42nd Street

42nd Street (1933)

Runtime: 89 minutes

Directed by: Lloyd Bacon

Starring: Warner Baxter, Bebe Daniels, George Brent, Ruby Keeler, Guy Kibbee

From: Warner Brothers

For tonight I was quite old school with this memorable early 1930's film. I don't have too much to say about it except that my Letterboxd review is below. I did want to mention though that from now until the end of the month I may binge watch a good amount so the best way to do this is to check back here every 24 hours or so and I may have one review up, multiple reviews, or maybe none. It all depends. This starts tomorrow.

For many years I've known the name Busby Berkeley and how he staged many elaborate musical dance numbers on the screen way back when but aside from seeing various clips I had never watched a movie in full that he was involved with. As last year I purchased a box set of some of his films, I went with this one as it was the earliest chronologically.

The story isn't too complex. A rich old man is dating a Broadway performer and he agrees to bankroll a new production known as Pretty Lady and of course she's the star. You know, I am sure all of that happens even today in every form of entertainment. Anyhow, famous director Julian Marsh (Warner Baxter) is hired; because of the stock market crash he's broke so the man of more than one nervous breakdown needs this to be a hit so he can quit; that makes him even more irascible than usual. You get to see everyone practice long hard hours and among all the stress and frustration and unexpected calamities there's also romance among the various cast members and in her film debut Ruby Keeler is Peggy Sawyer, making her debut on stage.

This is quality Pre-Code entertainment, meaning that it's fast-paced, quick-witted and filled with many great lines, some of them pretty risque for the time. The story isn't too original by today's standards but that's OK as it's fun. There are plenty of faces I recognized, from Baxter, Keeler and Guy Kibbee to George Brent, Ginger Rogers (as “Anytime Annie; like I said, this was before the Hays Code) and Dick Powell. Marsh isn't always the nicest character but due to the depth of said character and Baxter's performance you see he's not such a bad guy overall.

As for the Berkeley musical numbers, they were definitely nicely done-elaborate and well choreographed productions, especially considering the giant cameras used at the time. There's overhead shots, the camera goes through dancers' legs, everything moving quickly... even today it's mesmerizing. It helps that the songs are pretty catchy. So yeah, I enjoyed watching this old fashioned tale.