42nd Street (1933) User Reviews

A steamy, erotic musical of the 1930's.

[Ted-101 · 8/10 · 15 June 2001]

Do you find the musicals of the 40's and 50's pristine, sterile and virginal in the extreme? And based on this unhappy discovery you've decided that you don't like musicals. Please do not distress yourself and allow me to introduce you to the Busby Berkeley musicals of the 1930's, starting with 42nd Street, the best of them all.

Like nearly all the musicals of its time, 42nd Street is a depression-era back stage musical which focuses on the grueling hours that have to be put in by the singers and dancers day after day in preparation of opening night. The film has a fine cast with lovely Bebe Daniels as Dorothy Brock, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Ginger Rogers, George Brent and Warner Baxter, who chews the scenery in every scene he's in as the stage director of 'Pretty Lady'.

What separates films like "42nd Street" from the musicals of the 40's and 50's is the daring camera work of dance director Busby Berkeley. Berkeley loves his chorus girls, and he has no qualms about aiming his camera up their dresses at every opportunity. One of the sexiest moments in the film comes when the girls try out for the chorus in their street clothes. Each girl of course is dressed differently from the others, with a different hat (love those cute 30's hats) dress and high-heel shoes. This variety makes them look hotter than when they're all wearing the same chorus outfit. When they have to show their legs in the hopes of being chosen, Berkeley gets his camera down low and gives you a birds eye view of each girl's legs ... first a front view, than they turn and let you get a good look at their calves. It is a very erotic scene. Later, when the girls leave their dressing rooms and are coming down the stairs for opening night, Berkeley puts his camera under the stairs and shoots up their dresses as they pass. Again, when the girls emerge from backstage and high-kick out for the opening number, Berkeley has his camera down low at a 45 degree angle, aiming right up the chute of the costumes of the first few girls to dance out on stage. Further along, all the chorus girls form an arc in one number with their legs wide open and Berkeley tracks right thru their legs all the way around the circle. You can even see the last girl has a gold ankle bracelet on her left ankle. Once the production code was strictly enforced after 1934, shots like this were never seen again.

42nd Street has three great songs, "You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me", "Shuffle Off To Buffalo" and of course "42nd Street". There have been many revivals of "42nd Street", and they often include the best numbers of other films, along with the three I mentioned, including "Dames" from the film of the same name, "Go Into Your Dance", a terrific number, and "Lullaby of Broadway", which is the highlight number from "Gold-Diggers of 1935", which has a spectacular tap dance sequence with 100 chorus girls wearing gorgeous, sheer black skirts as part of their chorus outfits. If musicals often leave you cold, and you haven't given "42nd Street" a try, than I suggest that you do so ... and sit close to the television set.

Wonderful

[zetes · 8/10 · 16 June 2000]

If only there could have been more musical and dance numbers! All of them (not counting practices) occur at the very end of the film, and there are only three of them there. Luckily, the non-musical parts were really good, too. The plot was just a pretty standard behind-the-scenes of a play movie. It actually reminded me a lot of two films about plays that I have just seen recently, Micheal Powell's _The Red Shoes_ and Tim Robbins' _Cradle Will Rock_. While the plot may be a bit common, the dialogue is exceptionally good. It is snappy and witty and clever at all times. Also, the ensemble cast was extremely good. I love Dick Powell. He's not in this film too much, but he's perfect in every scene he's in. I was first introduced to him in the guise of Phillip Marlowe (and I am among the small group of people who consider him the best incarnation of Phillip Marlowe), and he's just as great in the genre which brought him his fame.

This is also the first movie that I've ever seen involving Bubsy Berkely, and I have to say, WOW!!! Those musical sequences are ingenious! One thing I find funny, though, is that, if you think about it, the audience who would be watching the play from below wouldn't be able to see any of the fancy designs the dancers make with their legs! Too bad for them! I give this film a 9/10!

Yikes!

[lionel-libson-1 · 6/10 · 23 January 2009]

On one level, "42nd Street" is a groundbreaking movie musical: It conveys the grind, the cynicism, and the tenuous nature of creating entertainment for the theater. The auditions, the undeclared war between newcomers and seasoned performers, the use of any means to keep the cash lifeline flowing, the chaos from which a performance must emerge; these elements are nicely conveyed.

Now for the actors. Good old Ned Sparks never disappoints. Nobody better depicts the sarcasm and simplicity of the Depression era. Dick Powell is obviously still in his larval state, his voice piping, his face cherubic. No hint of the Philip Marlowe he became in later years. Bebe Daniels actually was entertaining. her rendition of "You're Getting to Be a Habit....", a wonderful song, was charming and delivered with a light touch.

But Ruby Keeler!!! What hold did Al Jolson have on the Vitaphone Studio that made them cast her as a star? A reasonably attractive woman, with the dancing grace of a rhino and the ability (nice reversal) to make emotionally-charged lines sound like reading the names in a phone book. The funniest scene(inadvertently) had the director trying to prepare her for her performance by screaming, shouting, shaking her and doing everything but set her afire.

