A complete joy! 42nd Street, Golddiggers of 1933, Footlight Parade and this are virtually the same film and virtually all as good as each other. Possibly Golddiggers of 33 is a little better thanks to the snappier direction of Mervyn LeRoy but Dames is still 10 out of 10. The cast are perfect, the musical routines are classics such as 'By a Waterfall', 'I only have Eyes for You', and even the crazy 'The Girl with the Ironing Board' with Joan Blondell, seven months pregnant. It's also still very funny.
The fact that this film is called 'Dames' might make some people feel uneasy and Dick Powell's character's explanation doesn't really help: it's not the story, the acting, the songs which people want to see, it's dozens of beautiful dames. But why not!
The purpose of all of these is escapism from The Depression and the socially aware and champion of the underdog Daryl Zanuck knew that two things were needed for this. One was an upbeat story where downtrodden people succeed against stupid rich, unworthy millionaires and beat the system. Secondly and now more controversially, was lots of beautiful young women essentially in their underwear. These days that sounds terribly sexist but this was 90 years ago and that was the way the world was back then. Were the people in a society were a man's duty was to be the breadwinner and a woman's duty was to be looked after and look pretty any less happy than we are in our more enlightened 21st century society? Just accept it.
The other thing to just accept is Ruby Keeler. The fact that she knew she wasn't a good actress, or a classic beauty, good singer or good dancer gives her a degree of vulnerability and although you sometimes wonder how she ever got to be a star, you do want to root for her to succeed.....maybe that's why she became a star?
The fact that this film is called 'Dames' might make some people feel uneasy and Dick Powell's character's explanation doesn't really help: it's not the story, the acting, the songs which people want to see, it's dozens of beautiful dames. But why not!
The purpose of all of these is escapism from The Depression and the socially aware and champion of the underdog Daryl Zanuck knew that two things were needed for this. One was an upbeat story where downtrodden people succeed against stupid rich, unworthy millionaires and beat the system. Secondly and now more controversially, was lots of beautiful young women essentially in their underwear. These days that sounds terribly sexist but this was 90 years ago and that was the way the world was back then. Were the people in a society were a man's duty was to be the breadwinner and a woman's duty was to be looked after and look pretty any less happy than we are in our more enlightened 21st century society? Just accept it.
The other thing to just accept is Ruby Keeler. The fact that she knew she wasn't a good actress, or a classic beauty, good singer or good dancer gives her a degree of vulnerability and although you sometimes wonder how she ever got to be a star, you do want to root for her to succeed.....maybe that's why she became a star?