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42nd Street
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42nd Street
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- 1933
- Lloyd Bacon
- 85 mins
- U
Summary
Musical starring Warner Baxter, Bebe Daniels, Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell. Julian Marsh is a celebrated Broadway director whose failing health is forcing him to leave the business. Determined to go out with a great success, he begins rehearsals for his new show Pretty Lady and starts to put his chorus girls through their paces.
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Review
A star rating of 5 out of 5.
Tony Sloman
One of the most important and enjoyable musicals of all time, this sizzling Warner Bros movie is also one of the best loved of the early talking pictures. Warners was the studio responsible for introducing talkies to the world with The Jazz Singer in 1927, and six years later 42nd Street continued the grand tradition. The film is recognised as a masterpiece, not merely for its racy dialogue and lavish costumes, or for its now-classic "newcomer goes on instead of indisposed star" plot, but also for affording kaleidoscope choreographer Busby Berkeley a chance to show off in such superb numbers as Shuffle Off to Buffalo and You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me. The production cost a then-mammoth $400,000 and it shows. This is as entertaining as it gets, with a knockout cast headed by Warner Baxter as the stressed Broadway director and Bebe Daniels as his star. Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler (then married to Warners legend Al Jolson) feature in roles that would turn them into household favourites, and a newcomer called Ginger Rogers plays Anytime Annie - "The only time she said no, she didn't hear the question!".
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7.3/10
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Credits
Cast
rolenameJulian MarshWarner BaxterDorothy BrockBebe DanielsPeggy SawyerRuby KeelerBilly LawlerDick PowellPat DenningGeorge BrentLollyUna MerkelAnytime Annie Ginger RogersAbner DillonGuy KibbeeThomas BarryNed SparksMac EloryAllen JenkinsActorHenry B WalthallTerryEdward NugentJerryHarry AkstAl JonesRobert McWadeAndy LeeGeorge E Stone
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Crew
rolenameDirectorLloyd Bacon
Details
Theatrical distributor
Warner Bros Pictures Ltd
Released on
1933-09-09
Languages
English
Available on
video and DVD
Formats
Black and white
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