All this said, it remains a wonderfully mindless entertainment; as good as any comic book I ever read as a kid in the 40's, and just as fantastic.Busby Berkely was at his Kaleidoscopic best, leaving one to wonder what the audience was seeing. My wife could only ask incredulously why I enjoyed the film...but why do we enjoy Oreos?

Depression-era Gem

[Bucs1960 · 21 December 2001]

This is one fun movie if you like singing, dancing and adore the whole atmosphere of the early 30's. A back stage story that sets the standard for all those "unknown becomes overnight star" films. The weakest part of it all is Ruby Keeler and I apologize in advance to all of her fans and there are many. She was an Irish Step Dancer, which does not come across very well in film. Step dancers concentrate on their feet only and upper body movement is not a consideration. This makes the dancer appear as heavy footed and clumsy. Plus she wasn't a very good actress and didn't sing very well either. But she was as cute as a button with those big eyes and innocent face,so all is forgiven.

Warner Baxter gives the best performance of his career as the driven director who verges on madness. Dick Powell is delightful as the juvenile; many who only know him from his later films are not aware that he had a beautiful tenor voice and made his first splash in films as a singer and light comedian. Ginger Rogers is perfect as the slightly dishonorable chorus girl with the sugar daddy and Una Merkle playing Ginger's pal is surprisingly cute. Bebe Daniels is beautiful as the star of the play and does a great rendition of "You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me"., The rest of the supporting cast is right on target...with some good support from Ned Sparks, Guy Kibbee and the ubiquitous George E. Stone.

A lot got by the censors in this film to the delight of the audience....things were tightened up the next year as the Hayes Office started cracking down. Enjoy this film...enjoy, enjoy, and enjoy!!

I prefer Gold Diggers of 1933, personally

[jem132 · 7/10 · 1 November 2008]

This is THE film that started it all. Oh, there were other musicals before this (Broadway Melody of 1929 won the Oscar a few years back), but "42nd street", was the trailblazer. It introduced the world to Busby Berkeley's wonderful kaleidoscope images of leggy chorine girls- and we never looked back. The plot (young chorus girl is plucked from oblivion to replace the temperamental) female star is old hat now, but this is where it all originated from. It probably made other studios, like RKO, consider doing musicals (and look what RKO gave us...Fred & Ginger!)So "42nd Street" deserves a lot of credit for it's unique place in history. And it's an entertaining film to boot.

So why do I prefer Gold Diggers of 1933? Well, the later film moves faster, seems to have much more energy, has better musical numbers and actors. I was surprised at how the musical numbers were so bunched up in this film- they seemed to all come at the end (the show-stopping finale), when they could have been more spaced out. Yes, the point of the finale is to finally reveal the show miraculously coming together, but there's not enough heat in the first half (at least for me).

Ruby Keeler became a huge musical star after "42nd street". Oh, Ruby. She was so cute and plucky and likable, but Lord, was she a bad actor and singer! Seen today, her tapping is also quite average. I've read that "buck-dancing", tap where movement below the waist was emphasised, was the style of the time and that could account for little Ruby looking like a clopping horse. And when Ginger's wise-cracking Anytime Annie (Ginger was just crying out for a lead role then, the girl stole every scene!) insists to the producer that Peggy's the only chorine who can save the show, I had to laugh. Luckuly Dick Powell, who I like a lot, was around to show the way. We also have George Brent and Bebe Daniels in the mix. Daniels was quite good but she just wasn't appealing to me.

the movie that created the clichés

[storyguy · 9/10 · 16 March 2006]

Most of the negative comments posted below seem to be from people who either just don't like musicals or who are unaware that all the "cliches" in this movie were essentially invented by "42nd Street." It's sort of like complaining that Shakespeare is full of quotations. This movie is absolutely brilliant, which is why it's been imitated endlessly for the last seven decades.

Sure, Keeler's not the end-all of tap dancing, but she fits the bill as an ingénue and is generally amiable and perky. The plot is predictable, but only because we've seen it duplicated so often. If you hadn't seen the same sort of thing a million times, you'd notice that it's tightly assembled and even somewhat suspenseful. The show is full of first-rate comic asides, even if some of the material is dated by obsolete slang and contemporary pop culture references.

And do people still take the trouble to complain that Busby Berkeley's dance numbers couldn't have been seen properly by the audience in the theater? That's like complaining that an ape couldn't really grow to be as large as King Kong. The whole point is that it's a movie, and Berkeley is able to do things that can't happen in the real world. Hence the transformation of background settings while the camera is close up on an actress's face. There isn't even such a thing as a close-up in a stage production. Carping that a '30's musical isn't realistic enough is like complaining that Venus couldn't actually have been born out of a clamshell.

In any case, this is one of the great '30s musicals... and one of the great Hollywood movies of all time. If you don't like the genre, then so be it. It always amazes me that so many film fans strongly prefer "Singin' in the Rain" to such predecessors as "42nd Street," "Dames," "Top Hat," "Swing Time," etc., when "Singin' in the Rain" is simply an homage to the '30s musical and generates quite little fresh material of its own. Mind you, it's a brilliantly executed homage, and it arguably benefits from its overt tongue-in-cheek attitude, but I can't help thinking many are simply swayed by the fact that it's in color (really good Technicolor) and has clearer sound quality than its '30s predecessors. Either way, you need to see and appreciate the original movie musicals before you can really understand what "Singin' in the Rain" was about... just as you should see some Hong Kong action flicks and blacksploitation films to get what's going on in "Pulp Fiction."

