To me, this movie is perfection.

Simply A Masterpiece

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

. . . to rivet America's attention on how worthless the country's Richest One Per Cent are to the rest of us. While rival outfits such as MGM tried to fill American minds with fantasies such as the WIZARD OF OZ and GONE WITH THE WIND, Warner kept crashing to the forefront of the Public's consciousness with their gritty exposes, such as director William A. Wellman's HEROES FOR SALE or choreographer/director Busby Berkeley's numerous extravaganzas, including GOLD DIGGERS OF 1935. Though Warner was infamously frugal (this flick is filmed in black and white, after all), Busby was an expert on making a C-note look like a million bucks on-screen. GD35 culminates with one of those phony baloney "charity" functions, in which the One Per Cent make sure that 99% of the money "raised" is frittered away on pointless excess for their own wicked amusement. This show-within-the-movie (for a "Milk Fund") begins with what appear to be 88 white-gowned female concert pianists plunking away at 88 Steinway grand pianos frivolously ruined with milk-white paint jobs. Act Two shows former WWI drill Sgt. Berkeley's true stripes. Flypaper heiress Ann Prentiss at first is in a milky-white garbed audience of two, watching 198 frenetic tap dancers sweating for her pleasure on a cavernous stage. But then Berkeley concludes this piece by having normal people shove One Per Center Ann out of a high-rise window! Warner is doing all it can short of spelling out on the screen "Rise up, you pawns!" to keep America a free country (as opposed to the MGM-style Bread & Circus Show it is today).

I liked the way this movie began. You see the staff of a hotel readying the place for customers. However, Busby Berkeley gets them to actually parody his own style of movies as you notice that the staff start behaving in a choreographed manner--replicating some of the movies Berkeley had made prior to 1935. It's pretty cute and a nice start.What follows are some amusing plots that really aren't all that important. In other words, while the antics of the cheapskate old lady and the huckster producer (Adolph Menjou) are fun, the plot doesn't amount to very much and just seems like padding until the amazing finale--a finale that is every bit Busby Berkeley. If you like this sort of over the top schmaltz, then you are in for a treat as you see scenes like the many white pianos (trust me--you just need to see it to understand), the extremely well choreographed dancing and the nice music. In particular, their rendition of "Lullaby of Broadway" is toe-tapping good.While all of this is VERY familiar, you can't help but admire the work that went into making "Gold Diggers of 1935". As far as whether or not to see it, it all depends on if you like this style of musical--a style that went out of style soon after this movie debuted. Up until about 1937, such huge extravaganzas were the norm for Warner Brothers and they made a ton of them. But the style was completely obsolete by the 1940s--and it is something that probably will surprise most modern viewers not acquainted with this type of film. For what it is, it's very well made. Not the best of the type, but very good.

Seventy-three years have elapsed since this Gold Diggers movie was released, and it is well worth remembering that for many Americans The Great Depression was still fairly well depressing. Two years into the first administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the overall level of unemployment was dropping, but entirely too many people were what we would now call "underemployed." They were working -- like the hotel staff in the fictional resort where all of the events in this movie occur -- "for tips." Not only that, they were required to pay their managers 'a tithe' of whatever they collected. All of that is laid out in the first sequences of this incredible film.In a very real way, this movie was an employment bonanza all its own.The extraordinary dancing sequences in "Lullaby Of Broadway" clearly required about a hundred dancers and the musicians: this means that there were also dozens of supporting personnel required for the task of doing rehearsals ( including musicians ). Perhaps it wasn't the best pay-day for most of these people but it was a pay-day in Hollywood.Busby Berkeley has received many accolades for his work in 42nd Street, which is quite possibly one of the greatest American films ever made. But the energy and style and the enthusiasm which is on display in the dancing routines for "Lullaby" was not faked. Maybe this movie has all the intellectual 'nutrients' of cotton candy and maybe that's a valid criticism, but it was work and honest work at that. This is a greatly entertaining film built out of the flimsiest of dramatic components, yet one thing remains true, it's a hell of an entertaining ride.The comedic elements were clearly drawn comic-book style, and I do not find that objectionable in the least, for the goofiness of the lead comic actors is still charming all these decades later. OK, it is true that many millions of modern film fans may not have the slightest idea what 'snuff' is -- finely powdered tobacco -- but funny is funny, and the obsession of the screwball expert who is collecting them is still really funny !! If it wasn't funny, then why are 'nerds' still getting laughs in movies today ?? It's the same basic kind of humor.The rating of 8 for this film does take into account the tissue-thin plot for this second "Gold Diggers" episode, but it remains one of my personal favorites and that is said after having given it several viewings. Look back on this as an historical document. See how people behaved before being constantly tethered to their cell phones, before being obsessed with 'global warming' or the price of gasoline.Oh, and Gloria Stuart is so incredibly beautiful that she stops the action in almost every scene she's in, as does Wini Shaw's singing.A great film for a cozy Saturday night, and it is also certified as being 100 % zombie-free.

Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Boy (Dick Powell) meets girl (Gloria Stuart) story is the backdrop of big musical numbers in this Busby Berkeley directed film. The two leads are wonderful and have some great chemistry and even a couple of the musical numbers are good but these come at the very end. The story is just so underwritten that it's hard to find much entertainment out of this thing. The film isn't really bad but it's not really good either. We've got better romantic comedies from this period and better musicals from this period so this is only recommended for fans of the stars.