During the Great Depression four poor actresses and a Broadway show unexpectedly get financial support from a young and aspiring musician. But from where did he get that much money?
Joan Blondell and Dick Powell (who were married from 1936-1944), Ruby Keeler, Warren William and a young Ginger Rogers (famous for her later partnership with Fred Astaire) are starring in this highly entertaining musical film directed by Mervyn LeRoy. Filmed on a budget of estimated 433,000 US $, the movie features four gorgeous dance sequences by legendary choreography Busby Berkeley (1895-1974). All songs are composed by Harry Warren (Three Oscars and eight nominations) who wrote many standards like “Jeepers Creepers”, “Chattanooga Choo Choo” or “Lullaby of Broadway”.
Gold Diggers of 1933 gained great commercial success, but was actually one of the first American films being altered before distribution in order to avoid state censorship. In 2003, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
American Film 
I really enjoyed this film. It was long, but it didn’t feel like it. Unlike sunrise, I didn’t feel like it dragged on too long. I was surprised by the ending though. The movie was very lighthearted and silly in some places, but the final number was so dark. It was almost like watching a completely different film. It caught me so off-guard especially since it came directly after a scene that everyone was proclaiming there love for one another.
I thought that the writing was very good for this film. The dialogue was hilarious sometimes. I laughed harder at some parts during this movie than I would laugh during most modern-day comedies. It was full of so many zingy one-liners.
I was also surprised by some of the effects used in the film. Some of the transitions during the music and dance numbers were impressive, considering the technology of that time. The violins lighting up was very interesting.
The film was somewhat risqué for its time and featured strong female characters. That is not something that I expected from a film made in the early 30’s. I’m really glad that this class gave me the opportunity to watch this film because I probably would not have seen it otherwise.
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Good outlook. I didn’t think about the effects of this movie before, but when I think back on it, for 1933, it is pretty good I suppose.
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I have to agree with you on how strong the female characters, they were definitely very memorable throughout the movie. I also have to say how impressive the effects and the music and dance numbers were too as well, it was very much one of the admirable aspects of the movie.
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Gold Diggers of 1933 was a very enjoyable film. I’m not very sure why, but I do occasionally enjoy musicals. This film definitely did not compare to Fiddler On The Roof, but that is another story. The movie seemed to jump around a bit and almost did not make sense at times. The ending confused me a little bit, I wasn’t sure if the men were really sent off to war, or it was just the musical. As for the plot, I found it to be extremely pleasant. I really enjoyed the female characters in this movie. The two women who were playing tricks on the men were very good. I found it surprising when they both ended up marrying the men. I’m still not sure if Trixie married Peabody for his money or actually fell in love. This is because the movie focused more on Carol’s romance with Lawrence. We talked in class about the film being a little risqué for its time, but I must be so used to film and media today, because I didn’t find one risqué scene in this movie.
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Gold Diggers of 1933 is a spectacle. From the compelling story to the amazingly extravagant musical numbers, this film hardly lets up for a second.
The leading women in this film are, in my opinion, the most interesting facet of the film to watch. They’re fast talking, scheming, and foul-mouthed. As discussed in class, this would solely become the role of men in popular American film for decades to come, where women became archetypal “good girls.”
The musical scenes are outrageously over the top in the best way possible. I am confused about one aspect, though. There are a few occasions where I am unsure whether or not the musical numbers are supposed to be montages to show time passing in the overall narrative. There are musical scenes that completely change the scenery, actors, and costumes all in a literal second.
Gold Diggers, although light-hearted for most of the film, really brings up some serious topics of the time. This, of course, referring to the Great Depression era. By creating a musical within a film, the director was able to talk about some gloomy issues without being too overt. I found this meta approach very compelling, especially nearing the end of the film.
Overall, Gold Diggers of 1933 is a great film. The casting, acting, script, musical numbers, and directing of the movie is very solid.
