Btexxamar I like Black Panther, but I didn't like this movie.

GarnettTeenage The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Jerrie It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Edgar Allan Pooh " . . . we came, we marched away, to fight for USA--but where are we today?" is the plaintive lyric of 200 soldiers marching on stage in Donald J. Rump's New York City 1:36:24 into GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933. World War One drill sergeant Busby Berkeley choreographs this "Forgotten Man" number as a literal show-stopper (that is, it ends this story) in memory of the thousands of World War One vets, along with their wives and children, massacred by the Future Rich People Party (RPP) President I-Like-Ike Eisenhower on the orders of RPP President Herb Hoover after Herb's Billionaire Bosses told him that it would be cheaper to bulldoze them into a mass grave under what's now the National Mall WWII Memorial than to pay them the Veterans' Benefits they'd earned (the exact number of Ike's "Friendly Fire" homicides here is a closely guarded "redacted" secret yet Today, just like the Truth about WWII hero JFK's Assassination). Herb also remains infamous for appointing a Cabinet of Nine Billionaires and a Plumber (the plumber was fired after a few weeks) and enabling the Great Depression. Warner Bros. made this flick to warn America against ever again allowing a pack of RPP jackal-billionaires to run America. Now that Russian KGB Boss "Mad Dog" Putin has installed Rump as his White House Puppet, it's High Time for The Resistance to revive this movie, as well as Director William A. Wellman's Warner Masterpiece, HEROES FOR SALE.

weezeralfalfa Surprise!. In contrast to the other musicals in this series of Berkeley-choreographed musicals, this one begins right off featuring Ginger Roger's face filling the screen, singing "We're in the Money". Along with chorus girls, she is decked out in with many silver dollars, and with much oversized replicas of coins decorating their skimpy outfits. or in the background to further emphasize the plentifulness of large coins. The dancers do a few signature Berkeley-styled undulating routines, including a troop standing behind Ginger, invisible, moving their arms up and down, making Ginger look like the Hindu goddess Durga. Ginger's last singing bout sounds like so much gibberish, because it's 'pig Latin', presumably to add a comedic touch....There are 3 more dance productions; one more than the typical Berkeley musical of this series, with "Petting in the Park" around the middle, and the film ending with the other two: an unusual dispersal pattern for a Berkeley film of this series. I think more musicals, through the years, should have copied this format of starting right off with a splashy number. A few did. I can think of "Oklahoma" and "the Sound of Music", with wondrously memorable songs and great singers. The only Astaire & Ginger film, contemporaneous with the present film, that did so was "Follow the Fleet", and is no doubt one reason why I consider that one of my favorites of their films. Unlike the other musicals in this series or any of the Astaire & Ginger films, two of the production numbers relate directly to the poverty of The Depression. The last one, featuring bread lines, distraught wives, and soldiers marching in the rain, and a similarly themed song, dramatizes the misery for many Americans., Actually, this production was originally slated to occur in the middle of the film, so why references to the song("Remember My Forgotten Man"), and plot features are heard there. Berkeley had served in WWI, thus was sympathetic with the 'Bonus Army' of WWI veterans, who were met with physical hostility when they marched on Washington, requesting that their promised 'bonuses', not due until 1945, be paid immediately. This was the main reason for the prominence of army marchers in this production, although mass formations were a stock feature of Berkeley musical productions. Joan Blondell does a fine job in her talking and singing roles in this production, which ends the film."We're in the Money", both the song and the production, also obviously relates to The Depression audiences and to the plot. The lyrics, as well as visuals, try to deny the reality of widespread poverty, and provide hope that this state will soon be replaced by prosperity under the New Deal policies of the incoming FDR administration.(of which Berkeley was a supporter). It also provides ironic contrast to the interruption of this production by police, who have come to push everyone out, because the producer can't pay the rent or other bills. It also relates to the ambition of some of the impoverished chorus girls(played by Joan Blondell and Aline MacNahon) to trick some wealthy unmarried middle-aged men(played by Warren William and Guy Kibbee), who despise gold-digging young women, into buying them expensive gifts, and eventually marrying them. This is the most interesting part of the screenplay for me. Ruby Keeler, another chorus girl, is romanced by songwriter and singer Brad(Dick Powell), who is secretly a wealthy heir, related to the characters played by William and Kibbee. Very surprising to the others, Brad volunteers to supply the money to put on the show. Hence, he is suspected of being a publicized bank robber, for a while.The "Petting in the Park" number was criticized by censors as being lewd, but somehow was retained. It includes the silhouettes of many chorus girls removing their wet clothes, to put on metallic clothes, presumably functioning as chastity belts, until a can opener is produced by a mischievous toddler(midget).The later "Shadow Waltz" number features many chorus girls in hooped skirts supposedly playing neon-lit violins, in various formations, including a violin with bow string, as seen from above: quite a striking and unusual production. In "Gold Diggers of 1935", the violins would be replaced by white pianos.As with the previous "42nd Street", all songs were composed by the Warren-Dubin team. Of these, only "We're in the Money" strikes me as being memorable as a stand alone song.The Dick Powell-Ruby Keeler ingénue romance, tenuously featured in 42nd Street, and again in "Footlight Parade", is placed on more firm footing in this film, and in the later "Dames", usually serving as the vehicle for performing romantic songs not used in the big productions, as well as in some of the big productions. Unlike most of the Astaire & Ginger musicals, there were seldom big ups and downs in their romance, which sometimes was already established before the film began.I would guess Warren William will remind you of John Barrymore. Certainly true for me! Forgotten today, he was then at the peak of his popularity, followed by a rapid decline, having also been a star in the silent film era. His supposed romance with Joan Blondell looks awfully forced!, more so than the supposed Kibbee-MacMahon gold digger romance.

