Its title evokes the furious flapper films of the early twenties (typified by Our Dancing Daughters), but ironically so, for Dancing Mothers is significantly more...well, more mature. It is one of a handful of films from the late twenties in which a genuinely feminist attitude begins to emerge. In the essentially conventional morality of the prodigal daughter flapper films, a comfortable variation on the old values prevails. Here, however, it is mother who leaves home, and for good. The gist of the film is a sexual rivalry between mother, Alice Joyce, and daughter, the vivacious Clara Bow. Mom, disgusted with her philandering husband and worried about her willful, impulsive daughter, Kittens, sets out to intervene in Kittens' relationship with a divorced man but falls in love with him herself. Enough material for a conventional melodrama (or two), but here's the twist: After all these plot elements are resolved with the usual grace, mother still opts for freedom.
William K. Everson writes, “Alice Joyce gives a dignified and restrained performance, and indeed none of the acting dates at all.... Dancing Mothers is one of those good ‘little' films that seems to grow in stature every time one sees it, and in time it may well prove to be one of the most durable of all the ‘jazz age' sagas.” Herbert Brenon was a prolific twenties director whose films include A Kiss for Cinderella and Peter Pan.