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The movie was set during the depression in America where jobs were scarce, theatres were closing down and people are trying to find work. The women in the movie were depicted as strong female characters and for most of the movie, on the surface it was light hearted comedy but at the same time educating viewers about life during this time period – the struggle to find food, men taken away for war and so on. The struggles were most clearly indicated in the ending which was very dark compared with the rest of the movie. It came as a surprise as one minute the film had a romantic comedy feeling and the next, there’s a creative scene with light and violins, followed by the sad song about men who went off to war, came back, were forgotten about and have changed to be completely different from the men they used to be. It shows men marching to war, in the rain and then returning wounded or less in number than before. Before the ending on stage, the film also shows men lining up in soup kitchens to show the desperate situation of this age.
For a movie filmed so soon after the previous film “Sunrise”, I was very pleasantly surprised. Gold diggers used many good camera angles such as close ups (for example when everyone was gathered in the director’s office, waiting for the man to come in with money, we are shown close ups of the director’s shoes as he moves about, a woman tapping her shoes in impatience and another one of the woman fidgeting her fingers in anxiousness). It was also creative in the way it used lighting effects such as in the violin scenes (as mentioned previously in this comment) and the acting was more natural than in Sunrise (which had exaggerated acting to convey emotions to the viewer). The audio was good and so was the music used for the film. With regards to the costumes, it was surprising to see women in more skin showing clothes in 1930s. I thought they would be in long, covered dresses like the wife in Sunrise.
I was also surprised to see the African American couple in the film when they were showing the theatre production, where various couples were sitting on benches, right before camera moved to the little baby in a stroller. Since this was made during the age when America was segregated according to race, I was surprised to see the African American community represented in the film.
It was overall a surprisingly good quality movie for 1930s. I never expected to enjoy a movie that old.
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This is the oldest musical film I have ever seen. Musical film is always my favorite genre. Although this film was made in 1933, it does not look like an old film at all. Indeed, it is very sophisticated and well-made. Moreover, it is amazing that the film industry had been rapidly developed in those 5 years after “Sunrise” was made in 1927. The change and technical improvement we have accomplished is nothing compared to the effort and improvement appeared back then.
“Gold Diggers of 1933” starts with a gorgeous and unique performance. The plot is very simple and variety of shots are used to tell the story line. There are also a lot of humorous scenes such as the baby ‘s performance during the show. Not only this movie itself but also the shows in the movie are romantic, funny and cute. The shows are very dynamic as if we are attending the real shows. In the scene when the dancers make a big circle, the camera catches it from the top. The circle eventually look like a flower. The lighting violin scene is also incredible. Even though they only had limited techniques available at that time, this film is still amazing, fashionable and surely entertainable.
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I can see why this movie is considered, “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the Library of Congress. Gold Diggers of 1933 was an all around amazing piece of work. This is coming from someone who can’t usually stand musicals, so for me to like this movie is pretty amazing. It wasn’t the musical aspect I enjoyed; however, it was the technical side that struck me as the most interesting. Part of this film
I wonder what it was like directing something like that. On film, do-overs are very difficult and costly. The choreography was gorgeous and complex; it must have been incredibly difficult to do this all in one take. In my silent film class, we just watched another film released in 1933 called Dragnet Girl (Ozu, 1933). It was completely silent with no music. It is almost difficult to believe that these two films came out in the same year.
A part of me wonders what this film must have looked like in color (while filming). The costumes, hair, sets, and makeup were pretty elaborate in some scenes, and I believe at one point some specific color in one of the girls’ outfits was mentioned. However, it must be difficult making a black and white film and matching the grey tones to make them look just right on the film. The film looked great, but I wish I could see it in color. It must have been such a sight. The lighting of the violins was probably the most striking moment in the film. It was beautiful, well executed, and must have been incredibly difficult to catch on film in one take. It was very advanced for its time.
Another thing I noticed in the costuming is how a lot of the outfits implied some sort of nudity by implying neutral and nude tones in the outfits. The film was surprisingly risqué. Even if the self-censorship standards weren’t fully in place just set, it’s surprising for something of this time. I doubt the audience during this time was as desensitized to that much skin as we are today.
