to the same man (Louis Hayward) for different reasons. One (Maureen O'Hara) likes him for himself while the other (Lucille Ball) likes him for his bank account. Directed by Dorothy Arzner, this quasi feminist film stands out among other films of its day because it doesn't cave in at the end. Katharine Hepburn and Rosalind Russell played strong career women but ultimately (or usually) realized it's a man's world and by the film's end, took their proper place and let the man call the shots. Here, O'Hara's focus is her career and she never loses sight of that, not even when involved in a romantic relationship. When she wishes on a star, it's not for love and marriage but for a dancing career. In a startling scene (for its time), O'Hara turns on a predominantly male audience leering and demeaning at half dressed girls and denounces their hypocrisy. O'Hara and Ball are excellent and if you only know Lucille Ball from her TV sitcom, she'll surprise you with her hard as nails gold digger. She's venal but you can't help like her. She may use a different method than O'Hara to get what she wants out of life but she's no less ambitious. With Ralph Bellamy, Maria Ouspenskaya, Sidney Blackmer, Virginia Field, Ernest Truex and Walter Abel.