Gold Diggers of 1935

... this is not Gold Diggers of 1933, Dames, or Footlight Parade. The story is downright disappointing. I realize that the story is not the main point of a musical, but still, the narrative and its execution here are inane. The reason is not that Warner Brothers or Berkeley or Warren and Dubin have lost their touch, but the Production Code put a dreary blanket of censorship over American films made after 1934 that was impossible to evade. Gloria Stuart, as the poor little rich girl being pushed into a loveless marriage with a middle aged millionaire with a goofy hobby, is lovely, but she just doesn't have the precode bite of the stunning Joan Blondell or the fascinating Ginger Rogers, nor is she the good girl shrouded in an air of mystery like Ruby Keeler.

There are only two decent Busby Berkeley numbers here. The first is "The Words are In My Heart", which has those interesting white pianos. To say that "Lullaby of Broadway", the second of two really interesting numbers here, is great, is an understatement. It combines eroticism, surrealism, and flat out psychedelicism to be one of the high points of the Hollywood musical. And like all of Berkeley's numbers, this is supposed to be a staged number but could only be done in film. How else do you transform the face of Winny Shaw into the island of Manhattan and back again? Not in the rest of his career, IMHO, will Busby Berkeley top this number. Without it this film would probably only be a 5/10. With "Lullaby of Broadway" it rises to a 7/10.

As in Berkeley's earlier (and weaker) 'Dames', a pretty silly one-note plot is balanced by some amazing camera work and visual story telling in the musical numbers.

At least the story we have to put up with to get to the dancing is a bit less annoying, and the acting a bit better. Adolph Monjou is fun as a con-man, Dick Powell is a bit toned down and less annoyingly 'gee-whiz' as our hero and Hugh Herbert is a bit more fun as 'the rich buffoon' than Guy Kibbie in the earlier film.

And I will admit to sitting there, mouth open, saying 'how did he get those huge old cameras to do that?!?' And the huge, complex, dance number 'Lullaby of Broadway', often considered Berkley's greatest, is oddly, wonderfully dark in its implications. A whole story told in dance unto itself.

Caught this one on TCM the other night.

Good music, lots of beautiful girls and an inane plot, humorously acted out by a talented cast. What more could anyone ask for? This is what the "movies" were all about when life outside the theater was in the middle of the Great Depression. You might be making 25 bucks a week and probably forked over a quarter to see this picture. For your money you were able to forget your troubles as you watched the Busby Berkeley dance numbers and listened to the tunes of Harry Warren and Al Dubin. Not a bad deal then and still enjoyable now on cable, video or DVD.

It seems to me that the actors of that era had more talent than most of those plying the craft these days. I also like the cast introductions, common to the era, showing a brief moment from the film, portraying the introduced in a flattering way. Style and class unfortunately seem to be in short supply in most films of the present era which has become much more concerned with finding new ways to shock or offend us as they happily take our money (9 bucks?).

Sure, there were better examples of the 1930s musical genre but this one really ain't all that bad. You could do worse than sit down and watch.

While I love the songs mentioned above, my favorite part of the entire show happens at the top when all the managers of the different departments of the hotel are explaining to their employees why they won't be receiving a salary or a wage -- because of the massive tips they'll be receiving from the clients -- oh, and that each manager gets a cut of the vails, of course, as they aren't going to be in contact with the guests.

The editing is really nice, as it moves from department to department in the hotel. The monologue begins with the hotel manager talking to the bell boys, then the editing takes us to housekeeping, the restaurant, the bar, etc. and each manager picks up the monologue, ending with the hotel manager summing up his expectations.

I think that sequence opens an interesting window on what hotel workers might have dealt with back then.

GOLD DIGGERS OF 1935 (Warner Brothers, 1935), directed by Busby Berkeley, is a lavish musical set in New England's Wentworth Plaza, a summer fashionable hotel, featuring a cross section of people working or staying there, many wanting to make some extra money for themselves, hence the title "Gold Diggers." In this edition, the "Gold Digging" is done by both men and women, with the exception of the romantic leads. Dick Curtis (Dick Powell), a desk clerk working his way through medical school, is engaged to marry Arline Davis (Dorothy Dare), employed as a the hostess there. Guests at the swank hotel include Ann Prentiss (Gloria Stuart), the daughter of the ultra wealthy but stingy widow Matilda Prentiss (Alice Brady), who wants Ann to marry eccentric middle-aged millionaire, T. Mosley Thorpe (Hugh Herbert), but before Ann will commit herself into a loveless marriage, she wants to go out and enjoy herself first. Mother Prentiss consents to this, but with protection, by hiring Dick as her escort. In the meantime, Arline becomes interested in Humbolt (Frank McHugh), Ann's girl-chasing brother with four previous marriages. While Mosley gets time away from Ann to write a book about snuff, he is pursued by Betty Hawes (Glenda Farrell), a gold-digging stenographer. More complications ensue when the freeloading Nikolai Nicoleff (Adolphe Menjou), a Russian theatrical producer mooching off the hotel, is asked by the manager, Louis Lamson (Grant Mitchell) to stage a musical show that will not only help pay for his bill, but to help benefit the Charity Milk Fund. Sponsored by Mrs. Prentiss, she wants everything in the show to be "small and cheap." With all this is set aside, the real entertainment begins with two lavish production numbers choreographed by Busby Berkeley.

With the score by Harry Warren and Al Dubin, GOLD DIGGERS OF 1935 opens instrumentally to "I'm Going Shopping With You," where employees, including bellboys and chambermaids, musically preparing the hotel for the upcoming guests. The song is later introduced by Powell as he escorts Stuart on a shopping spree, charging everything to her mother. This is later followed by the tender love song, "The Words Are In My Heart" sung by Powell to Stuart on the motor boat. For the charity show, the first number is "The Words Are In My Heart" introduced by Powell to Stuart in period clothes, followed by a parade of chorus girls playing the tune while sitting on movable white pianos. An excellent number that needs to be seen to be appreciated. When one thinks Berkeley cannot outdo that piano segment, stay tuned for the 14 minute finale, "The Lullaby of Broadway." Sung by Winifred Shaw, the big climax of hundreds of dancers in the night club sequence is an instant classic. This segment alone is usually clipped into movie documentaries, especially a segment into public television's 1971 90-minute presentation of "The Movie-Crazy Years," a look back into the history of Warner Brothers movies of the 1930s. "The Lullaby of Broadway" went on to win the Academy Award as best song of the year. While "Shopping" and "Words" are underscored throughout the story, with insert of "Tango Del Rio" from WONDER BAR (1934), only "Lullaby of Broadway" gives indication of one being inserted here from another movie or musical short, considering the fact that the song isn't heard at all until its grand finale, thus saving the best for last.

In closing, GOLD DIGGERS OF 1935 is grand scale musical showing that Berkeley handles his production numbers better than the weak plot. Alice Brady's character can often be annoying while the Warners reliables of Frank McHugh and Hugh Herbert tend to strain a bit for laughs. For character acting, Adolphe Menjou acquires a thick Russian accent to match with his comedic moments opposite Joseph Cawthorne as another heavily accented August Schultz.

Distributed to home video in 1989, and DVD many years later as part of the Busby Berkeley collection, GOLD DIGGERS OF 1935 often plays on cable television's Turner Classic Movies. (***)