In any case, the movie was incredibly fun and interesting. The budget (which with inflation is ridiculously high) for that time definitely shows and the cast was incredibly talented and definitely played their parts well.
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The film never ceases to entertain me during the whole show. It is hard not to love the film since I am a huge musical lover.
The story set off with the uptempo music where everyone looks as if they have time of their lives even if it is in the show.
Because the female actors were speaking in a cheerful manner, it did not occur to me that it was set in the depression era until someone said so. Considering the era, I found it surprising when some scenes were shown african american couples along with the talkative baby with Caucasian couples. Besides, the females characters were talkative and leading the relationship in the film, rather they were modest and serves for a man in the reality. As we discussed in the class, the female characters or any other characters speak more slowly than those who were in the film; they talk really fast and sometimes the voices are kinky compared to what we usually hear in the current film.
Nevertheless, It is almost hard to believe the technological improvement shown in the film between Sunrise and Gold Digger. Only a decade can change the entire style of film industry. Indeed, we did not expect to have a blu-ray disc or DVD back in a decade ago as someone said in the class.
The dramatic tension appeared in the last scene confused me a lot. Perhaps, it was meant to be shown the reality of depression with the taste of comedy and romance in it so that people can more relate to their lives.
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I absolutely hate musicals. I find them to be extremely, for lack of a better word, corny, and require an immense amount of suspension of disbelief to take them seriously. With that said, I actually enjoyed this film, the musical numbers actually served a story purpose (for the most part) and the plot progression was tight, and moved fast. I appreciated how there weren’t too many dull moments. As a depression era film, and a film featuring such strong female leads in a world where they were typically damsels in distress, this film is likely a cultural and historical symbol in American history, in both film and culture.
Despite the film being enjoyable, in both historical and entertainment aspects, I found it quite hard to swallow the all too convenient pairing of all the girls with the guys at the end. First off, the brother and the old guy (fanny?) we’re total jerks for much of the film, and these women were way to pretty for them. I also dislike the stereotypical plot point of “marry a rich man and all your problems will be solved” that seem to be an attractive plot arc for many women within this medium.
Despite some qualms that are entirely a personal opinion, much to my surprise I did enjoy this film.
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A musical film that takes place during the Great Depression? Personally, I was puzzled upon first hearing that concept before watching the “Gold Diggers of 1933”, not knowing on what to expect much. However, once I got to watching the film itself, it actually exceeded my expectation, and I ended up enjoying it from start to finish. Even though I don’t actually watch many musical films in general, I find them to be entertaining at times, and this one was certainly no exception.
I found many of the characters to be memorable, especially the four female leads, which I believe had interesting and charming personalities, and quite strong acting as well. I also thought the loud-mouthed producer was hilarious too, especially for how bossy he acted and how funny his voice sounded. Brad is like a typical handsome, “ladies’ man”-esque character for me, but with quite a kind personality that makes him charming and likeable too. I also found much of the dialogue to be quite cheesy at times for the most part, but in a hilarious manner as well, which I hardly had any problems with.
With the musical numbers being the obvious highlights of the film, I enjoyed all of the songs that were performed in certain moments, and found some of them to be catchy as well. I particularly enjoyed “Pettin’ in the Park”, which represents a typical romance scenario in the entire performance. Though, I found the lyrics to be a bit generic and simplistic, with words like “bad boy” and “bad girl” included in it, but I felt they still worked in the song and made it enjoyable in the end.
As much as I enjoyed many aspects of this musical film, I was thrown off by the events in the film leading up to the climax to be a bit sudden and unexpected for me, particularly for when Brad’s brother and the family lawyer tried to break up the romantic relationship between Brad and Polly. It was almost like I was watching a completely different film, and confused as to whether or not I was actually watching the same film altogether. Isn’t this supposed to be some lighthearted romantic comedy musical film, not some dark setup taking over all of a sudden? Seriously, what kind of a sudden slap to the face is that?
