Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936)

Gold Diggers of 1937
Directed by Lloyd Bacon; Musical numbers created and directed by Busby Berkeley
Written by Warren Duff et al
1936/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing

[box] Genevieve Larkin: It’s so hard to be good under the capitalist system.[/box]

The Gold Digger series has been slowly transitioning from the back stage musical to the musical comedy.  The transition is almost complete in this entry, not necessarily to the benefit of the film.

Rosmer Peck (Dick Powell) is a struggling life insurance salesman who would rather be a Broadway star.  Norma Perry (Joan Blondell) is an out-of-work chorus girl who decides to get a regular paying job.  They meet cute on a train and Rosmer gets Norma a job with his company.  It is love at first sight but Rosmer is broke.

Norma’s friend Genevieve (Glenda Farrell) is still trying to make a career in show business and gets friendly with an assistant of Broadway producer J.J. Hobart (Victor Moore).  The assistant and his crony have misappropriated Hobart’s money.  Genevieve comes up with the idea of buying life insurance on hypochondriac Hobart with the thought that he will die soon (hilarious, I know).  Rosmer sells Hobart a million dollar policy, the commissions on which will allow him to marry Norma.  When Hobart passes the medical exam for the policy, he gets a new lease on life causing Genevieve and her friends to take action.

This is almost a straight musical comedy with most of the numbers sung by Dick Powell in the course of the plot.  There is one production number at the end as part of the obligatory “let’s put on a show” effort.  Neither the routines nor the comedy is good enough to make this a must see.  Dick Powell and Joan Blondell retain their charm, however.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg4vI2UNj60