42nd Street

Lloyd Bacon, USA, 1933, 89 minutes

42nd Street

Come one, come all to the ritzy, glitzy world of the Broadway musical, with an ailing impresario (played by Warner Baxter) planning one last big show to go out on. But as ever with such things, it’s not all singing and dancing. The production is fraught with problems, not least of which being that the financier of Julian Marsh’s last hurrah is in love with the star of the show, a love that sadly for him is not returned, as the dancer is in love with her former partner on the boards. The film also juxtaposes the ‘on stage’ and ‘off stage’ elements of life in a Broadway company, let’s not forget this is the era of America’s Great Depression: the chorus line girls are lucky to have jobs and they know it. But while they work hard backstage, the razzle-dazzle comes out in the Busby Berkeley choreographed dance sequences we see, which are a pure delight, with sumptuous sets and a vast number of dancers, including a pre-Fred Astaire Ginger Rogers. Those dancers though face a lot of hard graft if their theatre production is ever to be a success, but perhaps it is all for nothing when star dancer Dorothy breaks her leg the day before opening night, leaving young naïve understudy Peggy (Ruby Keeler) to take the role.

This is a gem from the golden era of big-screen musicals, nominated for the Best Picture Oscar in 1934 and remaining an incredible spectacle even today, a glamorous document of the beginnings of an entire genre. By 1933, the musical had become blasé. Just having sound in your film was no longer enough – audiences demanded more. This movie helped turn that around, combining plot and dancing and being aware of the importance of the former, whilst making sure that the latter was flawless. In doing so, it helped shape the sound film industry, then still in its infancy. As if that wasn’t enough, it was the success of this film which saved Warner Brothers from bankruptcy, so perhaps we owe it much, much more than we think .

Review by Ben Critchley
Written for EUFS Programme Autumn 2006