42nd Street (Snap Case)
by Lloyd Bacon
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bebe Daniels, George Brent, Guy Kibbee, Ruby Keeler, Warner BaxterDirector: Lloyd Bacon
Cinematographer: Sol Polito
Editor: Frank Ware
Producer: Darryl F. Zanuck
Writer: Bradford Ropes
Writer: James Seymour
Writer: Rian James
Writer: Whitney Bolton
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Closed-captioned, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 89 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-09-19
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of 42nd Street (Snap Case)
Movie Review: Tough Pre-Code Wonder
Summary: 5 Stars
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 (SPOILERS AHEAD):
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 then breaks her ankle. Marsh is desperate 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 a barely adequate 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.
Summary of 42nd Street (Snap Case)
Set during the depression, this is the granddaddy of backstage musicals in which the understudy finally gets a chance to shine. It may seem a little cliché now, but in 1933 this was hot stuff. All that behind-the-scenes atmosphere feels very genuine, and the script is more acerbic than you might expect.A sickly Julian Marsh (Warner Baxter) puts his all into what may be his last show, only to face a disaster when leading lady Dorothy Brock (Bebe Daniels) sprains her ankle. Thank heavens for ingenue Peggy Sawyer (Ruby Keeler), who steps in at the last minute. The vivacious soundtrack includes "Shuffle off to Buffalo," and the still-catchy title tune. Best of all are those extravagant, kaleidoscopic dance numbers by Busby Berkeley, then in his prime. --Rochelle O'Gorman
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