Gold Diggers of 1933

Christina Wehner

Gold_Diggers_1933_posterI still can’t decide what I actually think of Busby Berkely. Do I enjoy his work? I can’t decide. He doesn’t choreograph dances, he creates vast kaleidoscopic arrangements of people, specifically chorus girls. They are dances firmly in the fantasy realm that could never have actually been performed on a stage. Sometimes I think I am more in awe of his mind than I am of his actual dance sequences. How does he think of these things?! Sometimes I get frustrated, because I miss the flow and grace and energy of real dancing, but he is certainly unforgettable.

1933 was the pinnacle year for Warner Bros. musicals, starting with 42nd Street – the musical that revived movie musicals as a viable and profitable film genre – and including Footlight Parade and Gold Diggers of 1933. They all have much the same cast, the same choreographer, the same songwriters. They were also all…

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