Excellent but underrated film

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

When I'm in the right mood I think of THE GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 as the best musical ever made. Mostly I find its tonal shifts a bit incoherent for that high honor, but GOLD DIGGERS is at least a strong contender.For my money, a great musical ought to have a great original musical score (sorry SINGING IN THE RAIN) and beyond that ought to be of real interest even in the absence of its music. I don't mean that we're looking for Hamlet or King Lear, such complexity would probably make successful musical integration impossible, but a clever treatment of a solid subject will do. GOLD DIGGERS presents us with a sharp comedy of errors book-ended by a pair of serious production numbers. 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. Those numbers are a slight advance on 42nd STREET's, more consistently elaborate and spread out within the picture, which was probably a good idea. The opening number, springing immediately from the opening credits, seems as merry and frivolous as they come until its conclusion is cut off by a sheriff's repossession, giving us a textbook example for the word 'ironic'. There remain serious undertones through the nice expository scenes in the girls' apartment which follow, but the movie soon shifts to pure comedy, and the musical numbers along with it (especially the deliriously surreal 'Pettin' in the Park'). Once the comical confusions have been cleared up the ultimate 'Forgotten Man' number comes nearly out of nowhere (Ned Sparks had given us slight anticipation for it much earlier on). Its relevance to recent events in 1933 is clear (WW I vets had been promised bonuses for their old age. Given the economic circumstances, they had demanded the bonuses immediately and marched on Washington in protest, camping out there for quite some time. Eventually the government ordered the military, under Douglas MacArthur as it happened, to clear them out, and this was done violently. It shook a lot of people up, referenced here by Joan Blondell's memorable glare towards the cop telling the homeless veteran to move on, but it doesn't seem to have much to do with the movie we've just seen so far as I could tell).The Forgotten Man number is brilliant, however, and so had been the movie that we had just watched. Aline MacMahon and Guy Kibbee are particularly funny, Warren William does well in the thankless role of the straight man to everybody's jokes, Ginger Rogers gives further proof of her versatility as she projects pure vanity perfectly. It's unfortunate that she nearly disappears from the movie early on (and for that matter, Keeler practically disappears from it once the Willam/Kibbee-Blondell/MacMahon plot takes center stage). Ginger actually filmed a very bluesy/sad version of 'I've Got To Sing A Torch Song' which must have been meant for sometime around the scene when Trixie threw Fay out of that nightclub for coming on to 'Fanny'. The film seems to have disappeared though for those interested the sound track can be heard on Youtube. It would have given a twist to the character of Fay, a one-noter as she now exists.THE GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 may not be the best of all possible musicals, but if someone were to ask me for the most representative film from Hollywood in the 1930s, GOLD DIGGERS would be the one.

After maybe about 15 years, I finally got to watch Gold Diggers of 1933 again and boy, it's even better than I remembered it! First off, there's the wonderfully fantastic opening number "We're in the Money" as warbled by Ginger Rogers in a skimpy coins costume especially as she also sings it in Pig Latin making it such an iconic scene to this day (I also remember it being presented as a lottery commercial in Jacksonville, Florida, when I lived there during the '90s). Then after the rehearsal is closed because of lack of funds, producer Ned Sparks then, months later, proposes to the other chorus girls a show about the Depression of which songwriter Dick Powell already has a song for but no words yet. By the way, the other girls are Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon, and Ruby Keeler. Also, Sparks says a couple of ironic lines like "Cancel my contract with Warren and Dubin!" of which he meant the songwriting team of Harry and Al who wrote all the songs in this movie, and then comparing the team of Powell and Keeler to the Astaires on Broadway of which one of them, Fred, would eventually find a new partner in Ms. Rogers, who was in this scene, at RKO later in the year. There's also Warren William and Guy Kibbee in support of which the latter plays a similar role here as he did in 42nd Street except here, he's not in charge of the finances of the show nor does he ever realize he's being used by Ms. MacMahon. Oh, and while Ms. Rogers eventually became his new ingénue in 42nd Street, here she never gets the chance! Oh, and as a fan of It's a Wonderful Life, I have to note that Charles Lane, who was the one who told Mr. Potter about George Bailey's plans for Bailey Park, was the writer in 42nd Street and is the society reporter here who finds out about Dick Powell's real-life status. Powell, himself, is quite fine here whether singing "Pettin' in the Park" with Keeler-hey, get a load of 9-year old Billy Barty pulling the curtains as those girls are dressing up!-or being involved in the machinations of humiliating brother William. As for Berkeley, well, he tops himself here with not only the "Money" number but also another one involving neon violins and then there's the "Forgotten Man" number as first recited in spoken word by Ms. Blondell before segueing to Etta Molen singing those same words as we see many former World War I soldiers marching in the rain before those same men then end up on long lines at the soup kitchen before Joan then sings (through Marian Anderson's voice) the harrowing coda. Very powerful number to end a movie and it still feels heartbreaking just remembering it. So with all that, Gold Diggers of 1933 is not only still very funny and entertaining, it's also something worth thinking about when one remembers the era it was made and set in...