But I digress. See "42nd Street," and try to keep an open mind. Just because it's old is not a reason to assume that the people who made it didn't know their business extremely well.

A Must for Ruby Keeler fans

[caspian1978 · 7/10 · 8 September 2001]

Berkeley's famous pattern-dancers become more than an example of self-focusing art. Unlike several other of Berkeley related films, 42nd Street has more heart than "eye candy." Ruby Keeler returns to the musical genre as another small town girl wanting to become a Broadway dancer. There's less comic relief in this one. Unlike all the Gold Digger films of the 1930's, 42nd Street stands out as a movie about hopes and dreams. One of the all time classics for musical lovers, its a must see if you're a Ruby fan!

"Now go out there and be so swell you'll make me hate you."

[Sweet Charity · 10/10 · 22 September 2002]

I must admit, the reason I purchased this movie was all because of a CD I bought that had Ruby Keeler singing "42nd Street" on it. But I also must admit that my purchase was not a waste of my money in the least!!!!

I adore this film. It's the quintessential Depression-era Busby Berkley musical that usually starred either Ruby Keeler, Joan Blondell, Dick Powell, Jimmy Cagney, and featured a young Ginger Rogers.

Let me begin by saying that (especially for the time period) this actually happens to be a rather risque little musical... from Ginger Rogers' character actually having the name "Anytime Annie" to the little scene occuring on the train when Ruby Keeler extends her arm to have her shoes shined. But I'm not writing to focus on that.

Warner Baxter gives a tremendous performance as Julian Marsh, the director whose life and financial security hang in the balance with the opening of his new musical "Pretty Lady." (His last scene in the film is especially powerful, and at the same time very depressing.) George Brent is grand as Pat, the man deeply in love with the star of "Pretty Lady," Dorothy Brock. Also, a young Dick Powell shines as the juvenille of the show, Billy Lawler, who happens to be in love with a doe-eyed chorus girl by the name of Peggy Sawyer. Boy can he sing!! Bebe Daniels is gorgeous as Dorothy Brock, the star of the show who is having trouble maintaining a balance between her Sugar Daddy Abner and the love of her life, Pat Denning. She has such a fantastic talent as an actress and singer and is one of those true 30s beauties. And look at that wardrobe! (One thing I also noticed about Daniels... she's a TERRIFIC crier.) Then you have Ruby Keeler (aka the former Mrs. Al Jolson) playing chorus-girl-turned-over-night-star Peggy Sawyer. Ruby Keeler is absolutely adorable, with her petite frame, lovely large eyes, and fresh face. She makes the song "42nd Street" her own, and her dancing is FANTASTIC!!!! I have read many comments where people said she "couldn't dance" and looked like a clunky cow... but let's take a few things into consideration. First of all, she was playing a kid who, by luck, got into a huge musical production. Her dances had been choreographed to make her seem insanely talented, but at the same time a little awkward. Second of all, Ruby Keeler had a style all her own. Her taps weren't the light, airy taps of say, Fred Astaire, but they were much more earthy. (And by this I mean no disrespect to Astaire, as he is one of my favorite actors!) Her taps weren't light brushes on the floor, they were pounded deep into it. Her singing is so cheerful and so lilting... her ingenue image paved the way for other similar ingenues, such as Debbie Reynolds' Kathy Selden in "Singin' in the Rain." But, upon viewing this, there are two characters that stick in your mind: Lorraine and Anytime Annie, superbly played by Una Merkel and Ginger Rogers. They're so hilarious -- absolute riots! They could not have found a better pair to spark off of each other as wisecracking friends; Lorraine who is, shall we say, stuck on Andy (Gotta love the platinum blonde hair on Una! She's such a fantastic character actress.), and Ann, who aside from her obvious permiscuous ways, does a great British accent (love Ginger's random monacle!) and is quite humorous when loaded.

All in all, coming from a die-hard musical fan, I give this movie a definite 10/10!!!! Watch it, and I promise you'll agree.

A Whole Lot of Heart and a Whole Lot of Ham

[evanston_dad · 7/10 · 7 June 2005]

If your knowledge of "42nd Street" comes from seeing the stage musical, you'll be surprised to find how much less of a musical the film actually is, and how much darker it is than its stage counterpart. The spectre of the Great Depression pervades every frame of the film. These Broadway hoofers never once look like they're enjoying themselves; instead, they look like any other group of factory or assembly workers, desperately holding on to the job they have no matter how miserable it may be.

Busby Berkeley's groundbreaking choreography bursts on to the screen late in the film in a couple of dazzling production numbers. Though actually there is something disturbing about his obsession (and the entire film's obsession) with objectifying women until they are nearly indistinguishable from one another. To the producers of the musical within the film, the women are nothing more than pairs of legs. In the audition scene we are privy to, they select the chorus by asking them to hike up their skirts so that their legs will be more easily visible!! If there are any auditions to actually find out if the women can sing or dance, we don't see them. And again, in Berkeley's dance numbers, the women become little more than individual body parts, swirling around in kaleidoscopic images that blur one into the next.

