42nd Street (1933) / An American in Paris (1951) (ft. Hunter Allen) - Beyond the proscenium

Dan and Brian invite film critic and musical cinema lover Hunter Allen from Kinemalogue to join as they kick off a new theme month: Musical Decades Month, where they plan to discuss 100 years of musicals in five weeks. To kick things off with the 1930s and 1950s, they discuss two strands of early musical technique: the Busby Berkley style of geometric chorus numbers pioneered in 42nd Street versus the Fred Astaire style of integrated character tunes brought to its apex in (the Astaire-less) An American in Paris. Join as they discuss the very early history of musicals, the back-loaded structure of each film, pre-Code sexual frankness, Hitler's painting style, problematic relationships, bravura musical production, the Freed Unit, soundstage Paris, and Gene Kelly's directorial career.

Hunter's reviews on Kinemalogue: https://www.kinemalogue.net/

Dan's movie reviews: http://thegoodsreviews.com/

Subscribe, join the Discord, and find us on Letterboxd: http://thegoodsfilmpodcast.com/