One of the lead girls doing the gold digging says she is not "cheap and vulgar" after accepting a check for $10,000 but not cashing it. The man who wrote the check is holding her in his arms and says he'll kiss her every time she says "cheap and vulgar", so she says it over and over and he kisses her each time. That expression is so dated, I thought it was pretty funny. Is English especially rich in expressions for "bad" girls? What is a bad girl? One who enjoys sex? If a woman accepts gifts from a man then dumps him, I think, in modern times, the man is considered to be a fool, the woman is not bad. Anyway, I though the use of this phrase was great, a glimpse into morals and attitudes of the past. Right now, I'm going to go out and look for some "cheap and vulgar" women. They sound like fun! Oh, the rest of the movie? It was great too. I agreed with everybody else who liked it.

This masterpiece from 1933 is one of the best examples I've seen of early Hollywood exploitation, although by today's standards if you didn't already know it was controversial at the time you probably wouldn't notice. With the introduction of the talkies in the late 1920's, Hollywood seemed unable to control various movies using subtle innuendos, and actresses displaying a bit more skin than they should until the Hays Code came into full force in 1934, which enforced the boundaries as to what was deemed acceptable on screen. Gangsters profited from crime, women displayed their legs, and in the case of Gold Diggers Of 1933, women used their sexuality to conquer men and gain what they wanted.Set during the Depression, it follows a quartet of stage dancers after their show is stopped due to the creative director failing to pay the bills. Things look on the up when the girls are asked to return for a brand new show, which would tackle the effects of the Depression on the common man and the state of the country. The enthusiastic director Barney (Ned Sparks) overhears the girls' neighbour Brad (Dick Powell) crooning a tune playing his piano, and invites him to play more tunes and eventually write the score for the upcoming 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. The second seeing fellow dancers Carol (Joan Blondell) and Trixie's (Aline MacMahon) attempts to squeeze as much cash as possible out of Barney's upper-class brother Lawrence (a brilliant Warren William) and bumbling Peabody (Guy Kibbee). The first is a masterclass of beautiful stage numbers, fantastic songs, and good old-fashioned escapism. The second is where the film hits full stride, providing laugh out loud situations and some verbal comedy that wouldn't look out place today, as the girls flirt with and tease the old men as we cheer them on. 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. It's a beautiful moment and really sums up the era. It offers an insight into the whole Pre-Code Hollywood movement, where people would go to the cinema to escape their everyday struggles to see an actress like Blondell revealing a bit more leg than she should, or a Pre-Code veteran such as Warren William sneer his way through some juicy lines and villainous roles. It gave the general public that little something extra to get excited about.This is a film that has everything, and if you can track it down I would urge you to see it. It's a fascinating time capsule, and even has a very early role for Ginger Rogers as the flirty Fay. It has also been entered into the National Film Registry for preservation by the Library of Congress. A must-see.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com