42nd Street (Keep Case Packaging)
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Movie Reviews of 42nd Street (Keep Case Packaging)
Movie Review: The naughty, gaudy, bawdy, tawdry 42nd Street--with Busby Berkeley's sensational Depression-lifting numbers!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
42nd Street remains of the great classic musicals to this day. As Amazon correctly notes, this movie was blazing hot stuff at the time it was released; but the storyline makes this movie great entertainment even in these times. The plot moves along at a good pace and the action holds your attention rather well. I enjoyed it and I can easily tell you why.
The movie begins with a new stage show about to be cast by director Julian Marsh (Warner Baxter) because his bosses Jones and Barry think they can squeeze out another hit show despite the Great Depression putting a damper on everyone's bank accounts. Julian assembles his team of troupers including Bebe Daniels as the huge Broadway star Dorothy Brock; Ruby Keeler playing Peggy Sawyer, the chorus girl who just barely makes it into the show and actor Billy Lawler who is played very ably by Dick Powell. You should also look for Ginger Rogers in an early screen appearance as chorus line girl "Anytime" Annie and Guy Kibbee plays Abner Dillon, the wealthy old man who is funding the show on the condition that Dorothy Brock, his love interest, stars in the show.
Julian begins to run his troupe to death and it seems he never is satisfied with their work; to add some drama to his role Julian is under doctor's orders to abstain from theater work for health reasons. Julian, however, goes ahead and runs the show as the director anyway. Dorothy Brock also begins to encounter trouble as stuffy old man Abner Dillon wants more and more romantic time with her; but what Dorothy truly wants is to spend time with the real love of her life, Pat Denning (George Brent). Ruby tries to hang in during Julian's grueling rehearsals; she almost doesn't make it but she ultimately survives the torture.
Of course, despite the real movie--which consists of the song and dance numbers--you get a fair amount of suspense to hold your attention. Will Dorothy stay true to Abner so that her career can go forward to even new heights? Will Dorothy go back to Pat Denning, her true love, instead? What happens when for unforeseen circumstances develop and Peggy Sawyer must perform the lead in the show--with a mere five hours advance notice? Can Peggy pull that off? Can Julian direct the show without losing his health altogether? Watch the film and find out as you enjoy it--no spoilers here, folks! SMILE
Then there are the song and dance numbers. I loved all of them. The musical arrangements by Harry Warren glisten as true gold ever could. You get a great duet for "I'm Young And Healthy;" and there's the classic "Shuffle Off To Buffalo." Of course we can't forget the show stopping "42nd Street" either. Excellent! The choreography really shines during these musical numbers with great aerial views of the cast on stage and the dancing couldn't be better. Great!
The DVD comes with a few extras; and they also were fascinating to watch. I liked the segment about Harry Warren with him playing piano while his friends sing along; and the featurette entitled A Trip Through A Hollywood Studio fascinates me, too. The Hollywood newsreel is a rare treat!
Overall, fans of musicals from the Great Depression era and the golden age of Hollywood will cherish this classic musical. The actors work so hard; and it shows in their highly convincing acting. People who enjoy the music of Harry Warren will be delighted with this movie; and the Busby Berkeley dance numbers reflect his genius as they always did.
May you get this movie and enjoy it as much as I did! Great job, everyone!!!
Movie Review: SEX!
Summary: 5 Stars
SPOILER ALERT!
When I started seriously exploring classic film, by way of film noir, I never imagined I would ever own a musical. Gene Kelly and Busby Berkeley changed that. Of all the musicals I've seen, I think that 42nd Street is my favorite. It isn't as light and frothy as the other Berkeley musicals and it displays a playful, and relatively sophisticated attitude toward sex. I knew from reviews that this film was loaded with sexual innuendo, yet I was still shocked at what they got away with. Of course, if it was made just just one year later it would have been a very different film. But in that heady time before the code got its teeth, they went hog wild. Much of the sex in 42nd Street is not innuendo at all, but blatantly stated, and what is implied is sometimes downright shocking. Two scenes in particular made my jaw drop.
The first happened during a dance rehearsal in which the girls have to sit on the laps of the male dancers. One of the boys says to his partner, "Hey, what are you sitting on?" She replies, "on a flagpole!" (gasp) In those days, movies didn't even aknowlege that men had penises. For a girl to imply she had just sat on an erect one is just scandalous.