Overall, I enjoyed watching the film, and I had some good laughs in many of the moments too. This is certainly one of the most memorable musical films I ever watched, and that’s definitely saying a lot for a film that takes place in the dreaded historical era of depression. Perhaps all of the musical numbers will remain in my head for a long while, for how wonderful and catchy they sounded, especially “Pettin’ in the Park”. Even classics like these can really amuse me at times, which is definitely a great thing.
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Gold Diggers is a pretty good film for the time it was made. I like the multiple plot structure of the mystery surrounding Brad and the financial issues the characters face in the film. We start to see the morphing of multiple plot lines and it’s neat to watch it happen. Again the staple harsh lighting of BW films is present. I really like it but some people don’t. Harsh lighting is very evident with the hair lights used to separate the characters from the background.
Even though the film was made and released in 1933, the “Cinematic” approach to film making hasn’t been fully developed yet. The film has a few cinematic scenes but overall it still has that “Stage Play” feel to it. The most evident scene of this in action is at 00:18:00. This is where Barney is pitching the new show to the show girls. It plays out just like a stage play would (in my opinion) with Barney walking back and forth on the set practically yelling at the girls his ideas for the show, which is what would happen on a stage. The camera remains static head-on portraying the set in a stage like manner. Another scene is shortly after at 00:23:00. There are many more examples but the scene at 18 is the most evident.
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I surprisingly really enjoyed this film. I’m not a huge fan of musicals; they really just don’t float my boat. Gold Diggers of 1933 actually had a little bit more to it. Using the story line of the depression and not making the movie all singing pulled me into the story. It also had some comedy thrown into the mix witch made it more then a normal musical. Other then the content of the film the actresses killed it. I didn’t really pay attention to anyone else other then the leading ladies. They were casted perfect and took over the film from the men. Which in the film world doesn’t really happen as much as it should. The leading ladies were a nice change of pace for me. The camera movement was also very well done. I’m talking more about the musical number scenes when they are on stage. There was a bunch of smooth trucking and a lot of birds eye view shots. The scene that pops out to me was the bird’s eye view of the women dancing on stage with the light up violins. The only thing you saw was the violins that were illuminated and nothing else. The shot only showed them and nothing else on stage so you really had to focus on just the show that was going on. Over all the film was very enjoyable. I would recommend it to all the music majors and also to the film majors when asked my opinion on movies in that time period.
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I enjoyed this film very much. It had a very interesting story line and I enjoyed the comedic parts within the film. The musical numbers were also very pleasant.
It still surprises me to think that it was filmed in the 30’s, as the whole film was such a progression in comparison to Sunrise. And while it was set during the Great Depression, and the film did try to focus on that aspect of the time period, it did a very nice job bringing in some light and entertainment to the audience at the time.
I usually do not enjoy musicals too much. But perhaps because even though this is considered to be a “musical” it didn’t seem too much like a musical. Comedy with a tad of singing.
The ending was quite surprising for the upbeat film. The ending, in my opinion, was very much expressing the current situation of the United States.
The film was surprisingly bawdy, exposing a lot of the women at the time. Also the main musical number that was played during their show surprised me because the content was of the song was describing the carnal desires the men were feeling.
All in all though, I enjoyed this film very much for the time period it was made.
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I have always liked musicals. The Gold Diggers of 1933 was very entertaining and pretty funny at times. However, I wonder if people watching this film back in 1933 laughed at the same things that our class found funny when screening last Wednesday. For example, when Polly called Brad to come over and he stopped playing the piano instantly and said, “Ok!” Throughout the film I felt like the direction was changing a lot. In the beginning, I expected the story to follow Barney and the theater girls, but that soon moved towards, Brad and Polly’s relationship, and then to Lawrence and Carol, and at the end the last musical number that was very dark and depressing. Also, what happened to the little dog that Peabody bought for Trixie? I really enjoyed the female characters in this film, their characters really made the movie great. It’s strange to think that the role of women in films changed so drastically following this. One other thing that surprised me was what the women were wearing in the film. It must have been difficult to go to censorship after this film, because the wardrobe for this film was quite risqué at times, like the scene where Lawrence and Peabody go to meet Polly and Trixie is in the tub and Carol is wearing a small, thin top while doing her make-up. Overall it was a good film with great characters, beautiful choreography, and interesting plots.