These early Depression-era musicals are known for launching the career of Ruby Keeler, but I was quite taken aback by how awful she is. She can't act, and her dancing is atrocious. She clomps around and flails her arms like a chimpanzee impersonating a human. Of the actors, Ginger Rogers makes an impression in a small role as the acerbic Anytime Annie (and get a load of the scene where she insists that Ruby Keeler take on the lead role in the musical, because she can dance rings around poor Ginger....yeah, right). Bebe Daniels and George Brent do well with their parts, and Warner Baxter serves up the ham and gets to deliver the film's most famous line.

I know this review sounds more critical than positive, but I actually enjoyed this film very much. It's corny, silly and melodramatic to be sure, but it's also earnest and well crafted. It's a fascinating slice of film history and one that any serious film buff should see.

Grade: A-

42nd street

[robjay8 · 10/10 · 9 May 2006]

After watching 42nd Street so many times it relays to me just how much musical cinema has become so important to the cinema goer of today.Films such as these really show the true hard work and commitment played out by all the actors/actresses etc. involved.The films plot is easy to follow but the true genius of 42nd Street is Busby Berkley,his timeless dedication and devotion to produce unforgettable song and dance routines will rest in the heart of every musical fan forever. Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell were perfectly matched as the main characters,they have a charisma on screen that is hard to match these days.The song and dance routines they perform together is pure magic. The film follows the trials and tribulations of a stage director (Julian Marsh)to put on the best musical of his long career but has to keep facing problem after problem,which comes to a happy (as always) ending.The rest of the cast also give excellent serious and comedic performances to make this film unmissable if you like the musical/comedy genre.

took musicals up a notch

[km_dickson · 7/10 · 13 December 2005]

Picks up the musical genre where Broadway Melody left off. Once again we are given a behind the scenes look at a big stage production, but, this time, we are also given the good ensemble cast, interesting story lines, and dramatic weight to make it mean something. You see the aging stars, the young hopeful newcomers, the catty chorus girls, the slave driving director, and the womanizing producer. You see the backstage politics, the dirty tricks, the endless rehearsals and the nail biting opening night. You actually care about weather or not the show goes on because you care about those involved and sense how important it is to them. Warner Baxter gives a particularly good performance as the tireless, self destructive director. It's far from perfect, but it is a marked improvement in the musical genre and a definite forerunner for movies like A Chorus Line and All that Jazz.

The birth of the musical as we know it.

[MartynGryphon · 10/10 · 11 February 2008]

Since the birth of talking pictures in 1927, and regardless of the studio or of the stars involved, Hollywood had always struggled to 'hit the ground running' when it came to musicals.

The early shambolic efforts by MGM became a Testament to the genre's awkwardness. In fact you only have to look a their all star Hollywood Revue of 1929, and in particular the cringe inducing two-tone Technicolor scene of 'Singing in the Rain' with a whole host of the A-list stars hamming it up in raincoats to see that the movie musical was nearly a stillborn concept.

In 1933, Warner Brother's became the first studio to successfully produce a musical that didn't leave people shifting uncomfortably in their theatre seats.

The movie was 42nd Street directed by Lloyd Bacon. It was more a film about a musical than it was a musical film, as all the singing & dancing take place within the context of the rehearsals and then later the actual show itself.

At the height of the depression, Broadway musicals were few and far between, because, put simply, not many people had the money to finance them. Enter Abner Dillon (Guy Kibee), a Kiddie Car tycoon who after taking a shine to a famous Broadways Star, Dorothy Brock (Bebe Daniels), agrees to finance a Broadway show called 'Pretty Lady', on the proviso, of course, that Brock is hired for the female lead. Brock, on the other hand, feels no romantic affiliation with Dillon in the slightest as she's really in love with her former vaudeville partner Pat Denning (George Brent), who's put his own career on hold to allows hers to flourish.

Warner Baxter, plays Julian Marsh, the former Broadway big shot hired to direct the show, who, like most of his contemporaries, is now near penniless after the Crash of '29 and signs on for the show just for the financial nest egg the success of the show will no doubt give him, and is not about to let Denning's relationship with his leading lady, ruin his plan by having Dillon's financial backing withdrawn.

A chorus call is made and it is here we meet the rest of the cast and crew. Inexperienced chorus girl Peggy Sawyer (Ruby Keeler), arrives for her first audition and meets up with Juvenile singer Billy Lawler (Dick Powell). Una Merkel & Ginger Rogers also appear playing two 'experienced' chorus girls who guide Sawyer through the initial auditions.

After a drunken altercation the night before opening, Brock breaks her ankle leaving her out of the show. And in an act of desperation. Marsh is coerced in making Peggy Sawyer his new Leading lady.

The show itself is the real treat of this movie. With the very risqué 'Shuffle off to Buffalo' number with Keeler & Clarence Nordstrom in which Rogers & Merkel also get a chance to shine.

