Hindsight

Classic kids, or 100 films that the kids in your life have to see by 13 or else!

Day 85:  42nd Street (1933)

Directed by Lloyd Bacon with Busby Berkeley choreography, 42^nd Street is frenetic, absurd and deliciously dated, but oh...such an enjoyable movie.  A relatively early talkie, 42nd Street was made during the pre-code era, so there is some suggestive behavior, yet nothing compared to what is on Television today.  Still, I would recommend that  kids under 9 stay away for a bit.  I Finally showed it to Jacqueline and Joelle last year and they LOVED it!  Bacon had fun with the dissolves and framing, while Berkeley does some of his best, over the top, musical numbers.  Warner Brothers stock players are here, such as Warner Baxter, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell and  the delightful Vaudevillian actor Guy Kibbee.  There is even an appearance from Ginger Rogers, borrowed from RKO to play second fiddle along with Paramount Picture's Una Merkle.   This is the back stage musical.  The plot follows a naive and inexperienced dancer who is plucked from the chorus, last minute to play the lead, when the star has had an accident.

So, yep, this is the movie where one character (the play's director, Warner Baxter)  actually says,  “you go out there a nobody, but you have to come back a star!”

Themes: Broadway, Hollywood musicals, The Depression

Media Literacy Questions for Kids: How does this movie look old?  What elements of the film still seem current?  How do the characters sing and dance differently than later musical performers?  Why does the depression play a role in the plot of this film?