Rent 42nd Street (1933)
3.7 of 5 from 103 ratings
1h 26min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Meet a dewy-eyed ingenue, a gee-whiz tenor, stuck-up stars, hard-up producers, brassy blondes and "shady ladies from the 80s". They're all denizens of 42nd Street, belting out ageless Harry Warren/Al Dubin songs and tapping out Busby Berkeley's sensational Depression - lifting production numbers. The put-on-a-show plot spins merrily, full of snappy banter and new faces Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell and Ginger Rogers. The show-stopping numbers (Shuffle off to Buffalo, You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me and the title tune) still dazzle. Looking and sounding its best in years via this new digital transfer from the restored original camera negative and optical audio tracks, 42nd Street shows good times never go out of style. - Actors:
- Warner Baxter, Bebe Daniels, George Brent, Ruby Keeler, Guy Kibbee, Una Merkel, Ginger Rogers, Ned Sparks, Dick Powell, Allen Jenkins, Edward J. Nugent, Robert McWade, George E. Stone
- Directors:
- Lloyd Bacon
- Writers:
- Rian James, James Seymour
- Others:
- Nathan Levinson
- Studio:
- Warner
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama, Music & Musicals
- Collections:
- 10 Films to Watch if You Like: West Side Story, A History of Cinemas in Films, Dancing Queens: Guide to the Musical Films That'll, Fred and Ginger: Duets and Solos, Introducing the Thesping Olympians, Romantic Film Pairings for Valentine's Day
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Reviews (2) of 42nd Street
Ultimate Chorus Line Musical. - 42nd Street review by Steve
The greatest ever backstage musical offers a vicarious glimpse of life on Broadway in the thirties while also reflecting the hardship of the depression. It is one of the the great films about the depression because it approaches it obliquely and through the genre conventions of the musical, avoiding the sanctimony that is sometimes the Hollywood way with serious social issues.
It's quite a realistic chorus line story with characters who would become archetypes: the lecherous financier (Guy Kibbee); the hardboiled, stage director (Warner Baxter), under pressure and giving the company hell; the sassy, wisecracking, starving dancers led by Ginger Rogers and Una Merkel. Bebe Daniels is the hot tempered diva; Dick Powell the pretty, romantic juvenile.
And of course, as the ingenue who gets her chance when the star goes down lame, Ruby Keeler. In the immortal words of Warner Baxter: 'Sawyer, you're going out a youngster but you've got to come back a star!'. The punchy, sassy dialogue is a treat. OK, Keeler dances like a horse, she's overweight and her acting is little more than enthusiastic, but, who cares. So much else is wonderful.
This is Warners so we get unpretentious proletariat scenarios. But the last three numbers, are gloriously staged by legendary dance director Busby Berkley in his expressionist style. Shuffle Off to Buffalo, Young and Healthy, and the showstopping 42nd Street. The title song is immortal, and Berkley's living tableau of the Great White Way channels a metropolitan mythology which remains rich and joyous.
5 out of 5 members found this review helpful.
Fast and entertaining - 42nd Street review by CP Customer
Captures the spirit of the times. The speech is fast and the action entertaining, but hugely enjoyable.
2 out of 2 members found this review helpful.