|
Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
In this opulent, fabulous musical from director Mervyn
LeRoy with large-scale Busby Berkeley production numbers at the height
of his creative genius in the early 30s - this was the second Warner
Bros. backstage musical of 1933:
- in the opening number, the sight of chorine Fay
Fortune (Ginger Rogers) wearing a skimpy, glittering coin-covered
costume and singing in pig-Latin (just undecipherable nonsense
syllables set to the music that was a fad at the time) with other
coin-covered chorines dancing to "We're In the Money" with
massive money-related sets and over-sized coins
"We're in the Money"
|
|
|
- the exquisitely-choreographed, elaborate "Shadow
Waltz" production number in which neon-lighted dancers created
elaborate, glow-in-the-dark geometric shapes -- highlighted by
a gigantic white violin formed by the dancers in an overhead shot,
complete with a strumming bow and violins illuminated by neon tubing
"Shadow Waltz"
|
|
|
- also the naughty pre-Code "Petting in the Park" number
featuring straw-hatted men romancing chorines on a lawn - with
the camera leering at their crossed legs and petticoats, followed
by a drenching rainstorm forcing the chorines to provocatively
strip in silhouette behind a transparent screen as a lascivious,
leering young boy (midget Billy Barty) pulled up the screen
- the most-remembered, show-stopping finale number,
introducing streetwalking prostitute Carol King (Joan Blondell) under
a street lampost, saluting the unemployed, poverty-stricken war veterans
suffering from the Depression who demanded to be paid a $1,000 bonus
promised in 1925, with other affected tenement housewives in the
sobering song "Remember My Forgotten Man" - concluding
with silhouettes of marching soldiers (on a half-wheel)
|
"Petting in the Park"
"Remember My Forgotten Man"
|