Underrated Movie: Gold Diggers of 1933
Title: Gold Digger of 1933
Year: Guess…
Director: Melvyn LeRoy, musical sequences by Busby Berkeley
Writers: Erwin Gelsey, James Seymour, David Boehm and Ben Markson, based on a play by Avery Hopwood
Stars: Ginger Rogers, Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Warren William, Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon
The Story: Three showgirls are thrown out of work by the depression, but with a lot of dreaming and scheming they all get jobs in a toe-tapping show about the plight of the “forgotten man”.
Why It’s Great: Film histories can frequently perpetuate the myth that Hollywood movies succeeded during the Depression by pretending that nothing bad was going on. Hardly! This is a light musical comedy, but every single scene honestly confronts the bleak economic reality of its time in a clear-eyed way that current ‘topical’ movies wouldn’t dare replicate. This was the second of many pair-ups of toe-tappers Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell. Powell would eventually go on to show that he could handle a full range of rolls, not just song-and-dance. Keeler wasn’t so lucky. She specialized in roles about talentless singers and dancers. Guess why she developed that persona? Because she couldn’t sing or dance! And yet, she makes it work! She was the plucky little star who could be you! Hell, she was the star who wasn’t even as good as you!
Two more reasons at Cockeyed Caravan!
Link to this Post: http://www.moviewithme.com/blog/archives/707
March 25th, 2010 at 15:10
“We’re in the money… Old Man Depression you are through, you done us wrong.” The song is relevant again. The wisecracks are classics. An auditioning chorus girl gives her address as Park Ave., and another quips, “And boy is her homework tough.” Modern audiences are often shocked, shocked, at how risque it is – but through crackling, witty repartee and visuals. They don’t make innuendoes like they used to.