42nd Street [G]

An ailing musical director determines to put on one last show before his body lowers the curtain. The show is Pretty Lady starring beautiful Dorothy Brock and backed by Abner Dillon who only backs the project because he has eyes for the leading lady. In true backstreet musical tradition, all that can go wrong does go wrong for poor director Marsh as his chorus girls continue to give him sass, backstage romances and courting effect his performers, and the show’s finance is threatened as the leading lady conducts a clandestine romance behind the back of Dillon. But when disaster really strikes the night before the show’s opening, the unwritten rules of backstreet musical theatre are adhered to and the young, naïve, and fresh-faced dancer Peggy is told that she’ll “go out there a youngster, but you’ve got to come back a star.”  

The Book refers to this classic as the “grandmother of backstage musicals” and there is little question as to why. 42^nd Street may be dated in terms of choreography, costumes, music, story, and yes maybe even performances, but this black and white musical classic still manages to pull in the crowds. It was adapted into a Broadway show fifty years later, so there’s obviously something about it that remains fresh, unfettered, and timeless. 

An ailing musical director determines to put on one last show before his body lowers the curtain. The show is Pretty Lady starring beautiful Dorothy Brock and backed by Abner Dillon who only backs the project because he has eyes for the leading lady. In true backstreet musical tradition, all that can go wrong does go wrong for poor director Marsh as his chorus girls continue to give him sass, backstage romances and courting effect his performers, and the show’s finance is threatened as the leading lady conducts a clandestine romance behind the back of Dillon. But when disaster really strikes the night before the show’s opening, the unwritten rules of backstreet musical theatre are adhered to and the young, naïve, and fresh-faced dancer Peggy is told that she’ll “go out there a youngster, but you’ve got to come back a star.”  

As we start dishing out rounds of applause, the first must be directed at inventive dance director Busby Berkeley. The highlight of the entire film is without a doubt the staggering, climactic musical number, where Berkeley created a kaleidoscope of women that was then filmed from a bird’s eye angle. Modern audiences might remember seeing something similar in Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with the chocolate river number of the oompa loompas. Berkeley’s arrangement of women in geometric shapes coupled with swaying Manhattan skyscrapers and the lead singing and dancing atop a taxi make the final musical number the real showstopper of the work. 

Even to a modern audience, the script will hold a timeless romantic and dramatic charm. The story itself is the typical “show biz” story and the drama, comedy, and romance of the piece is fleshed out by a cast of contrasting and memorable characters: we’ve got the controlling, ailing director, the sassy and jibing chorus girls, the fresh-faced inexperienced dancer who gets her chance in the spotlight, the baby-faced romantic male outmatched by others, the fat and bumbling financial backer, and then the snooty and grand old diva and leading lady. The movie is padded out with all these little side stories about romance, comedy, and drama, and even a modern audience can pick up and appreciate the little sexual tensions and innuendos that are cheekily skittered throughout. 

Starring Warner Baxter, Bebe Daniels, George Brent, Ruby Keeler, Guy Kibbee, Una Merkel, Ginger Rogers, Ned Sparks, Dick Powell, Allen Jenkins, Edward J. Nugent, Robert McWade, and George E. Stone, 42^nd Street is a gorgeous little classic; a true one that still holds an irrepressible charm. Filled with music, dancing, romance, drama, and comedy, I really loved this movie and found particular joy in the old-fashioned and blissful romanticism of it all. It’s gorgeous!