Harry Warren - Musical Genius of the 20th Century!
Added 10/12/2008
It's easy to overlook the genius of the composer of all this wonderful music, Harry Warren. We are so hypnotized by all the wonderful choreography of the genius of Busby Berkeley, that we forget that if it weren't for the music in this film, there would be nothing to choreograph! Harry Warren went on from "42nd Street" to "Footlight Parade" and other films in the early 1930s to compose the music for an impressive array of films into the 1960s. His list of hits are staggering--42 top ten hits (21 made it to #1, and 14 reached the #2 spot), the most hits for any composer of his generation--and he was writing music at the time when the likes of Cole Porter, Richard Rogers, Irving Berlin, and Jerome Kern (among many, many others) were at their creative heights! "Golddiggers of 1933" is a wonderful film, due in large measure to BOTH geniuses--one Busby Berkeley, and one HARRY WARREN!
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Fabulously entertaining! Funny and moving.
Added 2/17/2008
If you need proof that Busby Berkley was a genius, you have only to watch the production numbers of Gold Diggers of 1933. If you are looking for lavish, how about seventy-four dancers in gowns playing violins? The songs and dances are classic, the costumes are amazing, and it goes way beyond light entertainment.
Remember My Forgotten Man was a heartbreaking reminder of America's treatment of returning veterans, begging for food and sleeping on sidewalks.
This was Busbey Berkley's second film for Warner Brothers, following 42nd Street, and it is a DVD that belongs in your collection if you enjoy classic American films.
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A Timeless Classic!!
Added 7/13/2007
This period piece movie is not only an entertainment classic, it is also a wonderful educational tool. On the entertainment front, who can resist the lighthearted music and the almost adolescent romantic formulas played out in the movie? Who can resist Ginger Rogers singing in pig-Latin? Who can resist the pathos of "Remember My Forgotten Man"?
On the educational front I have to say this is a winner. I taught American History for 37 years to almost 2 generations of high school seniors. The Great Depression was simply a sterile concept to them until they saw the movie. As said earlier, this is an historic period piece, and permits the viewer not only to get a genuine sense of the styles, speech patterns, pop culture, and values of the time, it also gives a profound view of the burdens and destitution of the Great Depression. I was able to elicit hours of genuine educational discussion and valuse clarification from showing and then discussing this movie with my students. They had a new and sober respect for the trauma caused by the Great Depression. Of course, this was also a wonderful segue and introduction to the New Deal and the administration of FDR.
This is story telling,perhaps not at its best, but most assuredly at its most entertaining and useful.
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Gold Diggers of 1933
Added 6/20/2007
In this first "Gold Diggers" entry, the various romantic maneuverings may seem dated and silly, but also reveal the charged dynamics between the few "haves" and the many "have-nots" during our country's worst economic crisis. We see the rich, oblivious Bostonians brazenly manipulated by the sassy, savvy chorus girls, who aren't mean or dishonest- just plain hungry for a good meal. Busby Berkeley's risqué, jaw-dropping production numbers temporarily transported a weary citizenry from their troubles, and immortal Harry Warren- Al Dubin songs like "We're In The Money" and "Remember My Forgotten Man" became powerful anthems for a desperate time, when fear itself was truly the enemy. (Also watch for Ginger Rogers in an early role, singing in pig latin!)
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Fabulouly Fun
Added 2/19/2007
You can spend your evening watching yet another cop show or you can delve into fabulous fun by watching this, the frothiest answer to the Great Depression.
The film begins with a huge close of up Ginger Rogers singing the ditty "We're in the Money" in pig-Latin (added to the film when she was overheard doing this off the set). The chorus girls go through their Busby Berkeley routine clad only in oversized coinage and so we know we are off on quite the romp.
The next scenes provide the grit of the Depression in the form of closed theaters, out of work actresses and pilfered milk bottles, but not to worry! There is always a song coming on, and Dick Powell, that charming neighbor across the airshaft has already captured Ruby Keeler's heart with his tunes and his smile. Her gal pals are not buying his applesauce, but when he provides the funds to underwrite their next big show that is sure to make them all happy if not famous, well, things start looking up big time.
We are gifted with some of the best of the Berkeley numbers in this film. The "Shadow Waltz" is breathtakingly gorgeous with all of those lovely chorus girls in the best Art Deco dresses ever dreamed, on their Dr. Seuss-ish set, as they play their neon violins... Like drifting on one very snazzy cloud. And the "Pettin' in the Park" number brings a whole new meaning to the question, "How long do you stay fresh in that can?"
The singing by both Joan Blondell and the incomparable Etta Moten (for whom Gershiwin wrote the role of Bess)in the "Remember My Forgotten Man" finale (by Al Dubin and Harry Warren) is as good as you will find anywhere.
Sprinkled all through this is a problem that is skillfully handled by a smattering of wise cracks, high-jinks and good clean fun that will make you glad that you took a trip back in time.
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Depression Era escapism to the max
Added 8/30/2009
Great to have all these in one package. Saw these originally as a college student in a course 'History of the Movies'...they capture all the cliches: chorus girl succeeds, boy gets girl, etc. Amazing is the fact of what you see is painstakingly real...no computer generated anything here!
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Tough Pre-Code Wonder
Added 7/28/2009
Those hoping for MGM technicolor candy-coated escapism should look elsewhere. 42nd Street is a hardscrabble Warner Brothers movie from a hardscrabble era. In 1932, the filmmakers were not straight-jacketed by the Production Code (Warners, admirably, was the last studio to fully comply) and it shows. 42nd Street entertains grandly, but also warrants serious attention as a reflection of the United States in the throes of the Great Depression.
