42nd Street / Gold Diggers of 1933

The UCLA Film & Television Archive presents classic film and contemporary cinema in the Hammer's Billy Wilder Theater.

Part of the series To Heck with Your Don’ts and Be Carefuls. 

The first in a trio of successful backstage musicals choreographed by Busby Berkeley, this classic revels in hope while never ignoring the grit of Depression-era life. Featuring an outstanding cast of seasoned performers from the silent days in a enormous cast with up-and-coming talent, 42nd Street charts a young chorus girl’s accidental rise to stardom (Ruby Keeler) after seasoned Broadway pro Dorothy (Bebe Daniels) sprains her ankle before opening night. (1933, dir. Lloyd Bacon, 35mm, black and white, 89 min.)

The second of three blockbuster Warner Bros. musicals from the early 1930s, Mervyn LeRoy and Busby Berkeley’s glitzy, gritty spectacular breathes with the lives of its effervescent showgirls: Ruby Keeler, Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon, and a fresh-faced Ginger Rogers are sensational. Era staples such as We’re In The Money receive the sublime visual treatment of Berkeley’s surrealist, formational choreography for a cine-musical experience best experienced on the silver screen. (1933, dir. Mervyn LeRoy, 35mm, black and white, 90 min.)