Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
Dutch postcard by City Theater. Sent by mail in 1934. Photo: Warner Bros. Publicity still for Golddiggers of 1933 (Mervyn LeRoy, 1933).
New York City - the height of the Great Depression. Starving chorus girls Polly (Ruby Keeler), Carol (Joan Blondell) and Trixie (Aline MacMahon) are looking for the Big Break. They are auditioning for every part. Often down, but never downhearted they use men, love men, cheat men. They are the Gold Diggers of 1933. They are ecstatic when they learn that Broadway producer Barney Hopkins (Ned Sparks) is putting on a new show. He promises all of the girls parts in the new show and even hires their neighbour Brad Roberts (Dick Powell), an unknown composer, to write some of the music. There's only one problem: he doesn't have the money to bankroll it all. That problem is solved when Brad turns out to be quite rich but he insists that he not perform. When opening night comes, the juvenile lead can't go on forcing Brad to take the stage. He's recognised of course and his upper crust family wants him to quit. When he refuses, they tell him to end his relationship with Polly or face having his income cut off. When Brad's snobbish brother Lawrence (Warren William) mistakes Carol for Polly, the girls decide to have a bit of fun and teach him a lesson.
Golddiggers of 1933 (Mervyn LeRoy, 1933) is a wonderful and funny musical comedy that kept audiences enterained for a few hours during the dark days of economic despair in the early 1930s. Highlights are Busby Berkeley's magical musical numbers. The cast is first-rate with brassy Joan Blondell, cynical Aline MacMahon, innocent Ruby Keeler and on-the-make Ginger Rogers. Keeler lands handsome and mysterious Dick Powell, who croons some attractive Harry Warren tunes. The film starts with 'We're In The Money' featuring Ginger Rogers and girls clad in large and small coins . 'Pettin' In The Dark' extols the joys of bucolic lovemaking, segues to simulated, silhouetted female nudity and rather bizarrely ends with the chorus all metal-corseted. Powell is given a can opener to use on Keeler. 'The Shadow Waltz' is Berkeley at his most romantic, with its helix-skirted ladies pretending to play fluorescent, fake violins, all moving in a multitude of weaving patterns staged for the famous overhead camera shots. The film's emotional punch comes at the end, with Blondell's tempestuous rendition of 'Remember My Forgotten Man' - with its endless marching men, a blues wail for the doughboys of the Great War, ruined by the Depression.
Source: IMDb.
Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
Dutch postcard by City Theater. Sent by mail in 1934. Photo: Warner Bros. Publicity still for Golddiggers of 1933 (Mervyn LeRoy, 1933).
New York City - the height of the Great Depression. Starving chorus girls Polly (Ruby Keeler), Carol (Joan Blondell) and Trixie (Aline MacMahon) are looking for the Big Break. They are auditioning for every part. Often down, but never downhearted they use men, love men, cheat men. They are the Gold Diggers of 1933. They are ecstatic when they learn that Broadway producer Barney Hopkins (Ned Sparks) is putting on a new show. He promises all of the girls parts in the new show and even hires their neighbour Brad Roberts (Dick Powell), an unknown composer, to write some of the music. There's only one problem: he doesn't have the money to bankroll it all. That problem is solved when Brad turns out to be quite rich but he insists that he not perform. When opening night comes, the juvenile lead can't go on forcing Brad to take the stage. He's recognised of course and his upper crust family wants him to quit. When he refuses, they tell him to end his relationship with Polly or face having his income cut off. When Brad's snobbish brother Lawrence (Warren William) mistakes Carol for Polly, the girls decide to have a bit of fun and teach him a lesson.
Golddiggers of 1933 (Mervyn LeRoy, 1933) is a wonderful and funny musical comedy that kept audiences enterained for a few hours during the dark days of economic despair in the early 1930s. Highlights are Busby Berkeley's magical musical numbers. The cast is first-rate with brassy Joan Blondell, cynical Aline MacMahon, innocent Ruby Keeler and on-the-make Ginger Rogers. Keeler lands handsome and mysterious Dick Powell, who croons some attractive Harry Warren tunes. The film starts with 'We're In The Money' featuring Ginger Rogers and girls clad in large and small coins . 'Pettin' In The Dark' extols the joys of bucolic lovemaking, segues to simulated, silhouetted female nudity and rather bizarrely ends with the chorus all metal-corseted. Powell is given a can opener to use on Keeler. 'The Shadow Waltz' is Berkeley at his most romantic, with its helix-skirted ladies pretending to play fluorescent, fake violins, all moving in a multitude of weaving patterns staged for the famous overhead camera shots. The film's emotional punch comes at the end, with Blondell's tempestuous rendition of 'Remember My Forgotten Man' - with its endless marching men, a blues wail for the doughboys of the Great War, ruined by the Depression.
Source: IMDb.