Gold Diggers of 1933
Tags: depressing

Plot synopsis:
The "gold diggers" are four aspiring actresses: Polly (Ruby Keeler), an ingenue; Carol (Joan Blondell), a torch singer; Trixie (Aline MacMahon), a comedian; and Fay (Ginger Rogers), a glamour puss.
The film was made in 1933, during the Great Depression and contains numerous direct references to it. It begins with a rehearsal for a stage show, which is interrupted by the producer's creditors who close down the show because of unpaid bills.
At the unglamorous apartment shared by three of the four actresses (Polly, Carol, and Trixie), the producer, Barney Hopkins (Ned Sparks), is in despair because he has everything he needs to put on a show, except money. He hears Brad Roberts (Dick Powell), the girls' neighbor and Polly's boyfriend, playing the piano. Brad is a brilliant songwriter and singer who not only has written the music for a show, but also offers Hopkins $15,000 in cash to back the production. Of course, they all think he is kidding, but he insists that he is serious – he offers to back the show, but refuses to perform in it, despite his talent and voice.
Brad comes through with the money and the show goes into production, but the girls are suspicious that he must be a criminal since he is cagey about his past and will not appear in the show, even though he is clearly more talented than the aging juvenile lead (Clarence Nordstrom) they have hired. It turns out, however, that Brad is in fact a millionaire's son whose family does not want him associating with the theatre. On opening night, in order to save the show when the juvenile cannot perform (due to his lumbago acting up), Brad is forced to play the lead role.
With the resulting publicity, Brad's brother J. Lawrence Bradford (Warren William) and family lawyer Fanuel H. Peabody (Guy Kibbee) discover what he is doing and go to New York to save him from being seduced by a "gold digger".
Lawrence mistakes Carol for Polly, and his heavy-handed effort to dissuade the "cheap and vulgar" showgirl from marrying Brad by buying her off annoys her so much that she plays along, but the two fall in love. Meanwhile, Trixie targets "Fanny" the lawyer as the perfect rich sap ripe for exploitation. When Lawrence finds out that Brad and Polly have wed, he threatens to have the marriage annulled, but relents when Carol refuses to marry him if he does. Trixie marries Fanuel. All the "gold diggers" (except Fay) end up with wealthy men.

Review: His choreography for the big production numbers is one of the most impressive thing he did for the movies.The film is a sweet story about young hopefuls in New York trying to make it in the musical theater.
In fact, this film, as well as others of that era, served as an excuse for people that were facing a hard time making ends meet for escaping it all when watching a movie like this one.The cast is excellent.
Warren William, Joan Blondell, Aline McMahon, Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Ned Sparks, Ginger Rogers, and Guy Kibbee giving performances that endeared them to the American public of the time.The production number of "Shadow Waltz" has to be one of the best ones in this musical genre ever produced.
It also help the chorus girls were dressed by Orry-Kelly and the music was by Harry Warren and Al Dubin."Golddiggers of 1933" is one of the best movies to come out of the Hollywood of those years..
This film is also a classic example of the PRE-CODE stuff that was slipping by---the leering "midget baby" (Billy Barty), the naked girls in silhouette changing into their "armor," the non-stop flashing of underwear or lack of underwear, Ginger Rogers having her large coin torn off by the sheriff's office mug so she's essentially standing there in panties, and so forth.A good comparison of before and after the code would be to examine this picture and "Gold Diggers of 1935." The latter is so much more chaste, discreet, and less fascinating except for the numbers.
It is one of the cleverest vocal interludes I've ever seen and heard.) But the three girls implied in the film's title- Ruby Keeler, Aline McMahon, and especially the sharp, smart, and gorgeous Joan Blondell- are the best things in the movie.
It's the kind of entertainment that kept audiences happy for a few hours during the dark days of economic despair in the early 1930's.The cast is first-rate: brassy Joan Blondell; cynical Aline MacMahon; innocent Ruby Keeler & on-the-make Ginger Rogers.
The film's emotional punch comes at the end, with Blondell's tempestuous rendition of `Remember My Forgotten Man' - with its endless marching men, a blues wail for the doughboys of the Great War, ruined by the Depression.
Many great musical numbers highlight this film including "We're in the Money" in which a then unknown, Ginger Rogers sings in Pig Latin.
Great musical numbers including the opening "We're in the Money," the terrific finale "Forgotten Man" with Blondell and Etta Moten (singing in the window); "Petting in the Park" and "In a Shadow"---Powell and Keeler....
