Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Warner Brothers – 1933: 42nd STREET & GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933

This week's Warner Brothers 1933 Studios Year by Year episode brings the studio-as-auteur question back into focus with two highly distinctive Pre-Code musicals with a similarity of style and social outlook that can't be attributed to the directors, screenwriters, source material, or the presence of Hollywood's most idiosyncratic choreographer and stager of musical numbers, Busby Berkeley. We argue for the dramatic and comedic merits of 42nd Street (directed by Lloyd Bacon) and Gold Diggers of 1933 (directed by Mervyn LeRoy), without failing to grapple with the more deranged elements of the musical sequences. And in Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto, the focus on sex, gender, and harsh economic realities continues with further screenings from TIFF Cinematheque's ongoing Mikio Naruse retrospective: Late Chrysanthemums, Scattered Clouds, and When a Woman Ascends the Stairs. We also briefly mention our TIFF Lightbox viewing of Hitchcock's North by Northwest, which allowed us to see Cary Grant narrowly escape multiple elaborately complicated and indirect murder attempts in 70 mm.

Time Codes:

0h 00m 25s: 1933 and Warner Brothers

0h 05m 13s: 42nd STREET [dir. Lloyd Bacon with Busby Berkeley]

0h 50m 20s: GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 [dir. Mervyn Leroy with Busby Berkeley]

1h 30m 40s: Fear & Moviegoing in Toronto: Alfred Hitchcock's North By Northwest (1959) and Mikio Naruse's Late Chrysanthemums (1954), Scattered Clouds (1967) & When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960) – all at TIFF Lightbox

1h 40m 16s: Listener Jason's Top Gloria Grahame films

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Studio Film Capsules provided by The Warner Brothers Story by Clive Hirchhorn

Additional studio information from: The Hollywood Story by Joel W. Finler

1933 Information from Forgotten Films to Remember by John Springer

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* Marvel at our meticulously ridiculous Complete Viewing Schedule for the 2020s

* Intro Song: "Sunday" by Jean Goldkette Orchestra with the Keller Sisters (courtesy of The Internet Archive)

* Read Elise's latest film piece on Preston Sturges, Unfaithfully Yours, and the Narrative role of comedic scapegoating.

* Check out Dave's new Robert Benchley blog – an attempt to annotate and reflect upon as many of the master humorist's 2000+ pieces as he can locate – Benchley Data: A Wayward Annotation Project!

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