At last! The best of the Berkeley movies have made it onto DVD. It's just a shame that the politically-incorrect WONDER BAR wasn't included in this selection at least in the name of completeness.
As has been noted by others, this film didn't start out as a musical and the Busby Berkeley sequences were added to the completed film after the monumental success of the earlier 42ND STREET. But you'd never know it. This has been one of my favourite 30s musicals since I was a teenager and it had never once occurred to me that the musical numbers had been added as an afterthought.
And though the plot is very similar to that of 42ND STREET, GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 stands up as a time capsule of the era. The performances are perky, with special shouts going out to Ginger and Joan. I've never been a fan of Ruby Keeler and I'm unable to see in her what 1930s audiences must have seen. She couldn't sing or dance half as well as Ginger, but of course, Ginger went on to a stellar career as the best-loved of Fred Astaire's partners and Ruby didn't.
Also a revelation is Dick Powell as the "juvenile lead" in the in-film stage show. Though better known to audiences as the tough Philip Marlowe of MURDER MY SWEET, this is where he got his start and it's telling that, along with James Cagney and any number of other Hollywood stars of the era, Powell was able to sing and tap dance with the best of them. If only today's stars were so multi-talented.
Overall, an absolutely terrific, energetic snapshot of life during the Great Depression. Thank god I didn't have to live through it, but also thank god for those who did and left us this fascinating glimpse of what it must've been like.
As has been noted by others, this film didn't start out as a musical and the Busby Berkeley sequences were added to the completed film after the monumental success of the earlier 42ND STREET. But you'd never know it. This has been one of my favourite 30s musicals since I was a teenager and it had never once occurred to me that the musical numbers had been added as an afterthought.
And though the plot is very similar to that of 42ND STREET, GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 stands up as a time capsule of the era. The performances are perky, with special shouts going out to Ginger and Joan. I've never been a fan of Ruby Keeler and I'm unable to see in her what 1930s audiences must have seen. She couldn't sing or dance half as well as Ginger, but of course, Ginger went on to a stellar career as the best-loved of Fred Astaire's partners and Ruby didn't.
Also a revelation is Dick Powell as the "juvenile lead" in the in-film stage show. Though better known to audiences as the tough Philip Marlowe of MURDER MY SWEET, this is where he got his start and it's telling that, along with James Cagney and any number of other Hollywood stars of the era, Powell was able to sing and tap dance with the best of them. If only today's stars were so multi-talented.
Overall, an absolutely terrific, energetic snapshot of life during the Great Depression. Thank god I didn't have to live through it, but also thank god for those who did and left us this fascinating glimpse of what it must've been like.