tavm After maybe about 15 years, I finally got to watch Gold Diggers of 1933 again and boy, it's even better than I remembered it! First off, there's the wonderfully fantastic opening number "We're in the Money" as warbled by Ginger Rogers in a skimpy coins costume especially as she also sings it in Pig Latin making it such an iconic scene to this day (I also remember it being presented as a lottery commercial in Jacksonville, Florida, when I lived there during the '90s). Then after the rehearsal is closed because of lack of funds, producer Ned Sparks then, months later, proposes to the other chorus girls a show about the Depression of which songwriter Dick Powell already has a song for but no words yet. By the way, the other girls are Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon, and Ruby Keeler. Also, Sparks says a couple of ironic lines like "Cancel my contract with Warren and Dubin!" of which he meant the songwriting team of Harry and Al who wrote all the songs in this movie, and then comparing the team of Powell and Keeler to the Astaires on Broadway of which one of them, Fred, would eventually find a new partner in Ms. Rogers, who was in this scene, at RKO later in the year. There's also Warren William and Guy Kibbee in support of which the latter plays a similar role here as he did in 42nd Street except here, he's not in charge of the finances of the show nor does he ever realize he's being used by Ms. MacMahon. Oh, and while Ms. Rogers eventually became his new ingénue in 42nd Street, here she never gets the chance! Oh, and as a fan of It's a Wonderful Life, I have to note that Charles Lane, who was the one who told Mr. Potter about George Bailey's plans for Bailey Park, was the writer in 42nd Street and is the society reporter here who finds out about Dick Powell's real-life status. Powell, himself, is quite fine here whether singing "Pettin' in the Park" with Keeler-hey, get a load of 9-year old Billy Barty pulling the curtains as those girls are dressing up!-or being involved in the machinations of humiliating brother William. As for Berkeley, well, he tops himself here with not only the "Money" number but also another one involving neon violins and then there's the "Forgotten Man" number as first recited in spoken word by Ms. Blondell before segueing to Etta Molen singing those same words as we see many former World War I soldiers marching in the rain before those same men then end up on long lines at the soup kitchen before Joan then sings (through Marian Anderson's voice) the harrowing coda. Very powerful number to end a movie and it still feels heartbreaking just remembering it. So with all that, Gold Diggers of 1933 is not only still very funny and entertaining, it's also something worth thinking about when one remembers the era it was made and set in...

calvinnme This is supposed to be a pseudo-remake of 1929's "Gold Diggers of Broadway", except in the four year interim the Great Depression is in full swing and our gold diggers have hit on bad times like everyone else. The second Berkeley film in the Warner series of musicals starts off with Ginger Rogers singing "We're in the Money" in an outrageous number in which the chorus girls are all dressed in over-sized coins. As Ginger sings part of the number in pig-Latin, the whole thing seems surreal, and in a way it is. The sheriff breaks in on the number to repossess everything on the set to settle the debts of the show's producer, and the gold diggers are out of work again. I don't know why I keep calling them gold diggers, because this cadre of chorines are just looking for steady work. They have abandoned all hope of getting millionaire husbands to take them away from all of this.Brad Roberts (Dick Powell) comes to their rescue when he comes up with both the money and the songs for a new show that broke but creative producer Barney Hopkins (Ned Sparks) has in mind. Thinking that Brad is penniless like the rest of them, the girls at first think Brad is playing a tasteless joke before he produces the 15K, and that he is a bank robber on the run afterwards. This is reinforced by his refusal to make any personal appearance in the show. In fact Brad is a young man from a wealthy New England family who is hiding his work in the theatre from his snobbish old-money relatives who soon surface to reclaim him in the person of his brother, Lawrence (Warren William), and the family lawyer (Guy Kibbee). When they find out Brad is planning to marry one of the girls (Ruby Keeler), Brad's brother decides to find the girl, flash his cash, and thus romance her himself, since he presumes she is a gold digger. He figures this will prove to Brad just what kind of girl he has fallen for. Unfortunately, Brad's brother doesn't know what she looks like. And that's where the fun starts.There's some great pre-code comedy here particularly from Joan Blondell, not to mention her stirring performance of "Forgotten Man" about World War I soldiers who are now marching in Depression Era bread lines. Also not to be missed is "Shadow Waltz" with the chorus girls playing fake fluorescent violins that would occasionally short out and shock the girls.Guy Kibbee and Aline McMahon are both terrifically funny and touching in one of the film's subplots as two people who find genuine love later in life than they may have wanted and originally planned. They are basically reprising the roles played by Albert Gran and Winnie Lightner in Gold Diggers of Broadway. However, Aline MacMahon has a subtle even homespun brand of humor versus Lightner's brash style.As in The Gold Diggers of Broadway, the film ends with the show itself, but these are two entirely different shows for two entirely different eras. The 1929 film ends with chorus girls parading around in elaborate costumes and decorated by two-strip Technicolor while acrobats and tap dancers strut their exhilarated stuff. The 1933 film ends with a number about forgotten men marching both off to war and back to bread lines in spartan black and white. A powerful ending for a great piece of entertainment.