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Gold Diggers of 1993 was a lot of fun to watch because all the right elements that went into the making of it – great cast, great music and choreography, and amazing camera work. Even though I am not the biggest fan of old black and white films, I found this particular one to be quite enjoyable and at times even funnier than some of our modern-day comedies.
I was really surprised about the fact that this film was so much more advanced that Sunrise in terms of sound and camera work, and the overall quality. Also, not forgetting those Busby Berkeley’s music numbers, which were just spectacular. I especially enjoyed the glow-in-the-dark scene with the violins.
Furthermore, even though it was set during the dark times of Great Depression the director did a great job by making it easy, fun and entertaining film to watch.
As everyone else, I was quite surprised by the ending – the last sequence entitled “Forgotten Man”, which overall seemed so much darker than the overall mood of the film. However, I loved the number, and it’s dramatic placement, because it is the one that audiences left the theatre with, and that sort of left people with food for though and brought them back to the harsh reality.
Overall Gold Diggers of 1933 is a solid film and is entertaining throughout its full 96 or so minutes, with its great cast, music and choreography it is highly recommended to be seen and enjoyed.
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I really enjoyed this film, much like how I enjoyed Sunrise. However, this one was a lot lighter in feel, seeing as it was a musical. Speaking of musicals, I was really impressed with the voices in this film. The lead male especially had a really nice, full, trained voice. I could tell he supported it from his diaphragm, and the overall sound was really rich.
The choreography for some of the dance scenes was also really creatively done. I thought the one with the roller skates and winter theme towards the beginning dragged on just a tad, but I really enjoyed watching the last two. The hoop skirts and lights on the violins combined with the girls on the staircase set really worked, and the last scene with “Forgotten Man” really portrayed the times of war.
I also really enjoyed watching the female characters. As many others have been saying, they were portrayed as strong and independent. Also, I liked how the male characters were often toyed around with and fooled. Seeing as it was set in a time where one would think of the man as always being the stronger one, it was fun to see them getting so confused and playfully led on by the girls. The older brother in particular was particularly cute in this way. I’m glad everything worked out in the end for everybody.
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Given the time period the story was set, I was surprised how strong and opinionated the women were portrayed in the film. I particularly liked the scene in which the three female performers are walking around in lingerie and later eating breakfast with milk that they had stolen from their neighbour. These scenes made me think of a scene of from a chick-flick film, and I thought it truly shed a light how women can act non-lady like and sloppy despite how they were oppressed and considered inferior. Not only that, the women performing at the theater were degraded and thought to be equivalent to a showgirl. However, the film inferred women working at the theater are opinionated, rebellious and clever. In the scene in where Trixie tricks Brad’s brother into buying the hats she ordered, I think this scene is significant because it shows how foolish and feeble men can be and in contrast to that showed how conniving and smart women are.
One thing I realized about “Gold digger of 1933 is that, the actual singing is limited only in the theater performance scene and not in scenes outside the theatre. I found it interesting how the emotions of the characters are only projected through the songs they sing on stage as their roles. In contrast to this, many contemporary musicals are comprised of characters singing the dialogues expressing their emotions in the appropriate scene. It may be because musical genre was very new at the time and the idea of musicals were very different then.
Overall I enjoyed the film. I think the film was visually and music wise great. I thought some parts of the story progressed quite suddenly and unnaturally, but then again I think it adds to the element to create an unexpected plot and surprise factor for the viewer.