The plot has been summarized many times but may be worth another look through the darker prism of the film's historical context:
Theatrical producers Jones and Barry hire down-and-out Julian Marsh, excellently played by Warner Baxter, to direct their new show, "Pretty Lady." Marsh is a brilliant director but a desperate man. He has lost all his money in the '29 stock market crash. He's a physical and emotional train wreck. If "Pretty Lady" fails, it's all over for him. He drives himself and his cast relentlessly, grinding his cast through endless rehearsals, grinding the endless cigarettes he chain-smokes into the stage floor.
Leading lady Dorothy Brock (Bebe Daniels) has known great success in the past, but is glad to have a job "with this Depression on." She not only carries the lead of the show, she carries the responsibility for its financing. She has no taste whatever for the show's unattractive but wealthy backer, Abner Dillon (Guy Kibbe), but she must spend time in his company, dangling the promise of her sexual favors just out of his reach, to keep him supporting the production. Meanwhile, she meets secretly with her unemployed ex-lover from her vaudeville days, Pat Denning, who lurks in the vicinity of the theater. Dorothy wants to be with Pat, but he says there's a name for men who let women support them, and it's not a very nice name, obviously referring to gigolo.
Billy Lawlor, the juvenile lead (Dick Powell), befriends naive newcomer Peggy Sawyer (Ruby Keeler) at a casting call. Peggy, along with women of the world Anytime Annie (Ginger Rogers) and Lorraine (Una Merkel), win places in the chorus. There are plenty of not-so-subtle hints at the casting couch during auditions.
Grueling rehearsals go on and on, and finally, at a drunken cast party, Dorothy makes it clear to Abner that she cannot stand him. He threatens to withdraw his financial support. Dorothy sprains her ankle at the party. Marsh is near collapse when he realizes that he is going to lose his leading lady and his financial backing.
At some point off-screen, Anytime Annie steps in as Abner's new companion, so the financing is saved. Abner wants Annie to take Dorothy's place, but Annie insists that Marsh give Dorothy's role to Peggy Sawyer. With less than 24 hours to go before the Philadelphia opening, Marsh pushes Peggy to the point of collapse. Marsh's famous line is, "Sawyer, you're going out there a youngster but you've got to come back a star." The less-famous lead-in is Marsh telling Peggy that that all the money invested in the show and 200 jobs are riding on Peggy's back--a rather large burden for a frightened chorus girl with no prior experience.
There's a lot of sex in 42nd Street (off-screen of course, this is not Last Tango in Paris), not much of it motivated by love. There's a lot of fear. The film ends not with the performers' triumph, but with a shot of an utterly spent Julian Marsh sitting at the bottom of the fire escape outside the theater, watching the crowds go by and listening to them discount his role in the show's success. It's hard to think of a less escapist musical made between 1930 and 1960.
It may not be escapist, but 42nd Street is an excellent movie. The Busby Berkeley production numbers (often sexually suggestive and dark in theme) induce jaw-dropping. The Warren & Dubin songs have some clever lyrics and really stick in your head. Dick Powell charms, singing and handling his light comedy well. Ruby Keeler is not much of a singer, and her clogging dance style is not much appreciated today, but she's so appealing it doesn't matter. Ginger Rogers and Una Merkle provide expert comic relief. The off-stage business moves along briskly.
42nd Street is the original mold for the backstage musical film. I actually prefer this to musicals where the characters in lumber camps or city streets burst into song and dance for no apparent reason. In 42nd Street, the musical numbers make sense because the characters are directing, producing, auditioning for, rehearsing for, putting on, a Broadway musical show. As an imdb reviewer commented, complaining that 42nd Street has too many cliches is like complaining that Shakespeare has too many quotes. Even if you don't care for musicals as a genre, this holds such a significant place in American film history that it's worth a look for any film lover.
Other recommended Warner Brother's musicals of this era: From the pre-Code era: Gold Diggers of 1933 and Footlight Parade (watch for the National Recovery Act support--coming from Jack Warner, a lifelong Republican but ardent supporter of the New Deal). Post-code Dames and Gold Diggers of 1935 are a bit more fluffy, but have some hilarious comedy and more phenomenal musical numbers. These five films are available as a boxed set with a sixth disc containing musical numbers only. Warning: Some of these movies contain material featuring small-person actor Billy Barty that seems in bad taste today, and African-Americans are portrayed as grinning menials. The period-era cartoons on the DVDs contain ethnic stereotypes which Warners's on-screen commentary acknowledges to be offensive and wrong but typical of the era.
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BERKELEY IS MASTERFUL!!!!!
Added 5/17/2009
This is one of the greatest sets of films ever released. High quality all the way for these Berkeley films. My only criticisms are with the extras. Some of the cartoons on the various discs have had added to the end title "dubbed version copyright Turner Ent." These are cartoons which have been "restored" by Turner, although "ruining" them might be more appropriate. More info is available by doing a search of the aforementioned phrase. In any case, it is completely unacceptable to add this to any film. If they add it before or after, I will put up with it, but NOT during a film. Also, the cartoons on GD of 1935 have an annoying PC disclaimer. Lastly, the removal of the "Mule" number on the Busby Berkeley disc is censorship at its worst. The PC Nation strikes again. Censorship of a work of art is unacceptable for any reason.
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