Sunday: Berkeley & Von Sternberg

(Lloyd Bacon, Busby Berkeley, 1933) • The first in a series of lavish musicals that Busby Berkeley made for Warner Bros., 42nd Street revitalized the musical genre. Unlike its more escapist predecessors, this backstage saga takes the Depression head on. Warner Baxter stars as a sick and broke Broadway director who must stage a hit musical to earn back his reputation. Featuring an early Ginger Rogers, a between-the-legs tracking shot, a risqué number called “Shuffle Off to Buffalo,” and a dancing Manhattan skyline, 42nd Street provided what its trailer boasted: “the greatest aggregation of dancing beauties ever seen together on stage or screen.” Archival 35mm Courtesy of the Library of Congress

(Mervyn LeRoy, 1933) • The first Gold Diggers film follows a group of chorus girls who decide to fight unemployment by producing an ambitious Broadway show. The film features many of Berkeley’s most memorable musical numbers. “We’re in the Money” includes Ginger Rogers singing in Pig Latin while wearing a dress made of coins, while “Pettin’ in the Park” contains lewd Pre-Code antics which upset state censorship boards. “The Shadow Waltz” features a line of women ascending an Escheresque staircase while playing neon-tubed violins, and the devastating final number, “Remember My Forgotten Man,” includes breadlines and marching war veterans. Archival 35mm Courtesy of the Library of Congress

(Lloyd Bacon, 1933) • Busby Berkeley’s third Warner Bros. picture features James Cagney in his first singing and dancing role as a struggling Broadway director who turns to making short stage productions called prologues for movie theaters. The film contains some of Berkeley’s most accomplished camerawork, including the spectacular “By a Waterfall” number, in which Dick Powell dreams of dozens of mermaids sliding down a waterfall and swimming in striking geometric patterns. Like the other 1933 films in this series, it too contains a suggestive Pre-Code number—this one luridly entitled “Honeymoon Hotel.” Archival 35mm Courtesy of the Library of Congress

(Ray Enright, 1934) • An eccentric millionaire on a nationwide moral campaign comes to New York City to visit his cousin. Upon arriving, he is shocked to discover that her daughter works as a dancer in vulgar Broadway shows. Even worse, she’s engaged to a struggling showbiz hopeful who is also her distant cousin! In one of the most memorable numbers of Berkeley’s career, “I Only Have Eyes For You,” throngs of swaying women don identical Ruby Keeler masks. In an equally bizarre number, “The Girl at the Ironing Board,” a group of women clean their lovers’ undergarments while longingly singing, “Bring back your laundry to me.” Archival 35mm Courtesy of the Library of Congress

(Vincente Minnelli, 1944) • Meet Me In St. Louis is one of Minnelli’s true masterpieces. Set in a turn-of-the-century St. Louis brimming with Technicolor trolleys and gas lamps, the film follows the Smith family through the seasons as they await the 1904 World’s Fair. One of the most mesmerizing scenes in the film—and Minnelli’s personal favorite—shows a spooky Halloween night from the perspective of a young girl. Judy Garland, whom Minnelli met on set and married soon after, performs several songs which have become famous in their own right, including “The Trolley Song” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” Archival 35mm Courtesy of the Academy Film Archive

(Josef Von Sternberg, 1930) • This is the film that brought Marlene Dietrich international stardom. A sophisticated high school professor lusts after a carefree cabaret singer named Lola Lola (Marlene Dietrich) whom he meets at a nightclub called The Blue Angel. He renounces his high social standing to marry the young woman, but their happiness together is short lived. Before long his savings run out and the dignified professor is reduced to a traveling clown, scorned by his former colleagues and pupils. Von Sternberg stages this melancholic tale in moodily lit cabaret interiors that are visibly influenced by German Expressionism. 35mm

(Josef Von Sternberg, 1930) • Marlene Dietrich stars as a Parisian chanteuse named Amy Jolly who has come to Morocco to work at Lo Tinto’s cabaret. Her seductive performance attracts the attention of a carefree legionnaire named Tom Brown and a millionaire named Monsieur La Bessiere. Amy quickly falls in love with Tom, but when he gets called off to battle, she must choose between her love for him and the more luxurious lifestyle she could lead with La Bessiere. Von Sternberg stuns with fluid camerawork, delicate plays of light and shadow, and expressive sets. 35mm

(Josef Von Sternberg, 1934) • Sophia Frederica (Dietrich) is forced to marry Peter, Grand Duke of Russia. Enraged upon actually meeting the Duke – and discovering that he’s a half-wit – she takes up with the womanizing Alexei, who is also the Empress’s paramour. Then, she takes up with most of the Russian army. Is it a political move to win their favor? Is she just an unstoppable nymphomaniac? Unclear. Story is mostly subsumed under what Von Sternberg himself called "a relentless excursion into style”, as he crams his set with gargoyles, overdressed Hussars, and Dietrich’s beautiful, Martian face. 35mm