Blu-ray Review Gold Diggers of 1933 Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Matt Hough]

Mervyn LeRoy’s Gold Diggers of 1933 provides scintillating pre-Code entertainment with Busby Berkeley offering ever-more flamboyant stagings for his musical imagination and a clutch of songs which have all become standards.



Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)



Released: 27 May 1933
Rated: Passed
Runtime: 97 min




Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Musical



Cast: Warren William, Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon
Writer(s): Erwin Gelsey, James Seymour, David Boehm



Plot: A wealthy composer rescues unemployed Broadway performers with a new play, but insists on remaining anonymous.



IMDB rating: 7.7
MetaScore: N/A





Disc Information



Studio: Warner Brothers
Distributed By: Warner Archive
Video Resolution:...

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[Joel Arndt]

Thanks for another excellent review Matt. I'm hoping to have this beauty in my hands next Tuesday on release day.

 

[Matt Hough]

The sharpness and clarity of this very old title is quite amazing.

 

[roxy1927]

Well that's great to hear because the picture above looks worse than a 16MM print at Theater 80 St Marks.

 

[Matt Hough]

Well that's great to hear because the picture above looks worse than a 16MM print at Theater 80 St Marks.

That pic was taken from Google images, not a screen grab from the Blu-ray.

 

[roxy1927]

I kind of figured. Just indulging in a bit of nostalgia.

 

[Joel Arndt]

Just finished watching this and it looks fantastic for an almost 90 year old film. One question, I don't recall ever seeing a full rendition of the song I've Got to Sing a Torch Song that Dick Powell sings in this even though it's used a lot as underscoring. Is this newly found footage that was used for the restoration? I'll have to dig for my DVD.

 

[benbess]

Watched this last night, and as mentioned the pq is great for a movie from 1933.

As Matt Hough writes in his perceptive review above:

"As with most of Berkeley’s work, we begin these numbers with on-stage settings which could convincingly be placed on a Broadway proscenium but by the end, we’re into Never Land with production numbers uninhibited by time and space....he saves his knockout punch for the end: “Remember My Forgotten Man” which offers in Joan Blondell’s haunting recitation (her final burst of singing was dubbed by Jeane Cowann) and Berkeley’s increasingly elaborate and dark-toned staging a scolding look at the way veterans who are homeless, injured, and even crippled have been tossed aside by the country they fought for struggling to keep heads up during the depression. It’s a rather bleak but unforgettable way to end an otherwise frivolous musical comedy but one which places the movie into a sphere all its own....Ned Sparks takes his monotone wailing to new heights of funny despair."

It's been many years since I saw this movie, and the Berkeley numbers as analyzed above are really remarkable. And Ned Sparks is really funny, and gets at one of the more admirable elements of show biz. The "gold digging" parts were a little uncomfortable from my pov when it came to the mis-matched pairing of "Trixie" and "Peabody," but overall the comedy was good, and Joan Blondell is a delight. I hadn't seen any of these early cartoons that were put on as extras before, and the parodies of early 30s celebrities in the last cartoon were funny.

 

[Will Krupp]

Just finished watching this and it looks fantastic for an almost 90 year old film. One question, I don't recall ever seeing a full rendition of the song I've Got to Sing a Torch Song that Dick Powell sings in this even though it's used a lot as underscoring. Is this newly found footage that was used for the restoration? I'll have to dig for my DVD.

Heya, bub!! I just checked the old DVD to be sure and they're identical as regards "Torch Song." The sequence at the piano runs about 1:30 on both. You can be forgiven for not remembering it because it may be the least memorable one minute/30 seconds of the whole fill-um!

 

[Joel Arndt]

Heya, bub!! I just checked the old DVD to be sure and they're identical as regards "Torch Song." The sequence at the piano runs about 1:30 on both. You can be forgiven for not remembering it because it may be the least memorable one minute/30 seconds of the whole fill-um!

Will, thanks for doing the research for me. It's been years since I watched the DVD and this Blu-ray is a thing of beauty.

 

[winstoncarolina]

Blondell never got enough credit. Compare her work in "Gold Diggers" and "Nightmare Alley!" I was fortunate enough to have seen her on stage in the late 1950s or early 1960s in a touring production of William Inge's "Dark at the Top of the Stairs" and shared a moment with her as she kindly autographed my theater program.

 

[benbess]

Blondell never got enough credit. Compare her work in "Gold Diggers" and "Nightmare Alley!" I was fortunate enough to have seen her on stage in the late 1950s or early 1960s in a touring production of William Inge's "Dark at the Top of the Stairs" and shared a moment with her as she kindly autographed my theater program.

Thanks for sharing that story. I agree. Also really liked Blondell in Grease, which I guess was one of her last roles. If by any chance you have any more details to share of your brief meeting with Blondell, please let us know.

 

[Matt Hough]

Blondell never got enough credit. Compare her work in "Gold Diggers" and "Nightmare Alley!" I was fortunate enough to have seen her on stage in the late 1950s or early 1960s in a touring production of William Inge's "Dark at the Top of the Stairs" and shared a moment with her as she kindly autographed my theater program.

She should have gotten an Oscar nomination for Nightmare Alley. She's fantastic in that.

 

[alistairKerr]

Just finished watching this and it looks fantastic for an almost 90 year old film. One question, I don't recall ever seeing a full rendition of the song I've Got to Sing a Torch Song that Dick Powell sings in this even though it's used a lot as underscoring. Is this newly found footage that was used for the restoration? I'll have to dig for my DVD.

It was planned (and the song was pre-recorded) for the song to be performed by Ginger Rogers in the film. Not sure if it was ever filmed but the pre-recording disc exists and is featured on the Rhino 2 CD Busby Berkeley set. It would - for me - have been the icing on the cake regarding this terrific film.

 

[Joel Arndt]

It was planned (and the song was pre-recorded) for the song to be performed by Ginger Rogers in the film. Not sure if it was ever filmed but the pre-recording disc exists and is featured on the Rhino 2 CD Busby Berkeley set. It would - for me - have been the icing on the cake regarding this terrific film.

That's right. I own that Berkeley CD set as well and that's why I thought there wasn't a full rendition of the song in the film. Agreed, would've been nice if Ginger's version had been included as well.

 

[warnerbro]

It looks miraculous. And what a great movie. It seems so fresh and new. And Joan Blondell is so good in this. With this new print you can see that the girls really are fully naked in the Billy Barty scene.

 

[roxy1927]

Saw this last at FF with a full house. A movie high. I guess those blissful days are over.