Busby Berkeley

I remember watching a bunch of these w/my grandma when they were on Britishes TV in the 80's. "Gold Diggers of 1933" was her favourite movie, she saw it when it came out!

Shit is way, way stranger that I remember, and for the most part unbelievably awesome. I like the way most of them are put together:

1/dude sings verse of harry warren showtune on stage
2/dude sings chorus (get used to it it will never leave yr head)
3/girl sings chorus
4/bizarre ever more surreal/OTT dance routine plays out while the orchestra & choir of dancing girls HAMMERS THE CHORUS INTO YOUR SKULL you will wake up in the morning with the shadow waltz tune or "by a waterfall" going round and round in your head.

The three that end Footlight Parade are his best streak: "Honeymoon Hotel," "By a Waterfall," "Shanghai Lil." His best movie, cuz it's got all the usual stuff AND Cagney.

There wasn't a clip for "shanghai lil", unfortunately :( James Cagney is astonishingly good generally in "Footlights Parade".

It's sad that all most people now know of his song-and-dance/comedy side is the often-deathly tonnage of Yankee Doodle Dandy.

4/bizarre ever more surreal/OTT dance routine plays out while the orchestra & choir of dancing girls HAMMERS THE CHORUS INTO YOUR SKULL you will wake up in the morning with the shadow waltz tune or "by a waterfall" going round and round in your head.

yes, the best moment of his musical numbers is the point at which he stops clinging to any trace of normal spatial mechanics and just goes insane with the camera/scale/perspective/etc. Some of the movies are pretty good even without taking the musical numbers into account, esp. Gold Diggers of 1935.

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"he stops clinging to any trace of normal spatial mechanics and just goes insane with the camera/scale/perspective/etc."

OTM. Some of the most flat-out psychedelic moments in cinema. Wish I could afford the box set.

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sorry, I couldn't watch these :(

I watched "Goin' to Heaven on a Mule" from "Wonder Bar" for the first time the other day. my brain is still trying to process what i saw.

4 votes! My poll is a failure! :( Not entirely unexpected, I figured it wd be only me and morbius voting & in fact I actually forgot to vote myself! I'd have voted for "Spin a little web of dreams" for the charmingly daft setups, the harps and the boat, it kind of takes kitsch to a high level of art. Also the seamstress when she wakes up at the end is <3<3<3.

Some of the most flat-out psychedelic moments in cinema.

Strongly surrealist-influenced, for sure, the "lullaby of broadway" sequence has a couple of direct lifts from de chirico in it, and I'm sure the girls holding their skirts out sideways in the "Only have eyes for you" bit are nicked from a Dali painting, as well as this, there's a whole bunch of disorienting/jarring moments- the odd/wrong camera angles in the 2nd half of the "lullaby of broadway" sequence as well as the bit where the dancers appear on the steps, the camera moves back and back and back, and the space they're dancing in grows larger and larger. Also, the extreme close of Ginger Rogers' face when she's singing the verse in pig latin, there's a sequence from "the gang's all here" where the action appears to be taking place on a dockside, and just when you're thinking that the set looks really fake, the camera moves back to reveal that it's all a set on a stage.

The "going to heaven on a mule" sequence, I've read about, but not seen. I guess it's like that "coal black and de sebben dwarves" WB cartoon where technically it's amazing but the subject matter is NO WAY, MAN. There used to be a laser disc of Busby Berkeley sequences that included it, they transferred all of them except that one to the DVD that's an extra in that set you can buy. In theory I guess they should have included it for completeness' sake, but I can't really blame them for missing it out TBH.

As an aside, the girl @ 0.33 on the "we're in the money" sequence is so hott! You only see her for 2 seconds or something. Who was she?

I guess it's like that "coal black and de sebben dwarves" WB cartoon where technically it's amazing but the subject matter is NO WAY, MAN.

yeh pretty much. lol giant watermelons splitting apart to reveal tapdancer in blackface etc :(

favourites from the list : the Ginger Rogers pig latin section, the bit in Dames when the camera flies down a row of mirrored chorus girls legs & it starts to become incredibly abstract, the evil baby/dwarf in Petting in the Park, pretty much the whole of I Only Have Eyes For You, the bits in Waterfall when the film flips in to negative.
oh and one great one missing from the list (and sadly youtube) - "The Girl At The Ironing Board" which features Joan Blondell dancing with a shirt that she's just ironed.

