Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Directors:

Lloyd Bacon
Busby Berkeley

Writers:

Richard Maibaum (play) &
Michael Wallace (play) ...

Release Date:

28 December 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

Plot:

Stage-producer J.J. Horbart, is going to put on a new show, but he doesn't know that his two partners lost the money at the stock market...

Plot Keywords:

Insurance | Hypochondriac | Blackmail | New York City | Rejuvenation

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Dick Powell	...	Rosmer 'Rossi' Peck
Joan Blondell	...	Norma Perry
Glenda Farrell	...	Genevieve 'Gen' Larkin
Victor Moore	...	J. J. Hobart
Lee Dixon	...	Boop Oglethorpe
Osgood Perkins	...	Morty Wethered
Charles D. Brown	...	Mr. Tom Hugo (as Chas. D. Brown)
Rosalind Marquis	...	Sally LaVerne
Irene Ware	...	Irene (Sally's pal)
William B. Davidson	...	Andy Callahan (as Wm. Davidson)
Olin Howland	...	Dr. MacDuffy
Charles Halton	...	Dr. Bell
Paul Irving	...	Dr. Warshof
Harry C. Bradley	...	Dr. Henry
Joseph Crehan	...	Chairman at insurance convention

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Vitaphone

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #2504)

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

First National Pictures

Trivia:

The song "Hush Mah Mouth" by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg was written for the picture but not used in the final print.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Three Cheers for the Girls (1943)

Soundtrack:

With Plenty of Money and You

An Enjoyable Ride, But No Brass Ring

Warner Bros. trots out its Gold Diggers concept again in this amusing little musical which serves largely as a wistful reminder of the fun & vivacity of the original pre-Code feature. Perhaps Dick Powell's smarmy little mustache, seen immediately after the opening credits, should have been enough to signal that things were different now.

The plot of every Gold Digger film is centered around its music. The songs here are pleasant, but unmemorable and the Busby Berkeley spectacle--'All's Fair In Love And War'--reveals the Master at his repose, his choreographed rocking chairs and banners not quite registering the requisite pizzazz one remembers from his earlier classics.

Powell tries his hardest to ingratiate, but his preppy days appear to be passing and casting him as an insurance salesman is a bit of a ho-hum. Lots of fun, however, can be found with Warner's two sensational brassy blondes, Joan Blondell & Glenda Farrell, in their final film together. Still wisecracking & sassy, they grab the movie's best dialogue and run off with it, giving some laughter to their comedy duo swan song. Comic Victor Moore shines as a cranky impresario with a bad case of hypochondria.

Sharp-eyed movie mavens will spot Fred ‘Snowflake' Toones as a shoe shine attendant; Jane Wyman as an excited chorus girl at the station; and Frank Faylen as a man shaving on the train, all unbilled.