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(re)Discovery |
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Gold Diggers of 1935 Sponsored by The Glass House 1935 | Not Rated | Comedy, Musical | d. Busby Berkeley Dick Powell, Adolphe Menjou, Gloria Stuart |
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| The Brothers Warner finally saw fit to give Busby Berkeley full directing control over the third of five “Gold Diggers” films - but this was no freshman outing for the former Army parade director. Berkeley had already mined plenty of gold for Warner’s, acting as architect of some of the biggest dance constructions put to film (42nd Street, Footlight Parade and Gold Diggers of 1933). In this production, he would further develop his interest in vast geometric compositions, telescoping scale and a surrealist’s eye for dislocation. But Berkeley also revealed a cynic’s understanding of the realities of the Depression-era. Gold Diggers trips along so effortlessly that one might miss the human compromises amidst the opulence and inconsequence of an upstate resort and its self-absorbed guests. Dick Powell’s a hotel manager working his way through medical school and Gloria Stewart is the cloistered daughter of a miserly heiress; Adolph Menjou is a delirious Barrymore-esque Russian director hired to stage a benefit show for the “Milk Fund”; and the film’s enormous set pieces were Berkeley’s own private Work Projects Administration, employing hundreds of showgirls, craftsmen, actors and set constructors. - CH | ||