42nd Street (1933)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Lloyd Bacon

Writers:

Rian James (screenplay) &
James Seymour (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

11 March 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Musical | Romance | Drama

Plot:

A producer puts on what may be his last Broadway show, and at the last moment a chorus girl has to replace the star...

Plot Keywords:

Director | Chorus Girl | Broken Ankle | Opening Night | Jealousy

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 1 win

Cast

Warner Baxter	...	Julian Marsh
Bebe Daniels	...	Dorothy Brock
George Brent	...	Pat Denning
Ruby Keeler	...	Peggy Sawyer
Guy Kibbee	...	Abner Dillon
Una Merkel	...	Lorraine Fleming
Ginger Rogers	...	Ann
Ned Sparks	...	Barry
Dick Powell	...	Billy Lawler
Allen Jenkins	...	Mac Elroy
Edward J. Nugent	...	Terry
Robert McWade	...	Jones
George E. Stone	...	Andy Lee

Also Known As:

Forty-Second Street (USA) (alternative spelling)

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Argentina:Atp | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #2718-R: 26 September 1936 for re-release) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | UK:U | Australia:G

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Lyle Talbot is listed in a modern source for the role of "Geoffrey Waring," but he did not appear.

Goofs:

Continuity: The opening credits say "COPYRIGHT MCMXXXIII [1933]," but the closing credits say "COPYRIGHT MCMXXXII [1932]".

Quotes:

Loraine: You remember Anne Lowell?
Andy Lee: Not Anytime Annie? Say, who could forget 'er? She only said "No" once, and THEN she didn't hear the question!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Hair-Raising Hare (1946)

Soundtrack:

Shuffle Off to Buffalo

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

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.