Gold Diggers of 1933
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| Gold Diggers of 1933 | |
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 Theatrical Poster |
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| Directed by | Mervyn LeRoy |
| Produced by | Robert Lord Jack L. Warner |
| Written by | Story: Avery Hopwood Screenplay: Erwin S. Gelsey James Seymour Ben Markson David Boehm |
| Starring | Warren William Joan Blondell Aline MacMahon Ruby Keeler |
| Cinematography | Sol Polito |
| Editing by | George Amy |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | May 27, 1933 |
| Running time | 96 minutes |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Gold Diggers of 1933 is an American musical film directed by Mervyn LeRoy with choreography by Busby Berkeley.[1] It stars Ruby Keeler, Ginger Rogers, Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon and Dick Powell. The story is based on the very successful Technicolor musical comedy Gold Diggers of Broadway, which had been the biggest box office hit of 1929.
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[edit] Plot
The central characters are four aspiring actresses: Polly the ingenue (Keeler), Carol the torch singer (Blondell), Trixie the comedienne (MacMahon) and Fay the glamourpuss (Rogers). The film was made in 1933 at the nadir of the Great Depression and contains numerous direct references to it.
The film begins with a rehearsal for a stage show featuring the song "We're in the Money" (sung by Rogers), which is subsequently broken up by the producer's creditors who close down the theatre due to unpaid bills.
At the unglamorous apartment shared by three of the four starlets (Polly, Carol, and Trixie), the producer, Barney Hopkins (Ned Sparks), is in despair. Then he encounters Brad Roberts (Powell), their neighbour, and lover of Polly. Brad is a brilliant composer and singer and has not only written music for a show, but also provides Hopkins with $15,000 in cash to support it.
The show goes into production, but the girls are suspicious that Brad must be a criminal since he is cagey about his past. It transpires, however, that he is in fact a millionaire's son whose family does not want him associating with the theatre. Brad is then forced to play the lead role on stage when the original actor drops out (and we see an extremely suggestive-for-its-time musical number, "Petting in the Park", featuring a lecherous midget played by Billy Barty). Because of the resulting publicity, Brad's brother, J. Lawrence Bradford (Warren William) and the family lawyer, Fanuel H. Peabody (Guy Kibbee) discover what he is doing, and arrive in New York to prevent him from being seduced by "gold diggers."
Lawrence however mistakenly assumes that Carol is actually Polly, his brother's fiancée, and his heavy-handed effort to dissuade the "cheap and vulgar" showgirl from marrying Brad by buying her off annoys her so much that she goes along with the gag in order to eventually pull the rug out from under him. Trixie meanwhile targets Fanuel as the perfect rich sap ripe for exploitation. But what starts as gold-digging turns into something else, and when the dust settles, Carol and Lawrence are in love and Trixie marries Fanuel, while Brad is free to marry Polly after all. All the "gold diggers" (except Fay) therefore end up married to wealthy men.
The film concludes with Brad singing "Shadow Waltz", followed by Carol singing "Remember My Forgotten Man" a song about the poor treatment of war veterans, in a set that depicts the poverty of the Depression.
[edit] Musical sequences
The film contains four song and dance sequences choregraphed by Busby Berkeley.
"We're in the Money" is sung by Ginger Rogers accompanied by showgirls dancing with giant coins. Rogers sings one verse in Pig Latin.
"Petting in the Park" is sung by Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell. It includes a tap dance from Keeler and a surreal sequence featuring dwarf actor Billy Barty as a baby who escapes from his perambulator.
"Shadow Waltz" is sung by Powell and features a dance of female violinists with neon violins that glow in the dark.
"Remember My Forgotten Man" features sets influenced by German Expressionism and a gritty evocation of Depression-era poverty.
[edit] Cast
- Warren William as Lawrence Bradford
- Joan Blondell as Carol King
- Aline MacMahon as Trixie Lorraine
- Ruby Keeler as Polly Parker
- Dick Powell as Brad Roberts
- Guy Kibbee as Faneul H. Peabody
- Ned Sparks as Barney Hopkins
- Ginger Rogers as Fay Fortune
[edit] Awards
Nominations
- Academy Awards: Oscar; Best Sound, Recording, Nathan Levinson (sound director); 1934.
Other distinguishments
- In 2003 the film was selected for preservation by the United States National Film Registry.