Girls strip naked in silhouette, Ginger sings and dances all but nude for "We're In The Money", and metal chastity bodices are breached using can openers.Ruby Murray and Dick Powell once again team up as the ingenue lovers, this time playing Brad and Polly - "a knockout for the mush interest".
It's one of the few 1930s musicals that can still be seen and appreciated today, thanks to choreographer Busby Berkeley's genius of inventing such remarkable production numbers, and director Mervyn LeRoy's fast-paced story-line.The plot can be categorized in two parts.
PART I: Roommate show girls, Carol (Joan Blondell), Trixie (Aline MacMahon), Polly (Ruby Keeler) and Fay (Ginger Rogers), give up their present jobs in order to appear in Barney Hopkins' (Ned Sparks) latest musical revue, FORGOTTEN MELODY.
Beginning and ending with production numbers, the movie opens with "We're in the Money" sung by Ginger Rogers both in English and in Pig Latin; followed by Dick Powell crooning "The Shadow Waltz" to Ruby Keeler from across her apartment window.
The stage shows include the lively and racy "Pettin' in the Park," followed by chorus girls in hoop skirts playing neon violins to "The Shadow Waltz," ending with the Depression theme, "Remember My Forgotten Man" a dark and moody number with Joan Blondell (wearing tight blouse and skirt)/sung by black singer Etta Moten, underscored in serious tone presenting dough-boy soldiers fighting at the front during World War I, and returning home to the states finding themselves hit by the Depression, becoming homeless and unemployed.
Aline MacMahon and Guy Kibbee make an excellent "odd couple." Powell and Keeler continue to delight with their innocent charm, while sassy Blondell and no nonsense William make go with their love/hate relationship.While musicals have a reputation for having thin plots and strong production numbers, or visa versa, GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 is strong on both counts and entertains throughout its full 96 minutes.
All the Busby Berkeley musicals paid lip service to the Great Depression, but this one goes much further, as "My Forgotten Man" was the last, most enduring image of the film, and the one that audiences left the theatre with.
When you have Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, and Ginger Rogers in the cast, the music of Harry Warren and Al Dubin, AND the choreography of Busby Berkley at his best, how can it be otherwise.Okay, so Ruby Keeler still can't sing on key and her stomping dance style leaves many cold.
However the depression rears it's ugly head when the police have to interrupt the rehearsal and shutdown production due to debt."Pettin in the Park" is a racy number by 1933 standards (you can definitely tell this movie is pre-code Hollywood), featuring Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler this song preaches that getting affectionate with your loved one in public ain't so bad."The Shadow Waltz" is a visually pleasing masterpiece to say the least.
Featuring Powell and Keeler again and a countless number of chorines with neon violins, it is more spectacular then anything modern day special effects can produce."Remember my Forgotten Man" with the lovely Joan Blondell is a change of pace.
More serious, more subdued it is a powerful reminder of how important our dough boys were just 15 years or so earlier.Featuring an all star cast, a capable director and the genius of Busby Berkeley Gold Diggers of 1933 is one of the best musicals to come out of Hollywood during the 1930's..
It is a bitter counterpoint to "We're in the Money" and its impact is utterly devastating.Gold Diggers of 1933 is not only the finest of the Busby Berkely musicals, not only the pinnacle of Warner Brothers' pre-code licentiousness, it is the very heart of depression-era America.
Ruby Keeler, Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon, Dick Powell, Guy Kibbee, Warren William, Ginger Rogers, and then some ...
Though my favorite Busby Berkeley film is Footlight Parade, Gold Diggers of 1933 certainly has a lot to recommend it even for audiences today.The Goldiggers in this case are three female room mates, Aline McMahon, Joan Blondell, and Ruby Keeler.
But he refuses to sing and star in the show as well.Come opening night and unlike 42nd Street where Ruby Keeler had to step in for an injured star, here it's Powell who reluctantly steps in on opening night after getting a lecture from Joan Blondell about what it means to all the company who will be once again out of work during the Great Depression.Poverty isn't something that Powell readily grasps.
That imagery conveyed by Busby Berkeley of those marching men going clockwise and counterclockwise in a kaleidoscope is riveting today, I can only imagine what it was like for contemporary audiences.Harry Warren and Al Dubin wrote a fine score with Remember My Forgotten Man sung by Joan Blondell, WE're in the Money sung by Ginger Rogers and a female chorus and Dick Powell singing I've Got to Sing a Torch Song, Shadow Waltz and Pettin' in the Park the last two with Ruby Keeler.Powell also made records of his songs and We're in the Money.