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Gold Diggers of 1933 is a pretty good movie for its time. At first I thought it was going to be pretty slow like other movies of its time compared to more modern movies. But I was pleasantly surprised that the pacing for the movie was quite good, aside from a few weird jump shots at the beginning of the film the cinematography was good as well.
Another thing that surprised me was how the female characters acted, when I think of women of that time period I have this idea of a “weaker” woman who is more conservatively dressed and does whatever a man says. But in Gold Diggers the women were pretty much the opposite of my expectations. So it was a shame to hear in class that after that movie the hay’s code changed things.
As far as this movie being a musical goes, I thought it was nicely done. I’m not usually a fan of musicals, I was a little apprehensive about this film at first. Thankfully there were only a few musical scenes that weren’t too long and they were separated between the other parts of the movie.
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I still can’t believe that this film was made only 5 years after the Sunrise was made. I could see that the film was rapidly developing at that time.
Compared to Sunrise, the pictures looks clearer to me. That might be caused by the development of camera. The mood of the story was more consistent than the one of Sunrise. I felt that Sunrise changed its mood so many times (like it started as a romance film, then turned out to be like a suspense film, had several scenes as a comedy….) and I got confused. This time, however, I didn’t get confused like I did last time.
Just one part, I got a little bit confused. That was the very last scene. Right after the all characters had happy endings, suddenly satirical musical started and this film ended with it. It left me a great impact. If I watched it in 1933, it would strongly enforced me to think about the war. So it might be their technique I thought. This ending reminded me the music video of Michael Jackson, “Black or White”. This music video also had a dance scene which has similar satirical mood in the last.
Overall I really enjoyed the film. The story and the acting were great.
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The film “Gold Diggers of 1993” was very fun to watch even though I do not really watch black and white films. The film has a thoughtfull look at human relationship which makes the story more interesting and complecated. About the technology of shooting in this film, I was impressed that “Gold Diggers of 1993” is way more advanced, especially sound elements, to compare to the film “Sunrise”.
The story was based on the era when the United States had a recession and many people faced to the hard time of getting jobs. The film describes the background of the story very well.
The most impressive part of the film is musical. The film, at that time, did not have any computer graphics but the musical scenes are very well done. Especially, the part “forgotten merody” was really amazing.
This time is just right before the US made the new deal policy so we can guess that women at this time keenly seeked for rich men. And the title was “Gold Diggers”.
Overall, I really enjoyed the film. I would like to learn more about the history and the background of the era in the film.
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Like other folks here, I’m not much of a fan of musicals eiher. However, this film may have changed that tune (poor musical humor, I realize). It was not only catchy, but fun to watch – making up for the length of the film; I was entertained the whole time.
The dynamic between the female characters was great – well-played by the actresses. Most women portrayed in movies were not as strong-minded as these ladies; although their characters’ profession was theater-based, their display of crafty wit enhanced the humorous plot.
What I liked most was how the story unfolded just before that final number. It was quite incredible how much more advanced this film was, compared to “Sunrise,” which was only released six years prior. Especially fo this era, it was definitely a visual success. Clearly, it was a great distraction from the reality of the Great Depression. This musical had a great balance of music and dialogue, and willingly, I could say I would watch “Gold Diggers of 1933” again.
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Rarely do I find musicals capable of capturing my attention. No matter how much focus I put on mesmerizing myself with the extravagant costume designs, the intricate choreography and the lyrical ballads, I cannot help but finding sporadic songs to be “distracting” from the plot which I rely on to carry my interest. That being said, Gold Diggers can be categorized as an exception to my musical grievances as it incorporated songs to compliment a plot centered around a musical. The numbers were not randomly placed character expressions but rather instrumental to keep the plot moving.