Most of the links are dead :( dude who had them up had a bunch of complete classic movies up as well, wizard of oz, sunset blvd and so on, so he got his profile pulled, I guess. OTOH, there are loads more routines up now. Probably my favourite one now is the "Shadow Waltz" one, the bit where the studio lights go out, and the neon strips around the violins light up is brilliant. Actually, my favourite is "whichever one I'm watching at the moment".

I got the DVD set for Christmas, anyway, it's excellent. The films are nice and crisp and clear, the extras are very good - a set of neat little documentaries about various aspects of Berkeley's work, contemporary WB cartoons using the tunes from the films, a short featuring a bunch of vaudeville acts some of which are great, some of which are totally WTF and so on.

The doc for "42nd Street" kind of suggests that Berkeley went from theatre into film, and his style sprung into life fully formed for "42nd Street" in 1933. But, I saw this on Youtube today, "Bend Down Sister" (!!) from "Palmy Days" (1931) - totally charming, and it already includes all of the Berkeley stylistic signifiers - psychedelic/proto op-art effects, top-down kaliedoscope sequence, all the dancer's faces lined up, one after the other. It even features some of the same dancers as in the later films, the girl with the Louise Brooks haircut at 5.33 is the girl who sings the "bridal suites are never very idle..." line in "honeymoon hotel"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXBb80VAXm0&feature=related

(OMG WAU @ "would you like a little rose on top"/"no, make it a PANSY" WTF WTF WTF)

(also, Charlotte Greenwood is just as annoying in this as she is in "The Gang's All Here")

Anyway, everyone should buy the DVD set, seeing the routines in good sharp resolution and w/good sound, they're even more awesome, plus the three films from 1933 are great. (the other 2 are a bit corny though)

Keith Uhlich on Babes in Arms:

http://immediateimpressions.wordpress.com/2011/01/26/babes-in-arms-1939/

So I watched "Gold Diggers of 1933" and loved it. Especially that part w the light-up violins. What BB should i see next?

The Gang's All Here (which contains lady In The Tutti Frutti Hat and Polka Dot Polka) is garish, Technicolor fun, and one of my favorite movies of all time. Man, this poll was woefully undervoted on...

So I watched "Gold Diggers of 1933" and loved it. Especially that part w the light-up violins. What BB should i see next?

I've seen a bunch of these since then (although not the Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland ones) "42nd Street" and "Footlight Parade" are the 2 that are closest to GDo33 - "42nd Street" is very similar but somewhat grittier and perhaps more archetypally pre-code-ish. The thing that stands out most in it to me is Warner Baxter's performance as the fucked-up theater director, but all of the cast are good, except for Ruby Keeler, and she is charming in her own way. Ginger Rogers has a better role than in Gold Diggers of 1933. The 3 numbers - "Shuffle off to Buffalo", "Young and Healthy" and "42nd Street" itself are all knockouts, easily as good as the numbers in "Gold Diggers of 1933". "Footlight Parade" I like a little less than the others, although there's not much in it. James Cagney in this film is amazing, absolutely blazing, radiant star quality, but he does tend to dominate the film a bit. The story is a bit stronger, maybe. Again there are 3 big numbers - "By a Waterfall" is incredible, one of BB's best, the other 2 I find a little weaker - "Honeymoon Hotel" is cute but seems to me to be too similar in tone, and a bit weaker than "Pettin' in the Park" from GD33. "Shanghai Lil" is weird - among the patrons of the bar it's set in are a few mixed-race couples (in 1933!) but also a bunch of caucasian performers are made up in a stereotypical asian manner, as is Ruby Keeler. Kind of confounding, but interesting, given when it was made. There is a long section with a bunch of sailors marching in formation, which drags a bit I think.
"Dames" from 1934 as a film is pretty dissapointing - the humour seems forced and hokey, and there is too much Hugh Herbert, he is really annoying, kind of hard to see what the appeal of the guy was. Joan Blondell is great in it though, the film is much better when she's onscreen (you could say this about most filsm though - "more Joan Blondell" = "a better film"). What makes it worth sitting through are 2 of the numbers - "Dames" and "I Only Have Eyes for You", these both have the hard black/white visuals like in "Shadow Waltz" and are a complete trip. "Dames" has this thing where the PoV continually shifts back and forth between closeups of the chorines and wider group shots in a really disorientating manner, it's my favourite out of all his routines.
"Gold Diggers of 1935" is p weak too I think, although the opening scenes are good. There is no Joan Blondell in it, or Ruby Keeler. Even though Ruby couldn't act or sing for shit, she has something, IDK what, that is way more appealing to me than Gloria Stuart, who plays the Ruby-ish role. Adolphe Menjou, Hugh Herbert and Alice Brady are all really irritating and are in a lot of the film. The big number, "Lullaby of Broadway" is terrific, one of Berkeley's best.