Ginger Rogers in particular has seldom if ever looked so scrumptious.Early in the proceedings there is a scene in the golddiggers' apartment where dour, penniless producer Ned Sparks launches into a speech about the necessity of producing a whole musical show about the Depression, focusing on the "forgotten men," down-and-out World War I veterans who had made headlines in the summer of 1932 when they marched on Washington demanding early payment of government bonuses previously pledged to them.
may well have been inspired to tackle this issue in a musical by AMERICANA, a Broadway revue that ran in late 1932 (several months before this film was made) and featured the E.Y. Harburg-Jay Gorney ballad "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" which became a mega-hit and in fact is now considered "the anthem of the Depression." "Dime" and the revue that spawned it were openly focused on "the forgotten man." In this film, the Dick Powell character - the composer/lyricist who writes "My Forgotten Man" - explains that he got the idea from walking past the breadlines in Times Square.
With the success of "42nd Street," Warner Brothers wasted no time adding Busby Berkeley musical numbers to "Gold Diggers of 1933." Starring Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler, this musical also has some of the same Depression darkness that permeated "42nd Street." "It's the Depression, dearie," Ginger Rogers says as the show she and her fellow chorines are laboring in closes in rehearsal due to lack of funding.
Polly's roommates Trixie and Carol (Joan Blondell and Aline MacMahon) go to work on the two immediately.Though the film has some fantastic numbers - "We're in the Money," "The Shadow Waltz," "Pettin' in the Park," and great Busby Berkeley choreography, the middle section has no music and drags on as the gals meet the men, get them to pay for expensive hats, etc.
Powell is in gorgeous voice in all the numbers, but "I've Got to Sing a Torch Song" is a high point.It's easy to watch the dancing, the beautiful women in their costumes, and listen to the singing and forget what in fact was going on in the '30s - after all, that's why these films were made.
Especially Ned Sparks as the producer, Ginger Rogers as Fay Fortune, Guy Kibbee as "Fanny", and Joan Blondell, who looks very sexy during the finale, "The Forgotten Man".And the score by Warren and Dubin(who is not credited for some reason) is perfect.
"The Forgotten Man"(a "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime" knockoff), "We're In The Money", "Got To Sing A Torch Song", and one of my favorites, "Shadow Waltz".Yes, it's a musical.
Barney also needs a lot of money to fund, something that Brad is happy to pay in case, much to the girls' suspicion.It comes across as a film with two halves - the first focusing on the development of the musical, the relationship between Brad and dancer Polly (Ruby Keeler), and the confusion surrounding the shady Brad's situation.
It's the kind of thing that Sex And The City wishes it could pull off when it isn't being so materialistic and soulless.When you think it's over it pulls off one last masterstroke in the highly effective 'Remember My Forgotten Man' musical number, as Joan Blondell sings about how her man fought for her country and now begs for food and resorts to picking up discarded cigarette butts, as bloody soldiers march through the street.
While "42nd Street" gets most of the acclaim today I think that "Gold Diggers of 1933" may be the best all-around effort among the Busby Berkeley musicals.
A number of the actors are "42nd Street" alumni, including Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Guy Kibbee, Ned Sparks & Ginger Rogers.
Warren William, Joan Blondell & Aline MacMahon join them to make up an enviable cast.Mervyn LeRoy was in the director's chair and he did a pretty good job but the obvious attraction here is Busby Berkeley's peerless musical numbers featuring the music of Warren & Dubin.
However, I question the use of "Remember My Forgotten Man" as the closer since I consider it the weakest and least 'fun' of the numbers.Minor complaints aside, "Gold Diggers of 1933" is an entertaining musical containing some stellar work from Busby Berkeley along with catchy songs from Warren & Dubin.
The Gold Diggers of 1933 is a great pre-code film with Joan Blondell, Dick Powell, and Ginger Rogers.
The story lines were secondary, it was the production numbers that made the film, Ginger Rogers(We're in the money), Joan Blondell (The forgotten man) and the chorus girls (Shadow Waltz) I was very young when I saw this movie, I guess I remember Joan Blondell and the "Forgotten Man" number the most.
Why, 42nd St had marvellous songs while Gold Diggers Of 1933 had magnificent songs.Mysterious song composer, singer, actor Dick Powell mysteriously bankrolls a stage musical, with his girl Ruby Keeler starring.
And Busby Berkeley excelled himself in the production of that one too, the number seems to get more amazing as the years pass when you remember the technical limitations they had to put up with in 1933 with such fine results.All in all one of the best musicals produced, with so many memorable bits, from pre-Code sassiness to gloriously romantic tunes.