Dick Powell is also given a great number in the form the wonderfully Busby Berkeley choreographed 'Young & Healthy' and the lucky dog gets to serenade a bevy of young starlets, and boy, could that guy SING! The title track is Keeler's shining hour and while she may not have been the best singer in the world, she could certainly shake a shoe when shoe shaking was required. Perhaps this routine is a bit 'clunky' compared to the grace of Astaire, but watch Keeler in the Shanghai 'Lil sequence in Footlight Parade with James Cagney made later that same year and you'll see the grace that Keeler could dance with.

42nd street may not have had the most engaging of plot lines, but it's the songs & dances that put the movie on a pedestal, and it is the same song & dances that were to become the yardstick that all musicals for the next few years were to be measured by.

'You're going out there a youngster, but you've got to come back a star', These words proved quite Prophetic for Keeler, because after 42nd Street, Dick Powell & Ruby Keeler along with Busby Berkeley and his famous Kaleidoscope overhead shots, became the staple of all Warner Brothers Musicals for the remainder of the 1930's.

Ginger Rogers' tenure at Warner's was short lived and after a switch to RKO Studios later that year she starred in low budget musical call Flying Down To Rio. It took only one scene and once dance to make her a superstar. The dance: The Carioca, her partner: Fred Astaire.

Enjoy!

Good, But Needed A Bit More Music

[ccthemovieman-1 · 7/10 · 11 March 2006]

This is considered one of the best and well-known of the Busby Berkeley films with the cute-and-likable Ruby Keeler making it winsome.

She and the rest of the cast, with the exception of a loud and obnoxious Warner Baxter, were fun to watch. So were all the women in here, showing a surprising amount of skin. Had this been made some months later under the new Hays' Code, that skin would have been covered up.

At any rate, for a musical I thought the film was a bit too dialog-oriented. Up until the last 20 minutes, it was too much talk and not enough of the dance numbers. The latter did occur but they were too short.

Only in the last 20 minutes, as seemed to be the routine in the Berkeley films, did we see the extravagant production numbers. The finale is terrific, too. "I've Got You Under My Skin," "Shuffle Off To Buffalo," and "42nd Street" are all great song-and-dance numbers and look just great on DVD. The disc is a notable improvement over the VHS.

Overall, it's a good film with interesting characters and, if you have to patience to wait, a tremendous musical finale.

What a stinker of a movie this is, for all it's 'camp' value.

[brentkincaid · 4/10 · 11 April 2008]

All the bad things rolled up into a ball, can't stand half as high as the miscasting of the star for this early blockbuster movie. The movie had all these 'hot young stars' in it, and the script calls for various characters to act as if, and even state how pretty and talented Ruby Keeler is as the broke, no experience tyro chorus girl, soon to be star of the hot new show by the hottest producer on Broadway. Think "Andrew Lloyd Weber of the 30s and you get the idea. The fact that the show is crap has nothing to do with anything. Shows within shows seldom are anything but a pretext to hold the story together. Everyone watching this can tell it is THE basis for all those 'a nobody becomes a big star' plots. But, nothing can get you around the terrible acting, comedy, singing and visual talents of the star. Ruby is so outclassed by her costars (Ginger Rogers, to name one) that only the stupid songs distract you from it. Keeler plays this role as if she is on Thorazine. She stumbles through the lines. She has no delivery. She says every line as if she is reading it for the first time and has no idea what is meant to be behind each statement. And, manoman is she a beast to look at. Well, not ugly, exactly, just goofy looking. Those wild eyes, those free-range caterpillars for eyebrows, and that horsey face. Whose idea was it to put her in this production in the first place? My guess? She was sleeping with someone rich, like the star of the 'show within a show', (an actress who should have been given the starring role in this movie; the beastly flick may have been salvaged.)

No Oscar Nomination for Bebe Daniels?

[drednm · 23 June 2005]

Perhaps the greatest musical of them all, this lively Warner Bros film boats a great cast and music and served as the prototype plot for scores of other films. Backstage drama in putting on a show when the star falls and breaks her ankle and must be replaced by a newcomer. It worked in film, and it worked in the Broadway stage version of this film. This film also served as a springboard to stardom for Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, and Ginger Rogers. Warner Baxter stars as the dyspeptic director who harangues his cast into making a great show. Bebe Daniels is his star who is seeing an old boyfriend (George Brent) while stringing along rube producer (Guy Kibbee). Ruby Keeler is the newcomer who has eyes for the show's "juvenile" (Dick Powell) and who is befriended by old hands, Ginger Rogers and Una Merkel. Toss in Ned Sparks, Allen Jenkins, George E. Stone, Louise Beavers, Charles Lane, Lyle Talbot, Henry B. Walthall, and the day's top chorus girl, Toby Wing. Great musical numbers boast the singing talents of Powell and the dancing talents of Keeler. Bebe Daniels also has a great number in "You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me." And Rogers does NOT make a mistake during the "Shuffle Off to Buffalo" number. She starts to say "belly" but changes it to "tummy." It's part of the show, folks! "Belly" was considered to be a vulgar term in 1933; her use of the word shows her character. It's not a mistake. But it is odd that Keeler stars in this number with Clarence Nordstrom rather than Dick Powell. Other songs include "Young and Healthy" and the superb "42nd Street." The best and oft repeated line belongs to Daniels speaking to Keeler: "Now go out there and be so swell …. that you'll make me hate you!" This line is also said by Glenda Jackson to Twiggy in 1971's The Boy Friend.

