Gold Diggers of 1933 (Warner Bros.) (1933)

DAILY CURRENT STORIES “Gold Di ey Is Super Spectacle of All Time New Musical Drama Tops Anything Ever Produced Brilliant All Star Cast, Intoxicating Music and Girls in Most Elaborate Stage Settings (Review ) HEY’VE done it again! Warner Bros., who took the amusement world by storm some months ago with their sensational success called ‘‘42nd Street,’’ have come forward with a new surprise and a new accomplishment even greater in scope and promise. It is ‘‘Gold Diggers of 1933’’ super spectacie of all time, which opened last night at the Theatre and which thrilled its first audiences into wild acclaim. It is a daring challenge to those who believe they have seen everything, heard every thing that the screen has to offer! It is as different as it is spectacular; as entertaining as it is breath-tak ing. It is amusement spelled with capital letters and exclamation points. It is new! It is beautiful! It is not to be missed by anybody for any reason! Obviously all the resources of a great studio were placed at the disposal of Director Mervyn LeRoy when he started work on “Gold Diggers of 1933.” Here is the most lavish use of stellar names, of tuneful music, of ensembled beauty in chorus sequences that are positively thrilling, of story values and production costs, ever to come out of Hollywood. Garnished with the greatest “show” ever sereened, thanks to the amazing ingenuity and ability of Susvy perkéiey, wiuse choruses helped make “42nd Street” memorable, “Gold Diggers of 1933” is the story of the personalities and problems behind the planning and staging of a Broadway success. It is not just a “back stage” show. It is the story of the lives and loves of the people back of the back stage scenes and of their struggles and triumphs and disappointments. The brilliance of the cast assembled by Warner Bros. for this picture is a fair gauge of its extraordinary entertainment value. There is Warren William, ordinarily starring in his own pictures, heading the cast There is Joan Blondell, also a star in her own right and the four Gold Digging show girls who set out to “work” a couple of fans with the release of her first picture, “42nd Street.” Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Aline MacMahon and Ginger Rogers are Ruby Keeler, who jumped over Gold Diggers at Work at Strand tion. Music and lyries are by Harry Warren and Al Dubin. No review of “Gold Diggers of 1933” is complete without particular mention of the two hundred beautiful girls who go to make up the Berkeley choruses. There is an unequalled Javishness about these dance ensembles that sets up totally new values in screen spectacle. The girls are lovely beyond comment and while the story itself would make better than ordinary entertainment, the “show within a show” and the chorus numbers shown there, lift the whole produetion to the status of exceptional, extraordinary and sensational. “Gold Diggers of 1933” is much too big, too exciting, too all-embracwealthy society men for jewels, expensive gowns and furs, cars and ing for this reviewer to attempt to JOAN BLONDELL and WARREN WILLIAM ina scene from the Strand’s new hit, “Gold Diggers of 1933.” This is the elaborate and much awaited musical production filmed by Warner Bros.,who also made“42nd Street.” Cut No. 12 night into the hearts of the movie every possible luxury. Headed by these three names, the cast reads as follows: Dick Powell, Aline MacMahon, Guy Kibbee, Ginger Rogers, Ned Sparks and Tammany Young. The picture is an adaptation of an Avery Hopwood play with Erwin Gelsey and James Seymour credited with the adapta Cut 30c Mat 10c single out any individual or any single scene for description. It’s breath-taking entertainment which you can’t afford to miss! So we say Warner Bros. have done it again. “42nd Street” opened up new vistas for the amusement hungry public. “Gold Diggers of 1933” is the realization of the high promise of its predecessor. Beauty Is Mirrored In “Cold Diggers Of 1933” Here’s one of the many sights on view at the Strand in Warners’ new musical spectacle. Among the many favorites to be found in the cast are Joan Blondell, Warren William, Ruby Keeler and oodles of others you like. Page Eighteen Out No.21 Out45c Mati15c gers” Breath-Taking in Scope (Opening Day Story) “Gold Diggers of 1933,”’ a Super Musical, Opens Today Most Lavishly Produced Star Studded Picture Hailed as Being Greater Than “42nd Street” eo OLD Diggers of 1933.’’ Warner Bros.’ dramatic musical screen special and the most lavishly produced motion pic ture of the decade, opens today at the Theatre. Hailed as a fitting climax to a season of exceptional enter tainment values started by the popular ‘‘42nd Street,’ a few presentation of the enormously months ago, ‘‘Gold Diggers of 1933”’ has been acclaimed by critics and by first audiences as the most spectacular and vital entertainment ever originated in Hol lywood. Eight players of stellar rank, headed by Warren William, Joan Blondell and Ruby Keeler, take important parts in this production. Others include Dick Powell, Aline MacMahon, Guy Kibbee, Ginger Rogers and Ned Sparks. A new Busby Berkeley chorus of 200 beautiful girls, achieves startling importance in the present picture in the most gorgeously staged ensembles ever conceived for stage or screen entertainment. A vital and dramatic story of the people behind the production of a great Broadway show, ‘‘Gold Diggers of 19337’ would be a great picture even without the enhancement of the spectacular musical show settings. Combined with these it is said to present the greatest amusement value of this or any other year’s productions. Song numbers from the_talented team of Harry Warren and Al Dubin, who were responsible for the hits in its predecessor, ‘‘42nd Street,’’ will soon be heard and sung the world over. ‘*Gold Diggers of 1933’’ was directed by Mervyn LeRoy who has given the entertainment world pictures like ‘‘T Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang’’ and ‘‘Elmer the Great’’ in Ist day of run Kibbee Can’t Dance But He Had to Step for “‘Gold Diggers’ Guy Kibbee was somewhat startled when Director Mervyn LeRoy ordered him to take Aline MacMahon in his arms and whisk her around to the strains of a lively dance for a nightclub scene in ‘‘Gold Diggers of 1933,’’ the Warner Bros. musical and dramatic spectacle now at the............ Theatre. ““But I don’t know how to danee,’’ he exclaimed with a note of pathos in his voice. ‘‘If I’ve got to do anything like that, you’ll have to hold up the production while I take a few dancing lessons! ’’ ‘“That’s all right, Guy,’’ said Mervyn. ‘We won’t have to hold up the picture and you won’t have to take any lessons. You’re not supposed to know how to dance. You’re an ultraconservative Boston lawyer, who has never been in a night club in his life. Especially as you’re supposed to be a bit light-headed with cham. pagne.’’ The portly Kibbee then demonstrated how much he didn’t know about dancing by putting on a hilarious impersonation of a slightly inebriated gentleman on a crowded night-club floor. “Gold Diggers of 1933,’’ carries an all-star cast including Warren William, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Aline MacMahon, Guy Kibbee, Ginger Rogers and Ned Sparks. Busby Berkeley was in charge of the dance and choral ensembles, in which 200 beautiful show girls appear. The picture is an adaptation by David Boehm and James Seymour of a play by Avery Hopwood. the past few months. Combined with LeRoy’s ability to crowd dramatic and comedy incidents into close harmony is Busby Berkeley’s unerring ; Sense of beauty, color and sensational effects with chorus ensembles. Out of this happy collaboration of effort comes Warner | threw the etire resou of their great studios behind this production. The Avery Hopwood story has been adapted by Erwin Gelsey and James Seymour. The enormous sets designed for the Berkeley chorus numbers were a seven day marvel in sensation satiated Hollywood. The cast equals the average drawing power of _ five successful pictures. All in all ‘‘Gold Diggers of 1933’’ is offered to the public now as the greatest single achievement in the history of the amusement industry. DICK POWELL again brings his youthjul charm to the screen in an important role in the new musical hit “Gold Diggers of 1933.” Out No. 2 Out15e Mat be 2nd day of run Dick Powell Capable One Man Orchestra in ‘‘Gold Diggers’’ Dick Powell, the handsome young Arkansas lad who ecrooned his way to instant popularity in “Blessed Kvent” and who wowed them aplenty in the spectacular “42nd Street’ with his pleasing voice, blossoms forth as an instrumentalist as well as a vocalist in “Gold Diggers of 1933,” now at the Theatre, which Mervyn LeRoy directed for Warner Bros. In two of his numbers in this super-musical Dick accompanies himself on the piano and in a third routine is seen and heard as a violinist. Playing the piano and _ violin, however, by no means represents all of Dick Powell’s musical attainments. He is equally at home with the saxophone, clarinet, trumpet and banjo. In fact he was featured at various times as a soloist on each instrument while appearing in a Pittsburgh Theatre as Master of Ceremonies just prior to his signing with Warner Bros. Being a veritable one-man band including the singer and M. C. makes Dick a much sought after young man in film social circles. Besides, he is real handsome with a most engaging personality Others in the cast of this picture are Warren William, Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon, Ruby Keeler, Guy Kibbee, Ned Sparks and Ginger Rogers. “Gold Diggers of 1933” is based on a play by Avery Hopwood.