Post by klep on Jun 14, 2021 11:15:16 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 6/14: Gold Diggers of 1933
MUSICALS WEEK!
Note: This week's essay is graciously provided by a guest contributor.
The title alone marks this as pre-Code. You could just barely have squeaked in a Gold Diggers of 1934, but not any time after that. And it's true that quite a lot of the plot involves a couple of actresses who are firm in their wish to marry a rich man, definitely not a plot the Code would've permitted. Frankly, it's also a film with a social conscience that would've labeled it as Communist in the '50s; picture a movie with Ginger Rogers made then with a musical number about how many men were left destitute after fighting in the war.
Rogers here is Fay Fortune. She, along with Carol King (Joan Blondell), Trixie Lorraine (Aline MacMahon), and Polly Parker (Ruby Keeler), is a struggling actress. The show they're in closes down for lack of money. It then turns out that the songwriter in the apartment next door, Brad Roberts (Dick Powell), is a rich man's son and can afford to finance a show. Brad falls in love with Polly. His brother (Warren William) decides to convince Polly not to marry him, but he mistakes Carol for Polly and ends up falling for her himself. The family lawyer (Guy Kibbee) is bluntly pursued by Trixie as someone rich enough so she won't have to work.
The pre-Code era starts with the coming of sound and therefore the advent of the movie musical. And it's certainly true that no few of those musicals were not good. It isn't just that this one has musical numbers from Busby Berkley. That was not actually a guarantee of anything but a certain kind of extravagant musical number. (One wonders if staging something without fifty chorus girls might've been a less expensive show.) In fact, a lot of what sets this movie apart wouldn't have been remotely as effective on the Broadway stage—the "Shadow Waltz" and its neon violins, for example.
However, this movie does seem to have worked out that the musical numbers are mostly just to drive a plot. You do still need one. This one also realizes that the characters need personalities. This is the kind of role that several of the characters excel at—Joan Blondell, whose career would seriously suffer from the coming of the Code, is enormous fun here, and the character of Trixie is bluntly scheming in a way that wouldn't work a year later. What's more, this is a movie heavily influenced by the Depression—the last song, "My Forgotten Man," is a plea for help for World War I veterans.
Indeed, the contrast between the sunny "We're In the Money," the opening number which is shut down by the police because the production is out of money, and "My Forgotten Man" is one of the strongest indicators of the movie's quality. It encompasses both. And if there's a little winking to "We're In the Money," there is none to the final number. These musicals were escapist fare of their era, but even escapist fare can connect strongly with what people are trying to escape from.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 6/21: Run Lola Run
LONGEST DAY WEEK!
For Longest Day Week we'll be watching Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run, about a woman who has twenty minutes to save her boyfriend from a drug dealer. As time loops, she finds those twenty minutes dragging out quite a long time indeed. Be sure to join us next week for our discussion of Run Lola Run, available for rent at the usual places.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 6/15: The Dry
The podcast crew stays in the Outback for their next film, about a man who returns to his drought-stricken hometown for a funeral only to get wrapped up in the mystery of a decades-old murder. Come join our discussion on Wednesday of The Dry, available for rent at the usual places.
MUSICALS WEEK!
Note: This week's essay is graciously provided by a guest contributor.
The title alone marks this as pre-Code. You could just barely have squeaked in a Gold Diggers of 1934, but not any time after that. And it's true that quite a lot of the plot involves a couple of actresses who are firm in their wish to marry a rich man, definitely not a plot the Code would've permitted. Frankly, it's also a film with a social conscience that would've labeled it as Communist in the '50s; picture a movie with Ginger Rogers made then with a musical number about how many men were left destitute after fighting in the war.
Rogers here is Fay Fortune. She, along with Carol King (Joan Blondell), Trixie Lorraine (Aline MacMahon), and Polly Parker (Ruby Keeler), is a struggling actress. The show they're in closes down for lack of money. It then turns out that the songwriter in the apartment next door, Brad Roberts (Dick Powell), is a rich man's son and can afford to finance a show. Brad falls in love with Polly. His brother (Warren William) decides to convince Polly not to marry him, but he mistakes Carol for Polly and ends up falling for her himself. The family lawyer (Guy Kibbee) is bluntly pursued by Trixie as someone rich enough so she won't have to work.
The pre-Code era starts with the coming of sound and therefore the advent of the movie musical. And it's certainly true that no few of those musicals were not good. It isn't just that this one has musical numbers from Busby Berkley. That was not actually a guarantee of anything but a certain kind of extravagant musical number. (One wonders if staging something without fifty chorus girls might've been a less expensive show.) In fact, a lot of what sets this movie apart wouldn't have been remotely as effective on the Broadway stage—the "Shadow Waltz" and its neon violins, for example.
However, this movie does seem to have worked out that the musical numbers are mostly just to drive a plot. You do still need one. This one also realizes that the characters need personalities. This is the kind of role that several of the characters excel at—Joan Blondell, whose career would seriously suffer from the coming of the Code, is enormous fun here, and the character of Trixie is bluntly scheming in a way that wouldn't work a year later. What's more, this is a movie heavily influenced by the Depression—the last song, "My Forgotten Man," is a plea for help for World War I veterans.
Indeed, the contrast between the sunny "We're In the Money," the opening number which is shut down by the police because the production is out of money, and "My Forgotten Man" is one of the strongest indicators of the movie's quality. It encompasses both. And if there's a little winking to "We're In the Money," there is none to the final number. These musicals were escapist fare of their era, but even escapist fare can connect strongly with what people are trying to escape from.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 6/21: Run Lola Run
LONGEST DAY WEEK!
For Longest Day Week we'll be watching Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run, about a woman who has twenty minutes to save her boyfriend from a drug dealer. As time loops, she finds those twenty minutes dragging out quite a long time indeed. Be sure to join us next week for our discussion of Run Lola Run, available for rent at the usual places.
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 6/15: The Dry
The podcast crew stays in the Outback for their next film, about a man who returns to his drought-stricken hometown for a funeral only to get wrapped up in the mystery of a decades-old murder. Come join our discussion on Wednesday of The Dry, available for rent at the usual places.