A chorus line

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 17 December 2010]

"42nd Street", the 1933 film, is a story about showbiz, in which a young lady, without any experience, becomes a sort of Cinderella in a fairy tale that has been delighting audiences whenever it is shown. The atmosphere of Broadway during the depression is the background where the action is set.

Julian Marsh, the talented director, is brought on board for a new show that is having the backing of the rich Abner Dillon, who is a sugar daddy. Dillon assures a great production in which his paramour Dorothy Brock will shine as the star of what is being built as blockbuster. The mere fact that about two hundred people are involved in the production would scare any producer working in the theater today, but in those golden years it was possible.

Peggy Sawyer, a young woman trying to break into musicals, sets her eyes in trying for an audition. She is a lucky girl, indeed, finding a man like Billy Lawler, who is featured in the large cast. Through him, Peggy gets an unexpected lucky break to get in the show. She has a natural talent, but being in the chorus does not guarantee she will get to be seen. When the unexpected happens, Peggy is trusted with the role that will make her a star.

"42nd Street", directed by Lloyd Bacon, is a feel good movie. The film is based on a novel by Bradford Ropes, and adapted for the screen by Rian James and James Seymour, with a choreography designed by Busby Berkeley, the brilliant man that created extravaganzas that involved hundreds giving. It is all about musical theater and the people that made this American unique American genre what it is. The idea of becoming a star overnight has long been explored in other films.

Warner Baxter is the exasperated director with a show to present and not being quite what he wants. Ruby Keeler is Peggy, the sweet naive girl with a lot of dreams. Bebe Daniels appears as Dorothy Brock, the star of the show. George Brent plays Pat Denning, the man in love with Dorothy. Guy Kibbee is the sugar daddy backing the show. Dick Powell has some good moments as Billy. In the large cast we see performers of the stature of Ginger Rogers, Una Merkel, Ned Sparks, Charles Lane, and so many others that are not even credited.

Sol Polito's camera work does wonder to create the right atmosphere and those Busby Berkeley's intricate numbers.

the musical that changed musicals

[TRC-4 · 10/10 · 20 June 2004]

I seem to recall reading/hearing somewhere that movie musicals were becoming less popular in the 1930s. They were, for the most part, creaky messes with poor sound quality. Then came this movie, which you can credit (or blame, depending on whether you like musicals or not) for popularizing them.

The story has been done before now (2004) and was probably done before in 1933. Prima donna gets injured, the ingenue must take her place. All the clichés come out in full force, but with enough enthusiasm that you may find yourself sucked in, depending on how jaded a viewer you are.

The performances are good. Daniels is stunning, and a good actress, and she can sing. We don't get to see her dance too much though. Powell makes a good juvenile lead and sings well. Keeler gets a bit annoying, but that's probably just the character she is playing. She cannot really sing, and I never thought her dancing was that great. I'm a fan of Ginger Rogers though, so I am biased when I wonder how this movie could have catapulted Keeler and Powell to stardom while Rogers had to wait until she was paired with Astaire for her career to take off. After seeing movies starring the likes of Astaire, Rogers, Eleanor Powell, Ann Miller, Gene Kelly, etc. I find Keeler's dancing to be a bit heavy-footed. Not that it is terrible, she does pull the part off well enough. The Busby Berkeley choreography is fabulous--no one did it like he did it. Just never you mind that if the show were actually on a stage the way it is supposed to be in the movie, you wouldn't actually notice the aerial geometric patterns. Still, it is nice to look at. So leave your sense of reality in the other room, pop this movie in your VCR/DVD player, and enjoy!

Glossy for 1933, with a great early Rogers performance!

[gaityr · 7/10 · 4 October 2002]

42ND STREET is a Busby Berkeley musical with a slight but very charming storyline--theatrical director Julian Marsh (Warner Baxter), potential nervous (re)breakdown or no, is determined to go out with a bang. His final stage musical, 'Pretty Lady', simply *has* to be a smash. His female lead is Dorothy Brock (Bebe Daniels), a girl who's torn between the allure of fame (coupled with the unwanted attentions of her agent Abner Dillon, played by Guy Kibbee) and the love of her old vaudevillian partner Pat Denning (George Brent). It takes a few romantic complications and a fractured ankle for Dorothy to finally give up her starring role to young dewy-eyed ingenue Peggy Sawyer (Ruby Keeler), who not only rises to the occasion and delivers a first-class performance, but along the way also finds love with one of the self-acclaimed best juveniles in the business, Billy Lawler (Dick Powell).

As I said, the story is simple... but so is its charm, and it's quite effectively told. We get quick and subtle sketches of the main characters from the very beginning, and are brought into the world of theatrical musical-making in the early 1930s. When we meet the Pretty Lady company, we also get to know a host of secondary characters, such as Loraine Fleming (Una Merkel) and Andy Lee (George E. Stone). Deserving of special mention, however, is Ginger Rogers in her supporting role of Anytime Annie Lowell, who spends most of her time speaking in a faux British accent, wearing a random monocle, and tossing off the best wisecracks in the film. In fact, she practically walks off with the whole of 42ND STREET--her luminous presence in this film, given her small role, is certainly an indication of the far greater things she still had in her future.

