Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Busby Berkeley

Writers:

Robert Lord (story)
Peter Milne (screenplay)

Release Date:

15 March 1935 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical

Plot:

In a luxury hotel stage director Nicoleff stages a show to get the money to pay his bills. Mrs. Prentiss...

Plot Keywords:

Millionaire | Stage Performance | Broken Engagement | Rich Snob | Fantasy Sequence

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Dick Powell	...	Dick Curtis
Adolphe Menjou	...	Nicolai Nicoleff
Gloria Stuart	...	Ann Prentiss
Alice Brady	...	Matilda Prentiss
Hugh Herbert	...	T. Mosely Thorpe III
Glenda Farrell	...	Betty Hawes
Frank McHugh	...	Humbolt Prentiss
Joseph Cawthorn	...	August Schultz
Grant Mitchell	...	Louis Lampson
Dorothy Dare	...	Arline Davis
Wini Shaw	...	Winny (as Winifred Shaw)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bill Elliott	...	Martin, the Clerk (as Gordon Elliott)

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Vitaphone

Certification:

Canada:G (Ontario) | USA:Approved (PCA #580) | Australia:G

Company:

First National Pictures

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: In the scene where many people pay 25 dollars each for tickets to the charity musical (59:10 into the film) the money being paid is very clearly in pesos. In fact, each of the top bills clearly states 'Vente Pesos' and are obviously not American bills. Yet, all the dialog keeps referring to 'dollars' and there is no indication that Lake Waxapahachie, where the resort is located, is anything but an American resort.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Hooray for Hollywood (1975)

Soundtrack:

Moonlight and You

1930s Kitsch

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.