Saw The Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), a Bubsy Berkly musical farce about a theater company which is able to put on one last big show (aren't they always one last big show?) due to a surprise injection of cash from an upcoming composer. Now, I feel to say more would spoil the film a little, so let's be vague: the film involves the showgirls gleefully fleecing a domineering financier. The stage production that they're putting on is the usual thing for Bubs: a random smattering of spectacular nonsense completely disconnected to the main plot and to each other. The one notable exception to this is the show-stopping final number, The Forgotten Man, which pays homage to the abandoned veterans of WW1. It's very moving.
The point of the film is the dance numbers. The plot zips along and this is pre-code, so there's swearing and kissing and all manner of immoral licentiousness, but the core idea of rolling a well-to-do villain is a little dated and the 20s-style patter, although witty, is never really laugh-out-loud. Oh but those dance sequences! Let me tell you!
In one of the sequences, the chorus girls play violins. In the middle of the sequence the lights go out and the violins light up with fluorescent tubes as the dancers circle and make complex geometric patterns for Bubsy's signature crane shot. In one scene, we focus up real tight on a woman's gloved hand holding a white rose against an ink black background. The visual is striking! Such pretty choreography, such a strange mixture of pokey old fashion and timeless dazzle.
The film is interesting, but a little aged. Be aware that you're going in to an old-timey film and you'll be fine. There's no blackface, mercifully, and the war of the sexes ends at stealing a rich bad guy's money. If you can stomach that, go see the film. It's worth seeing at least one Bubsy Berkly film, just to see what all the fuss is about.
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