The World Dances

George Fenneman (You Bet Your Life) introduces performers from all over the world as they perform dances from their native countries in this rarely seen 1954 documentary, filmed in gorgeous Colorama! "Allegrias" is performed by the celebrated father and daughter team of Antonio and Luisa Triana from Spain; the Ruth St. Denis Dancers enact an exotic "Armenian Wedding Fantasy"; the Japanese "Blossom Dance" is done delicately by Fujima Kansuma's dancers; the Lucas Philippine Folk Dancers demonstrate the bamboo pole dance, and the African "Combaci a Comba" ("Come To Your Warrior") dance is executed in a virile fashion by Robert Lee House with Louis Brown on conga drums. The United States is represented by a square dance featuring country singer Merle Travis ("Sixteen Tons", "Dark as a Dungeon") and that "Yodeling Blonde Bombshell", Carolina Cotton.

The World Dances was the brainchild of Russian filmmaker Boris Petroff, here using the Americanized name Brooke L. Peters. Petroff would later get into the low-budget exploitation racket with pictures like The Unearthly (1958), Anatomy of a Psycho (1961), and Shotgun Wedding (1963), but for The World Dances he employed one of the best names in the film industry. Academy Award-nominated art director Charles D. Hall had worked on classics like The Phantom of the Opera (1925), All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), Dracula (1931), City Lights (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and is most likely responsible for the elaborate costumes on display in The World Dances. Also behind the camera are cinematographer W. Merle Connell (The Flesh Merchant, Cape Canaveral Monsters) and horror movie make-up man Harry Thomas (Frankenstein's Daughter, Night of the Blood Beast). Narrator George Fenneman (who appears on-camera, introducing the performers) is best known as the announcer of You Bet Your Life, serving as Groucho Marx's straight man and sidekick for over 200 episodes from 1947 to 1961, on both radio and television.