While I found the musical numbers to compliment the plot, I did not find the plot extremely captivating. Personally, I found the story to be too convenient to have me curious as to what would happen next. For example, within hours of the main girls’ show being cancelled, it just so happens that they hear their next door neighbor whom they do not know playing a beautiful ballad on the piano and who just so happens to have enough money to fund an entire Broadway production. Fortunately for this film, this dilemma would not be the overall roadblock to the character’s success as this man did have a sinister brother looking to take advantage of the girls. It is important to note; however, that viewing this now allows me to have problems with the plotline. During the Great Depression this film might have served as a place of inspiration to struggling actresses to offer an enjoyable empowering feeling which would be entertaining to any viewer at the time. While I can complain about the easiness of the storyline, If I were to watch a film about generally privileged college students who have trouble affording luxuries who happen to have a neighbor that has a briefcase of money to offer, I would have no problem with the convenience and enjoy the fantasy of the situation. Overall I found Gold Diggers to be an enjoyable film that provides a sense of whimsical relief to a dark period that was the Great Depression.
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Gold Diggers of 1933 was a very energetic and entertaining film. I really didn’t know what to expect from this film. It kept a rather quick pace I wasn’t expecting from this era of film. The cast members were very well put together. This was my first early musical and some of these scenes were amazing. I really enjoyed the violin scene, but I can’t help but think that each one of those dancers died of some sort of cancer. The other scene I really liked was the ominously dark final scene. This scene sort of comes out of nowhere, transitioning from happy love scene to a very dark scene with soldiers marching. I just can’t help but wonder how many takes they needed of that scene. Trying to keep in perfect step with the person in front of you going uphill is not the easiest of feats. Overall, I thought this film was a great watch. Again, coming from the 1930s I was pretty astonished at how recent this film feels. I literally thought I was watching a recent musical.
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I quite loved “Gold diggers of 1933”. I wasn’t really expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. I mean that in references to the story. People tend to forget that movies that came out back then were just as entertaining for those audiences as the movies that we have to today. They were captivating and enticing. Not just “boring” black and white movies that people tend to imagine them as. The story was actually quite good and a something that people today could have related to. I often wish I could have a sugar momma to take care of me. And watching the different relationships build was quit entertaining. I still wonder if Trixie honestly and earnestly loves the partner that she ended up with. While it was obvious that Carol and Lawrence would become romantically involved, I would have liked the movie to focus a bit more on the relationship between Brad and Polly. However things did go a bit awry for me at the ending. I wasn’t really too sure why they suddenly started talking about the war and ended the movie on such a gloomy note.
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Lynn-
I really loved this film and the way it portrayed life. Especially the life of women in that time period. In my opinion this film really showcased “real” women as opposed to so many films of that era that portrayed women as being quiet and submissive and very unlike real women in order to present a specific kind of image.
This film was captivating and intriguing and had characters that I could really feel a connection to, despite having been made so long ago. In addition I thought the filming style was very effective and aesthetically pleasing in my opinion. It was very classic black and white film with that soft lighting that tends to make everyone look softer than they really are.
All in all I really enjoyed this film and it was did a really good job of getting me invested in the story line and the lives of the characters.
The fact it was a musical was also very nostalgic for me, of all the black and white musicals I had grown up on as a child. The musical element felt more natural in this film than in the majority of musicals produced on film today because the songs did not come out of nowhere. It was clear they were performing them which was appropriate for the storyline.
Overall I really enjoyed this film and would be interested in seeing more like it.
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“Gold Diggers of 1933” was a brilliant and very artsy film. Out the gate, I enjoyed the costumes and musical aspect the film. This film was one of my top 5 films in which we viewed in class. This film took place during a very sensitive time period in American history, in that being the Great Depression. Due to this film touching the Great Depression, I am sure that many Americans related to this film. Due to the market crashing many projects were being held from production due to lack of money. The way that everyone got to get and remained strong during this film was very refreshing. I enjoyed the fact that four actresses with barely a pot to piss in came together to make such brilliant work. I really appreciated that in 2003, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. It is always refreshing to see a great peace of work being recognized. In conclusion I recommend this film to anyone who enjoy music and will love to be inspired about coming together and accomplishing goals no matter what the stipulations are.
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