Review of Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) by Edith N — 17 Mar 2009

So too bad for Gold Diggers that I saw Footlight Parade firstâ??if I had, Iâ??d probably have liked it better. Then again, it came out a year after Footlight Parade, so my disappointment was, for once, historically accurate.

Itâ??s a cute enough storyâ??Ruby Keeler, an out of work showgirl who rooms with a few others like herself, is in love with the mysterious songwriter who lives across the way. Heâ??s in love with her too, and everything is looking up when the girlâ??s old producer shows up to say heâ??s putting on a new showâ??right in the middle of the Depression! He hears the neighborâ??s songs and decides to have him write the show; everyoneâ??s terribly excited until they realize they donâ??t have any funding.

But the mystery man shows up with $10,000, and wonâ??t say where he got it. He also wonâ??t perform onstage, opposite his girlfriend, even though he has a better voice than the juvenile theyâ??ve cast in the production.

. . until thereâ??s a show business emergency and he has to go on. Once he does, we find out why he was so mysteriousâ??heâ??s filthy rich, and his family doesnâ??t want him in show business. To thwart his controlling older brother, though, Rubyâ??s two roommates cook up a scheme to trick the stick-in-the-mud and his old lawyer into falling in love with them, with some mixed identities thrown in for good measure.

Their plan works, and everyone finishes off happily in love, but what good is that without fifty dancing girls comprising a â??human waterfall,â?? like they do in Footlight Parade? Exactly. Trash. Cagney has spoiled me so terribly!