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Description

Meet a dewy-eyed ingenue, a gee-whiz tenor, stuck-up stars, hard-up producers, brassy blondes and "shady ladies from the '80s." They're all denizens of 42nd Street, belting out ageless Harry Warren/Al Dubin songs and tapping out Busby Berkeley's sensational Depression-lifting production numbers. The put-on-a-show plot spins merrily, full of snappy banter and new faces Ruby Keeler (her movie debut), Dick Powell and Ginger Rogers. The showstopping numbers ("Shuffle Off to Buffalo," "You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me" and the title tune) still dazzle. 42nd Street shows that good times never go out of style.

Description

A Broadway producer has the talent, the tunes, the theater and everything else he needs to put on a show -- except the dough. Not to worry, say Ginger Rogers and the other leggy chorines decked out in giant coins. Everyone will soon be singing "We're in the Money." Soon after 42nd Street, the brothers Warner again kicked the Depression blues out the stage door and into a back alley. Mervyn Le Roy directs the snappy non-musical portions involving three wonderfully silly love matches (including Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler). And Busby Berkeley brings his peerless magic to the production numbers, his camera swooping and gliding to showstoppers that are naughty ("Pettin' in the Park"), neon-lit ("The Shadow Waltz") and soul-searing ("Remember My Forgotten Man"). Solid cinema gold!