The second scene that shocked me was the obvious gay scene, which no one ever seems to talk about. This happens when the Julian Marsh character is sitting on the sidewalk depressed about the terrible rehearsals and his poor health. The Andy Lee character sits down to comfort him. After a short heart to heart and arm in arm talk, Julian asks Andy, "What are you doing? You got a date tonight?" Andy looks at his date who is impatiently waiting and says that he doesn't. Julian says, "Come on home with me, will ya. I'm lonesome." Andy does. It might not sound like much here, but when you watch it closely, and in the hyper-sexual context of the film, it is obviously a proposition, and obviously one that had been made and accepted before. What is most shocking about it is also that which kept it from being recognised for what it was by the general audiences in 1933. That is the fact that Julian isn't a limp-wristed and neurotic fairy, which is all that audiences were used to seeing. In fact it would be about 50 years before they would see anything else. Julian is a masculine and successful man and the most sympathetic character in the film. But here he is, the only man in the film who isn't constantly trying to score with multiple women, and he makes a tender, intimate proposition to another man. (gasp again!) It made me want to stand up and cheer, and definately helped to make this my favorite BB musical.
Movie Review: Why this one's the best
Summary: 5 Stars
It's the best because of the script. The patter is a good as it gets, equal to the likes of A Letter to Three Wives. All the best musicals of its time and other times never take themselves seriously and even spoofing their own genre. It's surprising that this would be the case in 42nd Street and the Gold Digger movies considering that the genre was basically in its infancy.
Lacking this quality is the reason I don't West Side Story. It has great music and choreography but the script is lackluster, basically humorless and takes itself so seriously. Just because it's Romeo and Juliet doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't inject some self-deprecation to keep light.
Where all good musicals have this quality 42nd Street has raised it to an art. You'd think words were written by Hecht, Brackett and Wilder they're so smooth and multi-sided. The actual musical number, as great as it is, is vastly shorter than the Gold Digger movies or Footlight Parade and less representative of Busby Berkeley's genius but that script. For my money it has one of the ten best lines in movie history and if you're familiar 42nd Street and you don't know what line I'm speaking of than you better turn in your film buff status card. And no it's not "It must have been tough on your mother not having any children". That's a great line though.
There's that cast, too. But that's another story for another time.
11/29/10 Addendum: I'm watching Gold Diggers of 1933 for the hundredth time. Back in the Seventies I went to see it on the big screen with psychedelics influences at least a dozen times. 33 has a fantastic script, too. Aline MacMahon's retort to Ned Sparks' line, "Be the funny thing you ever did" puts me on the floor every time. I'm a big, big Ginger Rogers fan though and she has so many great lines in 42nd Street.
Movie Review: Ageless
Summary: 5 Stars
Matchless and incomparable. This is another (or the first) of Busby and Bacon's fabulous creations: there's nothing like them, and there never will be. Terrific funny acid dialogue, fantastic dance numbers, superb pacing --- it just sucks you into its seminal show-biz story and gets you going with the beat, building up to that grand, classic high-spot: sock it to them, baby! There is nothing, absolutely nothing, wrong with Ruby Keeler's casting or performance in this part. She's naive, credulous, sweet, charming and lovable. Dick Powell wasn't exactly Douglas Fairbanks. Both Dick and Ruby were intended to be the boy and girl next door, and they were perfect in those roles. You felt that with a little help, and a bit of practice, you might be up there with them yourself. At the same time, you knew that you couldn't. Ginger was the tops. A stellar comedienne. Every scene is stuffed with humorous, minor side-touches of back-stage horse-play and wise-cracking. Fizz, crackle and sparkle; sardonic, cynical, comical, effervescently cheerful. Watch it every 6 months or so, and it'll never let you down. Pure, unequalled entertainment.Movie Review: Fresh and fun
Summary: 5 Stars
This was the first Busby Berkely musical I've seen and the first time I'd seen Ruby Keeler. I was delighted at the quality of the film. It was certainly of its time but so smart and funny in a totally uncorny way. All the stars are first rate. I disagree with some of the reviewers who complain that Keeler couldn't act and that her dancing was clunky. Others have explained her wooden-shoe style and its origins in the speakeasies of the day. I found her youth and lack of sophistication to be perfect for the role. She held her own with a lot of more experienced actors, just as her character did....and came out a star. I thorougly enjoyed her in every scene. William Powell, looking very average-boy-next-door, was her perfect counterpart.
The plot is just involved enough to keep you from dozing off, the songs are wonderful, and the energy and enthusiasm of the whole cast picks you up and makes you want to dance. This must have been great medicine for folks during the Depression.
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