The Dancing Years is thoroughly typical of the light-weight, schmaltzy and sentimental Ivor Novello operettas that were such escapist box-office winners on the London stage, especially during the war years. When the shows were turned into films, others took Novello's place as romantic lead, Dennis Price, effectively, here. It is important to stress the importance of the original Technicolor to such a film (our print is black-and-white, and no color print is available): apart from exploiting both the artificial quality of the film, and the beauty of lakeland exteriors, the color gives it a pretty, chocolate-box effect which offsets criticism of its often ludicrous plot, which revolves around one of the most absurd and contrived scenes ever written for stage, screen, or literature. In black-and-white, there is a tendency to take it a little more seriously, and this of course is fatal. The film has the look of knowing that it is passé; but in its own way, it is still rather an endearing film, and the melodies linger on pleasantly. William K. Everson