Secretly wealthy composer Brad Roberts (Dick Powell) rescues a struggling Broadway musical, while chorus girls Carol (Joan Blondell) and Trixie (Aline MacMahon) set out to find rich husbands.
Busby Berkeley was on a roll in 1933. He made three of the best remembered musicals of the 30s in that year: Footlight Parade, 42nd Street and Gold Diggers of 1933.
Gold Diggers is the weakest of the trio. The subplot of Joan Blondell romancing Warren William is rather tedious, and none of the musical numbers are as spectacular as the ones in Footlight Parade or Dames.
That's not to say Gold Diggers is a bad film. "Pettin' in the Park" is one of Berkeley's funniest numbers, "We're in the Money" has rightly become a classic and "Shadow Waltz" is quite beautiful. Joan Blondell, Guy Kibbee, Ginger Rogers and Ned Sparks are excellent, and the scenes with Aline MacMahon trying to seduce Kibbee are hilarious. Ruby Keeler is not in the film very much, which is probably a good thing.
Rewatch. 3.5/5
Busby Berkeley was on a roll in 1933. He made three of the best remembered musicals of the 30s in that year: Footlight Parade, 42nd Street and Gold Diggers of 1933.
Gold Diggers is the weakest of the trio. The subplot of Joan Blondell romancing Warren William is rather tedious, and none of the musical numbers are as spectacular as the ones in Footlight Parade or Dames.
That's not to say Gold Diggers is a bad film. "Pettin' in the Park" is one of Berkeley's funniest numbers, "We're in the Money" has rightly become a classic and "Shadow Waltz" is quite beautiful. Joan Blondell, Guy Kibbee, Ginger Rogers and Ned Sparks are excellent, and the scenes with Aline MacMahon trying to seduce Kibbee are hilarious. Ruby Keeler is not in the film very much, which is probably a good thing.
Rewatch. 3.5/5