Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy

Film Review

After the enormous success of 42nd Street, Warner Brothers weren't slow in following this up with another musical extravaganza, the even more raunchy and ambitious Gold Diggers of 1933.   The popularity of this second film, made at the height of the Great Depression, ensured that the musical would become a staple of Hollywood throughout the 1930s and beyond, establishing a formula that hardly ever failed to please audiences.  

Gold Diggers of 1933 was the third screen adaptation of Avery Hopwood's hugely successful play The Gold Diggers, which ran for 282 performances on Broadway in 1919 and 1920.  It followed a silent version made in 1923 and an early talkie that was released in 1929, the year of the Wall Street Crash.  The music and lyrics for the 1933 version were provided by Harry Warren and Al Dubin respectively.  The film had two directors - Busby Berkeley directed the musical numbers whilst Mervyn LeRoy took charge of the plot.  One of the stars of the film was Ruby Keeler, who was famously the wife of Al Jolson.  The opening number "We're in the Money" was sung by Ginger Rogers (later to find fame as the dancing partner of Fred Astaire), who inexplicably delivered one verse in Pig Latin.

Even when the film is viewed today, the scale, energy and sheer artistic brilliance of its song-and-dance sequences never fail to impress.  The level of technical skill and creative flair which went into these is staggering and brought a whole new dimension to the art of cinema.  Each number begins quite simply, with a duet or solo, and then just grows and grows in size and complexity, mushrooming into a vast screen-filling spectacle of eye-popping proportions.  In the entire history of cinema, there is hardly anything more jaw-droppingly amazing than these wonderfully crafted set pieces.

There is a great deal to like about Gold Diggers of 1933, but the thing that really impresses is its final number, "Remember My Forgotten Man".  This was inspired by the well-publicised march to Washington DC by WWI veterans in May 1932 to claim for money they were promised; the Hoover administration refused to pay up and the ex-servicemen were driven away like vagrants.  This one number conveys not just the bleak mood of the Great Depression, but also the tragedy of the First World War, lamenting the shameful manner in which those who fought in the war and survived were treated when they came back home to an ungrateful country.  This impact of this final sequence is so great because it is so totally unexpected.  It would have been much easier for the film to have ended with a happy upbeat number with pretty girls frolicking in skimpy dresses.  Instead, what the audiences were given after ninety minutes of uplifting music and breezy vaudevillian comedy were several minutes of sombre reflection, reminding them that however bad things got for them, there were always some who had it worse, much worse.  It's a brave and powerful ending to a remarkable - and highly enjoyable - film.

Film Synopsis

America, during the Great Depression.  Life is hard for chorus girls Polly, Carol and Trixie, who find themselves out of a job when the show they had been rehearsing is cancelled.  Things look up when impresario Barney Hopkins appears, bubbling with optimism, and enlists them in his next show.  The only downer is that he has no capital.  Polly's boyfriend, Brad Roberts, an aspiring young songwriter, gives Barney the money he needs, on condition that Polly is given top billing.  Barney is quick to recognise talent and hires Brad to supply the music and the songs for the show.  On the first night, the leading man injures his back, leaving Brad with no option but to take his place.  The show proves to be a hit, but Brad's true identity is revealed, setting in motion a bizarre sequence of events...