42nd Street (1933)
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42nd Street Movie Review
42nd Street is a 1933 musical film directed by Lloyd Bacon and Busby Berkeley and starring Warner Baxter and Ruby Keeler. It’s a standard, but highly entertaining film.
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“Sawyer, you’re going out a youngster,
but you’ve got to come back a star!“
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This is a backstage musical which set the stage literally for all the other such musicals afterwards. And in that context it needs to be forgiven a bit for such a regular, typical and rather slim storyline. Now, I did like some scenes quite a bit and the relationships between the characters and such, but for the most part this movie should be watched for the music and the visuals alone.
Warner Baxter is very good here and so is Bebe Daniels. But Ruby Keeler plays the most memorable and important character and is very strong in her role. All the others are rather forgettable. I did find the gay hints with Julian rather interesting, but they were very subdued nonetheless to the point of being barely noticeable which wasn’t the case in the original novel which this movie is based on.
42nd Street has memorable dialogue with that famous line about becoming a star still being very memorable. Yes, it’s clichéd stuff, but it works in the context of the scene and film history as it’s so famous. The film is oddly paced and structured with the last twenty minutes being all songs and the previous parts being mostly without music and that bothered me. I would have liked to have seen both of those interspersed a bit more creatively.
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But the direction is solid, especially the musical one from Busby Berkeley which is excellent. This is nowhere near as good as ‘Gold Diggers of 1933’, but it’s still one of the essential musicals of the thirties. I did like the acting performances across the board as well as the dialogue and only the script and pacing needed more work. As for the film’s context, I really liked that it dealt with the 1929 Stock Market Crash and that made it much more serious for sure.
42nd Street is absolutely gorgeous to behold when it comes to its cinematography and production design. The sets all look splendid and they wonderfully recreated its titular street with a careful amount of detail and a lot of memorable costumes and shots. Yes, the cinematography is particularly inventive with that one take that goes beneath all the girls’ legs being particularly arresting, sensual and unforgettable. The entire movie sounds and looks rather sexy while also being epic in scale as the number of people and sets involved really make it a spectacle of its time, the one that still looks amazing all these decades after its release.
Let’s talk about the soundtrack. It’s so great that, apart from its cinematography, it’s by far the movie’s standout aspect. You’re Getting to Be a Habit with Me is such a memorable, well sung and well written song that opened the movie with style. It Must Be June, on the other hand, is rather forgettable as it doesn’t make a lasting impression.
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Young and Healthy isn’t as strong as the other two finale songs, but it still makes a solid impact and is quite a fun number. Shuffle Off to Buffalo is a highly entertaining number which is so well sung and particularly well choreographed. But of course the titular number is by far my favorite number here and I still love listening to it. It’s immensely catchy with very amusing lyrics and it’s accompanied by the best sets undoubtedly. It’s a classic 30s song that is irresistible to sing and dance to.
42nd Street has a rather weak plot plus the pacing and structure are problematic as the entire first half is almost devoid of music, but the last twenty minutes or so are spectacular as they showcase some impressive sets, they are epic in execution and featuring great songs with Shuffle Off to Buffalo being a lot of fun and the titular number being the catchy, classic standout. The movie also features absolutely amazing cinematography with some very seductive and instantly memorable takes.