The second Berkeley film in the Warner series of musicals starts off with Ginger Rogers singing "We're in the Money" in an outrageous number in which the chorus girls are all dressed in over-sized coins.
And that's where the fun starts.There's some great pre-code comedy here particularly from Joan Blondell, not to mention her stirring performance of "Forgotten Man" about World War I soldiers who are now marching in Depression Era bread lines.
The musical numbers are simply amazing and like lots of reviewers already wrote, the "Remember my forgotten man" number is a significant moment in the history of 30's American cinema.It is also a joy to watch Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell at the top of their game.
Though at the same time, the Depression is more constantly present in "Gold Diggers" than it was in "42nd Street," and the film culminates (and ends rather abruptly) with a dark and critical social comment.Present again are the elaborate and bizarre choreographic creations of Busby Berkeley, designed to showcase lots of female skin.
Ginger Rogers, tremendous screen presence aside, has only a couple of scenes and is pretty much wasted again, though she inexplicably gets to sing some bars of "We're in the Money" in Pig Latin and extreme close-up.A film center in my home city of Chicago is having a Busby Berkeley retrospective, so I've been able to see these two early thirties movies in sequence and note how the art form of musical comedy evolved from one film to the next.
The cast reads like a who's who of early 1930s Hollywood: Joan Blondell, Ginger Rogers, Warren William, Ruby Keeler, and Dick Powell to name a few.
I'm not a huge Dick Powell or Ruby Keeler fan, but they are pretty endearing here, and Powell's vocals really take us back to the 1930's, and a completely different style.The plot, which has three chorus girls (Blondell, Keeler, and Aline MacMahon) pairing up with three affluent guys (William, Powell, and Guy Kibbee), while trying to squeeze another (Ginger Rogers) out of the equation, isn't amazing or anything, but the dialogue is entertaining and while we see some prancing around in lingerie, the female characters are all more than cardboard characters or simple 'gold diggers'.
But having said that, there are definite drawbacks to these kind of Depression-era musicals--namely, RUBY KEELER, who admits herself that she "couldn't sing, dance or act." She does manage to get by on sheer charm but her skills are, truthfully, decidedly limited.DICK POWELL was still playing the juvenile lead in these sort of musicals, usually with someone like JOAN BLONDELL exchanging some salty wisecracks with him or giving out with her own songs when he wasn't crooning a couple of ditties.The hard times aspect of the story is easy to discern with the four showgirls sharing a tenement flat and subsiding on stolen goods like a bottle of milk from their neighbors.
Very dated stuff.But Busby Berkeley's musical interludes make up for some of the slow going in the familiar plot line which has them trying to scrape together enough money for a Broadway show and then fortunate enough to latch onto Dick Powell, who comes from a monied family and also happens to sing, dance and act.
Probably a unique structure and not entirely successful, but the parts of this structure rarely descend below the marvelous.Maybe only 'We're In The Money' (really titled 'The Gold Digger's Song') can stand alone from the film's score, but Warren and Dubin's other efforts all work perfectly within Berkeley's inspired production numbers.
(Another film about the backstage lives of actresses will follow in 1937--"Stage Door", also starring Ginger Rogers, is a better film, but both are worth watching.)The three women are played by Ruby Keeler, Joan Blondell, and Aline MacMahon.
Gold Diggers of 1933 would be an inconsequential movie, and almost surely a forgotten one, were it not for the Busby Berkeley production numbers, which are among the most imaginative, bizarre, giddily entertaining sequences in all musical-comedy history.
This is the best musical made about the depression, focusing on chorus girls MacMahon, Rogers, Joan Blondell and Ruby Keeler, all unemployed after Sparks' previous show closed before opening, and the hope that his new show (with the help of mysterious songwriter Dick Powell) will actually open.
And when Joan Blondell (who did a few musicals on-stage) gets to talk/sing the final, "My Forgotten Man", she sums up what the entire film has been all about.
While the film stars Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell, on hand are also Joan Blondell, Warren William, Guy Kibbee and Aline MacMahon.
Blondell decides to play along to teach William a lesson and by the end of the picture, everything seems to (naturally) work itself out for everyone.The film has some decent song and dance numbers choreographed by director Busby Berkeley and they are pretty typical of his style.
Basically the "gold diggers" are four aspiring stage performers: actress Polly Parker (Ruby Keeler), singer Carol King (Joan Blondell), comedian Trixie Lorraine (Aline MacMahon), and the glamorous Fay Fortune (Ginger Rogers).