Review of 42nd Street (1933) by Lianne . — 29 Mar 2006

[b][color=white]42nd Street[/color][/b] (1933, Bacon) :

This pre-Production Code "backstage" musical is the film that saved the genre and destroyed any hopes of a renaissance of Jolson's "mammy" singing. At times, the plot is very similar to Powell and Pressburger's [b][color=white]The Red Shoes[/color][/b], in that its about an aspiring dancer Peggy Sawyer (Ruby Keeler) who is plucked from the crowd and driven to new heights by a tempermental svengali (Warner Baxter). What saves this film from being merely average is the film's extraordinary last fifteen minutes that are choreographed and directed by the legendary Busby Berkley. Here Berkley throws out all the rules in creating a theatre performance that is overtly cinematic in its mathematical overhead shots and sweeping crane movements, which were designed to exploit the maximum potential of the cinematic medium. The film should also be noted for not only the major start for Dick Powell and Ginger Rogers, but also for its cheeky humour that's filled with heavy sexual innuendo. The sweeping low-angle camera shot through the spread legs of a line of dancers to reveal Dick Powell's naughty grin sums up the film's bawdy suggestive style perfectly.

B+ (8/10).

[more to be added later].