Note that the main cast isn't shabby either--Bebe Daniels really makes Dorothy likeable, and pulls off her crabby drunken scene wonderfully. Ruby Keeler is sweet, though she looks awfully as if she's about to fall over asleep a lot of the time. I especially liked Warner Baxter in his role as Marsh: he brings the right level of quiet, barely suppressed desperation to his portrayal of the character, which makes his final scene outside the theatre particularly effective.

The musical numbers at the end are huge and glossy (TM Busby Berkeley), and I love the train/shoe-shine number performed to 'Shuffle Off To Buffalo'. '42nd Street', of course, is massive, with the company carrying body-length placards of NY buildings and the staircase forming a huge skyscraper with Peggy and her co-star on top. It creates a nice contrast with the simple 'practice' number performed by Dorothy and her string of men to my favourite song in the film, 'You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me'.

All in all, a good little film, some great songs, and a great performance by Ginger Rogers. Would rate 7.5/10.

Adorable musical gem retains its charms in the 21st century

[NoirDamedotcom · 10/10 · 23 January 2003]

While a few lines here and there no longer hold their spark, overall, this is a really charming little musical. THE backstage musical.

In her screen debut, it's impossible not to like Ruby Keeler, the stereotypical girl hoofer next door. Keeler had amazing energy -- after retirement and many years raising her family, she returned to Broadway in "No No Nanette". How many 80 year olds do you know who could still tap against the footlights? (As for comparisons between Keeler and wisecracker Ginger Rogers, that's about as silly as comparing Fred Astaire to Gene Kelly. Keeler, like Kelly, had a raw, athletic talent; Astaire, on the other hand, was more of a suave dancer, while Rogers exuded a sexy, spirited appeal.)

The cast is terrific. Warner Baxter seems ready to crack up any second; former silent star Bebe Daniels is classy, likable and vulnerable even in her bitchiest moments. One of her best scenes is during a drunken cast party the night before the musical opens in Philly, when she kicks and screams with abandon, and yet, you can't blame the dame. "When you're in a lady's room, act like one!"

Una Merkel, with Rogers, is hilarious, batting her eyes all over the place.

There's some masculine eye candy, too, when Keeler walks in on Dick"Young & Healthy" Powell in his underwear.

He can hold a great tune, seranading Berkeley's favorite gal, Toby Wing. Wing is so luminous in her spotlight number, it's hard to believe she never broke it wide open, like other former chorus gals Paulette Godard, Betty Grable and Lucille Ball.

George Brent, the blandest of Warners' leading men, is hopelessly miscast as Daniels' old vaudeville companion, but he plays well against Ruby Keeler and Daniels. A sharp little scene with Keeler's Irish landlady underscores the desperate times. Keeler's living on a prayer, living in a small room with a suitcase and not much more.

A great flick for a late evening, or Sunday afternoon.

My only question...

[silent-12 · 7/10 · 17 August 2000]

My only question is this--Why do we have to watch Ruby Keeler dance when Ginger Rogers is standing right there????? Other than that, it's a great film with truly memorable music. I really enjoyed Bebe Daniels' performance.

"Sawyer you're going out a youngster, but you've got to come back a star."

[bkoganbing · 10/10 · 25 November 2005]

In reviewing one of the film versions of The Virginian I said that it was the prototype for all the westerns that were done, where all the clichés started. The same can certainly be said for 42nd Street, THE original backstage musical.

It's also a film that couldn't be made but right in the middle of the Hoover Depression. Today's audiences can certainly appreciate the magic in the Busby Berkeley musical numbers, but the economics of the situation can hardly be grasped. Many shows on Broadway opened and closed fast after the Stock Market crash of 1929 because no one could afford the price of a ticket. A whole lot of the wealthiest producer/ directors on Broadway from Florenz Ziegfeld on down lost plenty of money in that era.

Warner Baxter's producer was such a man. He's lost his shirt in the market and he has to come up with a smash hit for his own economic survival. The cast and crew he assembles to put on the show Pretty Lady are all fighting for their survival. There are plenty of talented people out of work so none of them better mess up.

Guy Kibbee is the sugar daddy and of course his price for financing the show is some kanoodling with star Bebe Daniels. Probably at that point in history his money gives him more power over everyone than would even normally be the case. You really hate Kibbee in this, not because he's mean or vicious, but why should such an obvious fool and oaf control the destiny of so many.

Bebe of course has her problems, a man who taught her the business, but who she left behind in vaudeville while she hit the big time on Broadway. We never do see George Brent do any songs or snappy vaudeville patter, but that's all right because he's believable as the happy go lucky hoofer who might have been big time if he had the breaks.

And of course the youngsters, Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler, playing in their first film together. Powell has one big number, Young and Healthy, but it's on Keeler that the plot really turns.

I suppose the real star of this film is Busby Berkeley who's vision of kaleidoscopic chorus girls came into real fruition here. The Depression story is dated, but Berkeley's musical numbers, Young and Healthy, Shuffle Off to Buffalo, and 42nd Street are eternal. That and all the clichés about putting on a Broadway show that became standard in films for generations.

