42nd Street (1933) - film review

In 1932, with America in the Satanic grip of the Great Depression, work for singers and dancers is hard to come by.  So, when Broadway producers Jones and Barry announce that they are putting on a new show entitled Pretty Lady, there is a virtual stampede to the auditions.  The great Julian Marsh is hired to director the show.  Not yet recovered from a nervous breakdown, Marsh is desperate for a success, having lost all his money in the Wall Street Crash.  The show’s main backer, Abner Dillon, insists that his girlfriend Dorothy Brock will play the leading role.  He doesn’t yet know that Dorothy is secretly dating another man, Pat Denning, and when he does find out he almost cancels the show.  Then, on opening night, disaster strikes, when Dorothy sprains her ankle.  The show’s juvenile, Billy Lawler, suggests that one of the chorus line girls, Peggy Sawyer, should take Dorothy’s place.   Marsh is sceptical but has no choice.  If Peggy fails to deliver, his career will be over and 200 people will be out of a job...

A film that is still highly regarded today, 42nd Street was the first, and one of the best, of the great Hollywood film musicals.  It is the defining backstage musical and inspired a long series of imitations.  Several film musicals had been made prior to this, but, partly because of the poor quality of the sound technology at the time, these had not proven to be successful.   42nd Street was the film that broke the mould, a major box office hit that recouped its production cost ($400,000) almost ten times over.

The reason for the film’s popularity is not hard to see.  Made at the height of the Great Depression, it offers ninety minutes of ebullient escapist fun, a welcome distraction from the economic gloom that hung over America like a vulture-shaped storm cloud, and a statement of hope that the good times might soon be back again.  The film was directed by Lloyd Bacon, a last minute replacement when Mervyn LeRoy, who was originally signed up to direct the film, fell ill.   Under Bacon’s effective and imaginative direction, the film captures both the strenuous ordeal of the rehearsals needed for a stage show and the drama that is simultaneously taking place backstage.

The film has some notable performances.  Dick Powell appears in one of the early song and dance roles that made him a major Hollywood star, Warner Baxter puts in a superlative performance as a brutal and self-destructive stage director, Ruby Keeler (better known as Mrs Al Jolson) makes her film debut, in a role where her lack of talent is not a handicap, and Ginger Rogers does her Erich von Stroheim impression.

The artistic highpoint of this extraordinary film is the series of spectacular dance routines at its conclusion.  These were directed by the legendary choreographer Busby Berkeley, who is famous for his complex geometric dances which, when shot from above, resembled the dizzying patterns of a kaleidoscope.  Harry Warren and Al Dubin supplied the film’s toe-tapping songs which include "Shuffle Off to Buffalo",  "I’m Young and Healthy" and, of course, the celebrated title number  "42nd Street".

Encouraged by the enormous success of 42nd Street, Warner Brothers immediately commissioned another film in exactly the same mould – Gold Diggers of 1933.  This equally popular follow up had most of the same cast and crew, but offered some even bigger musical numbers.

© James Travers 2008

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