No. 5: Gold Diggers of 1933 (LeRoy)

Remember that this is my own personal ballot and not the final compiled ballot that will be posted in this space on 2/29/12.


(And, by the way, we are now eight days from the deadline and I have still not received ballots from many of you.  The deadline is the 31st.  Please get a ballot in to me if you have not already.  You do not have to do it on facebook if you do not want to.  Send your ballot to me at my email, mavis.mike@gmail.com.  Thanks.)

Some years back, Renee and I wanted to see some films from the Pacific Film Archive's Pre-Code Festival, notably, Baby Face.  But on that day we had trouble finding parking (Trouble finding parking on the Cal campus? Go figure, right?) and arrived too late to get tickets. No big deal.  We got a bite to eat and saw Night Nurse, which played later, instead.  But whilst there I picked up a festival program and noticed that they were showing Gold Diggers of 1933 later in the week.

So we went back to Berkeley a few days later to see it.  I do not know how many of you folks have seen movies at the Pacific Film Archive (PFA) but it is not at all like going to a Movieplex.  The screens are smallish, there is no popcorn or soda, and the chairs are hard with swinging writing desks attached.  It is a scholastic environment.  Not the ideal setting for watching a lavish musical-comedy.

But that is how good Gold Diggers of 1933 is, it plays brilliantly in any theater space.  I can not tell you how many musical-comedies I have seen where all the emphasis and talent ends up on the musical side and the comedy  part is an afterthought, or just not funny.  Not here.  Director, Mervyn LeRoy, the screenwriters, and the fabulous cast (notably Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon, Guy Kibbee, and Ginger Rogers) all do a masterful job at making this an extremely funny movie.

But this movie hits on all cylinders.  Gold Diggers came out during the height of the Depression, so not only was the aim to entertain audiences with stunning intricate dance sequences, great songs, naughty sexuality, and laughs, it was also to remind folks out there that times are hard and that we all need to pitch in together, look out for our fellow man, and get our country back on track.  (Warner Brothers, who produced the picture, were massive FDR boosters, even including a giant plug for him and the New Deal in another Busby Berkeley musical, Footlight Parade.)

Still, the absolute genius masterstroke of this "musical-comedy" is the ending.  After the traditional Double Wedding resolution has been achieved they show one last musical number, "My Forgotten Man".  All the musical numbers were directed and choreographed by the cinematic legend, Busby Berkeley.  The "My Forgotten Man" sequence starts with Joan Blondell giving a homeless veteran a smoke.  Then lamenting the plight of all the soldiers returning from the Great War, who are mostly homeless, jobless, of ill health and/or debilitated, with no hope for the future.  The superb Etta Moten takes over the song from here in an heart-rending bluesy style (Ms Moten sang "My Forgotten Man" at the White House in 1934, at FDR's personal request) before Berkeley hauls his soldier "dancers" out.  The soldiers leave for war on one treadmill, confetti everywhere, and people cheering.  But soon we see soldiers coming from the other direction on another treadmill.  The confetti and crowds are all gone and the soldiers are all bloodied, bandaged, and wrecked from the War. The number wraps up with Blondell and the soldier's chorus reprising the song.  Then a dolly to a close-up of Blondell as she finishes the song and then the title card, The End.  That is it.  No return to the Double Wedding characters.  The End.  It is like a giant, heavy door being slammed shut.

I have seen a lot of Depression-era Pre-Code movies.  It is prob my fave period for films.  There is nothing that even comes close, in my eyes, to Gold Diggers of 1933 for being the absolute perfect, entertaining, yet thoughtful and serious, motion picture entertainment for those times.  (Make Way For Tomorrow comes closest, I would say.)

And hell! The way things are in this country right now, I contend that Gold Diggers of 1933 plays just as good today as it did seventy-nine years ago.

Top 5 quotes, moments from Gold Diggers of 1933:

1.  "My Forgotten Man" number
2.  Aline MacMahon, Guy Kibbee, and Ginger Rogers' hilarious night club scene
3.  "Petting in the Park" number
4.  Ginger Rogers singing "We're in the Money" in pig latin
5.  "Shadow Waltz" number



(Honestly, I do not know what clip to show here.  Should I go with My Forgotten Man? The naughty, sexy Petting in the Park? The lovely Shadow Waltz? We're in the Money? I have posted so many sexy things lately I will skip Petting in the Park.  You can watch it on You Tube yourself.  But I am going to include the other three.  A movie clip bonanza!)

Kisses,
xxxoooxxx.

Ardent