Baxter's driven producer/director, Daniels' egotistic star, Brent's vaudeville hoofer, Kibbee's moronic businessman backer, and eager hopefuls Powell and Keeler became clichéd characters in a dozen films any movie fan could name.

But it all started here folks, it all started with 42nd Street.

BREAK A LEG.

[DukeEman · 7/10 · 16 February 2003]

Backstage yarn with love affairs, sexual innuendos, an anxious director, the depression, a sleazy financier, long lushes legs, great dance numbers, some witty one liners and "break a leg kid!". Oh yes, to top it all off, a wonderful stage production.

One of the best movies about putting on a musical

[netwallah · 8/10 · 1 July 2006]

An amusing "let's produce a musical" movie, with a big ensemble cast and dance routines by the inimitable Busby Berkeley. Warner Baxter is Julian Marsh, a desperate, hard-pressed producer with (melodramatically secret) failing health. His star, Dorothy Brock (Bebe Daniels) is in love with her old vaudeville partner Pat Denning (George Brock), but she's the project of Kiddycar tycoon Abner Dillon (Guy Kibbee, who does a fine befuddled fellow of a certain age). Una Merkel and Ginger Rogers play chorus girls—and Rogers manages to steal a lot of small scenes with her quick wisecrack delivery. Dick Powell plays the juvenile lead, with a crush on new chorus girl Peggy Sawyer (Ruby Keeler). There's something wrong with Powell's face: his upper lip is too long, his chin is too short, his eyes are too sparkly, and generally he's too eager to please. Keeler has puppydog eyes and a pleasant face but not much of an acting or singing voice. Ned Sparks, who in a top-hat and cigar looks a lot like the untrustworthy companion in the Little Nemo comics, has a wonderful grimace and double-take. For much of the film they're working on the play in the theatre, and Daniels sings a lot of songs, but she's on the downward track—she breaks an ankle and cannot go on—while Keeler is heading up. It's an interesting way of having two stars share one stage role. And both the Ginger Rogers and the Bebe Daniels characters act unselfishly in the end, promoting and supporting the new girl. There's just enough sappy melodrama between the song and dance numbers to please those who require such things. And there are some great quick shots of old New York, a busy grey aerial shot of skyscrapers, a series of street signs from 42nd street intersections. The songs are mostly not very memorable, but "Shuffle Off to Buffalo" and the title song seem to have lasted. The best part of the movie has to be the stage settings and the Berkeley routines. For the honeymoon "Shuffle" routine, after the newlyweds sing from what appears to be the back platform of a train, the whole thing splits in half and opens 180 degrees into a cutaway railway car. In a pre-code bit of suggestibility, the new bride thrusts her arm through the sleeper curtains to drop them where the porter can get them and give them a good brushing--and the arm jerks, rises, and then sinks languorously, dropping the shoes and lingering... And there are some lovely dances on slowly turning, glossy black platforms. And in the finale, the whole cast seems to mount a set of steps or bleachers, their backs to the audience and carrying dark skyline cutouts. Then, all at once, they turn and each one holds up a painted skyscraper. A wonderful effect, the dancing buildings. It strikes me that Busby Berkeley's heritage has passed partly to film directors like Terry Gilliam whose artificial sets melt into verisimilitude, as in Baron Munchausen, and the artist Red Grooms.

Dancing in style

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 18 December 2018]

Julian Marsh is broke because of the Wall Street Crash. In ill health the Broadway director wants to stage a hit show to get enough money to retire on.

Abner Dillon is the money man for the show. A rich older man who likes the perks of the casting couch and he wants his amorous ways with the star of the show, Dorothy Brock.

Dorothy leads the producer on but she has eyes for someone else. The night before the show, Dorothy breaks injures her ankle and Peggy Sawyer the chorus girl is elevated to the main role.

Thes story is now cliched, it was for the time risque, it is hinted some girls would do anything to get a role on the show.

What makes the film stand out and you have to wait a while for it is the Busby Berkeley choreographed musical numbers. Extravagantly staged sets and dances in a kaleidoscopic style with the use of overhead cameras.

A Tepid, Dull Film

[osloj · 1/10 · 6 September 2006]

This is a tepid, dull film that doesn't have anything very important found within it.

The actors are extremely unbelievable in the shoddy one dimensional roles and what we learn is that people treated everyone with extreme cruelty in the 1930's, as if they owned everyone. Nothing has changed eh?

There's plenty of shouting, to no effect, plenty of dismal one line jokes, and an extreme amount of overacting, not to mention a denigration of women as objects.

The script is horrendous, it's the type of common and ordinary story telling found at boringly repetitious big studios only trying to make a buck.

The small plot seems to have been written by someone under contract at one of the big movie studios (no character development, no complicated interactions, no involved dialogue).

I just could not believe the amount of exemplary praise this movie receives from everyone; it's entirely average and lackluster.

The ending was rather forced and seemed incomplete, divulging absolutely nothing at all to the audience except to believe that the "show was a hit".

The music montages were sung by out of tune jokers about "love & train hopping".

What I can substantiate is that people were pretty mindless in the 1930's and only sought some amount of cheap distraction such as this, much like audiences of today.

Avoid at all costs.