(95 mins.) Released 1935-03-15
Director: Busby Berkeley
Stars: Dick Powell, Adolphe Menjou, Gloria Stuart, Alice Brady
Busby Berkeley ... dances created and staged by; Oscar nom'd for "Lullaby of Broadway" and "The Words Are in My Heart"; Oscars 1936
comedy, musical
originally posted 25 Oct 2017 01:59
Really awful and really awesome. With F&G I like to see the dances in context, because they have meaning within the story. But the dancing pianos, introduced by DP singing to his romantic interest don't need the laborious story we've endured for 1:06 to get there. Clearly it's a boy wooing a girl who likes the sentiment. And The Lullaby of Broadway number is the dancing-est ensemble number Berkeley produced: dozens of men and women actually dancing, not just making beautiful formations. And it climaxes in a bizarre dramatic twist that made me immediately rewatch it to see if I misunderstood what I saw.
So I hate the story: penny-pinching millionaire dowager Alice Brady is deeply annoying; I like her as a wise scatterbrain, not here. I don't care if she or her children are swindled or find happiness. I also don't care about the songs DP gets to sing, nor did I get any inkling why he falls for Brady's daughter (having that mother in law should be sufficient deterrent.) I usually like Adolph Menjou, but he's so manic here that I have to pretend he's Berkeley's attempt at a humorous self-portrait just to tolerate his rehearsal scenes.
But I LOVE the 2 end-of-movie production numbers. I could put those on a loop for a few hours.
Hopefully the next time I watch this it won't be immediately after Naughty Marietta, where the story definitely justified the lovers' attraction, and the songs helped them express and deepen it. Set expectations LOW for the first 1:06, loop the last third of the film a few times and think Kafka, German expressionism and reversed film projection.
