Gold Diggers of 1935
Screening on Film
Directed by Busby Berkeley.
With Dick Powell, Adolphe Menjou, Gloria Stuart.
US, 1935, 35mm, black & white, 98 min.
With Dick Powell, Adolphe Menjou, Gloria Stuart.
US, 1935, 35mm, black & white, 98 min.
Romance and comedy fill the halls of a swanky New England resort. Dick Powell stars as a medical student working as a hotel clerk for the summer who falls for the daughter (Stuart) of a stingy millionairess (Alice Brady). Adolphe Menjou co-stars as a Russian impresario hired to stage the hotel’s annual charity show. For Berkeley’s first solo outing as director, Warner offered him a slight story and a more economical production budget. Despite these obstacles, he somehow managed to produce his most masterful musical number (and his personal favorite), “The Lullaby of Broadway,” featuring an endless parade of synchronized tap dancers.