Swing Time

Swing Time

RKO

August 27, 1936

Musical, Romance, Crime Comedy

DVD
C+

While some of the songs and dances are great, I was not happy with the script, with gambling, cheating, and dishonesty presented sympathetically.  And that's without getting into the blackface "tribute."  There are better Fred & Ginger movies, but this one is all right to pass the time.  George Stevens directed, before Gunga Din and Shane.

Shall We Dance (1937)

Shall We Dance (1937)

RKO

May 7, 1937

Musical
DVD
C+

The plotting is pretty bad here, and not in a fun fever-dream sort of way, like in Flying Down to Rio, more in a "Are we supposed to forgive all this behavior?" sort of way.  Still, the songs and dances are justifiably famous, and I think this movie is worth watching once, maybe twice.  Mark Sandrich directed.

The Barkleys of Broadway

The Barkleys of Broadway
MGM
May 4, 1949
Musical
DVD
C

Fred and Ginger reunite after ten years to play a bickering married show-biz couple.  I was rooting for the magic to happen but this is actually on a level with 1939's The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (reviewed here https://reviewingeverymovieiown.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-story-of-vernon-and-irene-castle.html).  At least it was nice to glimpse Billie Burke outside of The Wizard of Oz.

Sidney Sheldon was an uncredited contributor to the Comden & Green screenplay.  Charles Walters directed.

42nd Street

42nd Street
Warner Bros
March 11, 1933
Musical
DVD
B-

Cast I recognize:

• Louise Beavers as Pansy, Dorothy's Maid
• Ruby Keeler as Peggy Sawyer
• The never-aging Charles Lane (seriously, this guy looked much the same in the '70s) as the Author of Pretty Lady
• Una Merkel as Lorraine Fleming
• Dick Powell as Billy Lawler
• The marvelous Ginger Rogers as Ann "Anytime" Lowell
• Lyle Talbot as Geoffrey Warning

Yes, finally we've got to a movie from the library that I could sit all the way through, and it figures it's definitely the oldest one yet.  It's not only '30s, it's pre-Code, which means lots of revealing costumes and racy dialogue and lyrics, including from the saucy pair of Rogers and Merkel.  There's even a song comparing love to drug addiction! It also mentions The Great Depression more than once, while some of its contemporaries are set in a fantasy world where money is never discussed.  In some ways, this feels like the most "modern" movie I've looked at so far for this blog, but it also has corny melodrama and cliches that it may've invented, or at least popularized, but are still cliches.  (It's based on a 1932 Bradford Ropes novel.)  I know this film is regarded as a classic, but I could've actually done with less backstage stuff and more of the show within a show.

Lloyd Bacon directed but choreographer Busby Berkeley is deservedly the household name.