Of the pre "42nd Street" films I have seen "Whoopee!", "Palmy Days" and "Roman Scandals", all featuring Eddie Cantor. I think there are 2 more. "Palmy Days" is quite charming, "Roman Scandals" is a mess, "Whoopee!" is...dated, especially in it's racial attitudes. This is a pity because in some respects it is quite interesting, not least because it's a rare completely-surviving 2-strip technicolor musical.

"The Gang's all Here", as Dan P says is garish, lurid technicolor fun. The closing "Journey to a Star" medley number is insane, really psychedelic. That said, all of the Fox musicals w some combo of Alice Faye, Carmen Miranda and Don Ameche are like that and I like "That Night in Rio" loads better.

If you can find a copy for cheap, "Colleen", the last Powell/Keeler musical is surprisingly good, I picked it up off Warner Archive more out of duty/completism than anything else, and really enjoyed it.

a bit disjointed, it's quite late here....

tl:dr answer: 42nd Street, The Gang's all Here.

First see Footlight Parade, then see 42nd St. Then see Dames.

Rewatched 42nd Street for the first time in ages last night, the street scene finale is so good. LOL at Dick Powell being the "juvenile lead" at 29. Great character actors in this: Una Merkel, Ned Sparks (it dawned on me that the voice of Squidward in Spongebob Squarepants is likely based on Sparks, and probably the Edgar character in Bullwinkle is, too: "Now there's something you don't see every day, Chauncey..."

And Toby Wing, the uncredited blonde in the "Young and Healthy" number, was amazing looking. She was 17 when this was filmed.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CVtHo93AEHM/TR3yiN4lnCI/AAAAAAAADDM/pKjTD7qSZBw/s1600/Screen%2Bshot%2B2010-12-30%2Bat%2B7.37.08%2BPM.png

Also saw Palmy Days for the first time. The whole "Glorifying the American Doughnut" scene, fabulous!

OMG WAU @ "would you like a little rose on top"/"no, make it a PANSY" WTF WTF WTF)

!!!!!

wow that post i made a week ago makes almost no sense whatsoever. :(

I have a few '30's films on DVD where Toby Wing has some tiny uncredited role, she's a bank clerk in "Baby Face" (1933) for instance. Here she is in this archetypal pre-code number from "Murder at the Vanities" (which is dreadful!), from '34:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnySJxE_XQA

everytime Footlight Partade is mentioned i jus thave to post these (even though these haven't got much to do with BB)

http://s5.tinypic.com/316nudw.jpg

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/9767/fp1s.gif

ah more fun if they are displayed immediately

http://s5.tinypic.com/316nudw.jpg

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/9767/fp1s.gif

The Gang's All Here (which contains lady In The Tutti Frutti Hat and Polka Dot Polka) is garish, Technicolor fun, and one of my favorite movies of all time.

Saw this again on Sunday, it's INSANE. I think there may be a Criterion forthcoming.

http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/yes-dear-but-is-it-surrealism-the-mostly-cheerful-irrationality-of-busby-berkeleys-the-gangs-all-here

The copy I own is VHS taped from AMC. Would buy Criterion edition!

I'm not that fond of Footlight Parade as a whole, but By a Waterfall might be my favorite of these numbers.

I just saw The Gang's All Here too-I felt rather drained by the end. It seemed quite
shout-y. I think they had the volume up too loud.

A Criterion edition would be great-the DVD that came out a few years ago supposedly has a horrible transfer.

My mom picked up a yard sale VHS of The Wizard of Oz for me, and it contains deleted scenes, including Busby's choreography for Ray Bolger's Scarecrow sequence. I had never seen this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX76RCN_8hk

I guess we'll re-poll after... the Ryan Gosling biopic comes out!?!

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/ryan-gosling-to-produce-busby-berkeley-biopic-and-possibly-play-lead-role-9204829.html

NY, Harvard retros

https://www.fandor.com/keyframe/busby-berkeley