Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)

With the success of 42^nd Street, Warner Bros. Studios proceeded to produce another musical film that would use many of the major players from their previous picture and remake an earlier musical with equal box office success to produce Gold Diggers of 1933. With the help of the genius choreographer Busby Berkeley, it appears that Warner Bros found a new genre to champion along with their previous achievement in the field of gritty crime dramas (better known as gangster movies). Falling under the similar mold of 42^nd Street, Gold Diggers of 1933 would once again be a film that that brought pure joy to audiences in theaters of depression era America.

Gold Diggers of 1933 is a musical comedy about a Broadway play being produced by an young song writer whose family tries desperately to stop him from being associated with the theater  during the time of the Great Depression. With Broadway hit hard by the market crash, struggling actresses Polly (Ruby Keeler), Carol (Joan Blondell), Fay (Ginger Rogers), and Trixie (Aline MacMahon), who are all desperate for work, are cast in a musical which is scored by Joan’s crush and neighbor Brad Roberts (Dick Powell). As the production is in desperate need of financing Brad mysteriously comes forward with large sum of money to give the girls work, only to have Brad’s brother, Lawrence (Warren William), and his lawyer, Fanuel (Guy Kibbee), come to stop Brad from having the family name being associated with "dirty" theater. Believed Brad is only in the show for the love of Polly, Lawrence attempts to buy her off, mistaking Carol for Polly. Carol, along with the humorous Trixie, lead Lawrence and Fanuel on, gold digging along the way. In the end relationships arise between Carol and Lawrence as well as Trixie and Fanuel, leaving Polly and Brad to be together, everyone left wealthy and happy. Intermixed within the story are the lavish musical numbers of the Broadway plays choreographed by Busby Berkeley.

We're In the Money!

At first the film feels much like that of its Warner Bros. musical predecessor, 42^nd Street, but quickly creates a story all its own.  The picture is full of humor and bountiful musical stage numbers. Despite the film’s story being about the tale between Polly and Brad, the movie is stolen by the interactions of Carol and Trixie as they deal with Lawrence and Fanuel, along with the works of Busby Berkeley. The acting of spirited Joan Blondell and Aline MacMahon contrasted to straight-laced Warren William and Guy Kibbee make for some of the biggest laughs in the picture, as the ladies get away with spending the men’s money because of their error of mistaken identity. The large numbers choreographed by Mr. Berkeley, though seemingly out of place, and rather side shows to the primary story line, make for some beautiful eye candy. With stunning, and sometimes lewd, visuals, the choreography is stunning with performances that are almost worth the price of admission for its day. It would be from this film that we get the timeless song, “We’re In the Money,” sung here by the talented Ginger Rogers, which is delightfully juxtaposed to the depression era the film is set in.

With the picture being directed by Mervyn LeRoy, known for his work in such movies as Little Caesar and I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, it would at first appear awkward to have a director of such gritty pictures working on a film filled with light-hearted comedy and music. One can make the claim that the film was set in depression laden world, thus the need for a director as LeRoy, but that is not the case. LeRoy did come from a family hit drastically by hardships, but make a name for himself singing and performing vaudeville. His knack would be for music and comedy, but would best be known for his work in crime dramas.

Of course the large musical numbers were directed by the famed Busby Berkeley, bringing with him the skill of creating beautiful pieces of living art with the many gorgeous girls, along with his usual “parade of faces,” where the screen is filled with quick shots of the pretty girls’ glowing faces. This was yet another look into the works of Berkeley as he reaches his zenith in the movie industry. It must be noted that though many musicals beforehand used musical numbers as part of the story’s plot, that is not the case in this Berkeley choreographed picture. The musical numbers exist outside that of the storyline with the main characters simply performing as key players in the light story being told in the performance. Though at times containing abstract visuals, Berkeley’s choreographed performances are wonderful pieces of moving artistry, with the stage as the canvas and the girls as the paint.

The stars of the films are the youthful Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell as the young couple in love. Their charm and talent in both singing and dancing would be the draw for these two actors. Both were still new and fresh-faced in Hollywood, with Keeler being pushed hard by the studio to be the next big star, which in time did not work, and Powell being the handsome musical co-star, something he would try to expand from in his future.

Not to be forgotten are the performances of all the supporting cast. Ginger Rogers does not play much of a role in the film, but is very much on display from the opening number of the film, “I’m In the Money.” Joan Blondell can almost be considered the star of the film, playing the role of Carol, the woman that humorously is mistaken for Polly. Blondell’s career would expand in the years to come. Her friend in the film was played by the veteran actress Aline MacMahon, portraying the wonderful comedienne, supplying many of the set-ups and jokes. Blondell and MacMahon played well side by side to Warren William, playing the straight man, and Guy Kibbee, playing the more jovial and easily enticed straight man. Both would be well used supporting actors in the studio. Also in the cast was Ned Sparks, as the Broadway producer down on his luck, a well-used character actor known for his ever-present deadpan face.

To deal with censorship issues of the time, this movie had the distinct idea of producing different cuts of the picture to suite the many different state censor boards. (Motion picture censorship was regulated by the individual states.) Busby Berkeley liked to toe the line of lavish and lewd, making his girls wear little clothing, and what they did wear was quite revealing. In one number the women dancers are rained on retreating to dressing rooms where we are presented with silhouettes of them changing, leaving little to the imagination. This would have been a little thrill for the men in the audience for sure. So to appease the censors Berkeley would shoot the scenes two ways, first being his way, then a more toned down version. Both cuts would be distributed to theaters and given instructions to which cuts to add or take out. Therefore every state was made happy.

Gold Diggers of 1933 was yet one of many “Gold Digger” movies, thus the added of 1933 to the end of the title. The original stage version of Gold Diggers ran over 280 shows on Broadway and was eventually produced in 1923 as a silent film also named Gold Diggers. When sound arrived it was obvious to produce a musical, as seen in 1929 in Gold Diggers of Broadway, one of Warner Bros top grossing films of that year. 1933 marked a remake that too was a marvelous box office success, one which the studio tried to recreate with “sequels” in 1935 and 1937. These pictures where produced with different characters involved in similar story lines. These later sequels would star some of the actors from this version in roles inspired but by, not the exact same as, the original characters.

Blondell performs "Remember My Forgotten Man"

The film was a fun romp in the world of musicals as the genre was rising back to the top of box office gross. It is a good example of how, once again, a studio finds success and tries to reproduce it with many of the same players involved. The picture is a classic musical, sharing in all of the fun and energy of the genre in Hollywood’s golden age, even elected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2003. Somehow the film carries with it a sense of innocence, which many look fondly back on at this time in Hollywood, but the movie also winks back at the audience with the risqué beauty of the dancing and gorgeous girls. The movie is simple and pure fun for a time when things in America were a little bit harder for the public.