Edgar Allan Pooh . . . to rivet America's attention on how worthless the country's Richest One Per Cent are to the rest of us. While rival outfits such as MGM tried to fill American minds with fantasies such as the WIZARD OF OZ and GONE WITH THE WIND, Warner kept crashing to the forefront of the Public's consciousness with their gritty exposes, such as director William A. Wellman's HEROES FOR SALE or choreographer/director Busby Berkeley's numerous extravaganzas, including GOLD DIGGERS OF 1935. Though Warner was infamously frugal (this flick is filmed in black and white, after all), Busby was an expert on making a C-note look like a million bucks on-screen. GD35 culminates with one of those phony baloney "charity" functions, in which the One Per Cent make sure that 99% of the money "raised" is frittered away on pointless excess for their own wicked amusement. This show-within-the-movie (for a "Milk Fund") begins with what appear to be 88 white-gowned female concert pianists plunking away at 88 Steinway grand pianos frivolously ruined with milk-white paint jobs. Act Two shows former WWI drill Sgt. Berkeley's true stripes. Flypaper heiress Ann Prentiss at first is in a milky-white garbed audience of two, watching 198 frenetic tap dancers sweating for her pleasure on a cavernous stage. But then Berkeley concludes this piece by having normal people shove One Per Center Ann out of a high-rise window! Warner is doing all it can short of spelling out on the screen "Rise up, you pawns!" to keep America a free country (as opposed to the MGM-style Bread & Circus Show it is today).

mark.waltz The penny pinching Alice Brady is financially backing a fund-raising musical show for "the milk fund" in one of the best resorts for the rich and famous, but there are problems because she wants the finaces cut down to the bones. Daughter Gloria Stuart and son Frank McHugh have their own agendas which doesn't include mommy's attempts to squeeze sweat out of the presidents on her cash, and that includes romance which they don't seem to care may cost them (or her) money.As the resort prepares to open, manager Grant Mitchell informs the crew that some of them aren't being paid because they will receive more than their share of gratuities. Brady gives the three bellboys a quarter to split (an insult, even in 1935), and when she finally does agree to let the pretty Stuart go shopping, it is with the agreement that resort employee (and musical show leading man) Dick Powell will oversee every purchase she makes. So after a make-over comes lingerie, the millinery, evening gowns, shoes and hair, and mother is definitely going to need a doctor when she gets the bill. Stuart and Powell go to the resort's shopping area with a delightful musical number ("I'm Going Shopping With You"), and you begin to wonder who the real gold digger here is.To keep her money safe, Brady has Stuart in an arranged marriage with the eccentric Hugh Herbert who becomes the victim of a blackmail scheme by resort secretary Glenda Farrell. This leads to lots of comic interludes and racy dialog that barely escapes the Hays code laws. Adolph Menjou is the eccentric Russian director in charge of the production, and he too seems to be digging for gold, being much in the rears with his hotel and restaurant bills. To watch him choreograph the musical numbers with a certain "Russian military flair" is comedic heaven.Two gigantic musical numbers add to the fun of this second installment of the Berkley trio of "Gold Diggers" musicals. "The Words Are in My Heart" utilizes white grand pianos as giant puzzle pieces to form a giant piano (much like the giant violin in "Gold Diggers of 1933'" "Shadow Waltz" number), and the lengthy "Lullaby of Broadway" number shows the life of a Broadway baby who literally does say goodnight. Winifred Shaw leads this musical number with Powell as the romantic escort, with dozens of extras aiding in making the musical number stand out as Berkley's last humongous extravaganza. He would have a few big numbers in "Gold Diggers of 1937", but nothing that could top this in length and the extravagance. Berkley would return to outrageousness just under a decade later with a certain Brazilian bombshell taking center stage.

earlytalkie Busby Berkeley had a long list of credits choreographing many Hollywood films beginning in 1930 with Whoopee! with Eddie Cantor for Samuel Goldwyn. He made several more pictures during this early phase in his carrer with Goldwyn, MGM and Universal before Warner Brothers engaged him for 42nd Street (1933) which the Warners saw as a re-birth of the musical after a period of apathy stemming from the glut of musicals from the latter part of 1930. 42nd Street was a huge success putting much-needed money in the corporate coffers. This was followed in quick succession by Gold Diggers of 1933, Footlight Parade, Dames, Wonder Bar, In Caliente and the picture I am discussing here, Gold Diggers of 1935. This film had a somewhat lighter plot than some of the earlier films and it substitutes Gloria Stuart for Ruby Keeler. Ms. Stuart was indeed not a musical comedy honey, but her acting is miles above Ms. Keeler's, and she is gorgeous to look at. She sings but one musical phrase in the entire 95-minute film, and I suspect even that little snippett is dubbed. It's okay though, as we are treated to that somewhat lighter-than-air plot about hijinks at a resort hotel, a few beautiful tunes by Harry Warren and Al Dubin, and some of Berkeley's best choreography, particularly in the two final numbers that wrap up the picture. "The Words Are In My Heart" is a particularly beautiful song illustrated by an amazing display of 56 moving pianos, assisted by some beautiful chorines and some men hidden underneath moving said pianos to a plethora of astonishing patterns and positions. "The Lullaby of Broadway" has been called by many Berkeley's greatest single number, and indeed, it is a mind-boggling affair of some of the best precision dancing you will ever see. To those who say Berkeley merely mechanized chorus girls in series of fast-moving tableaux, just watch these boys and girls go through Berkeley's rigorous paces. The print as shown on the Warners DVD is in excellent shape considering the film's age, and there are many delectable special features included. Warners generally give their features the "A" treatment and for those wishing a night at the movies, depression-era style, look no further than Gold Diggers of 1935.

nomoons11 When you see the original then see this, it's like seeing Chinatown then seeing The Two Jakes. Not even remotely close to being as good as the original.A seasonal only hotel opens for the summer and some wealthy folks come to town for a visit. A rich heiress and her kids show up and whilst there, the daughter is suppose to marry a richer man than her mother. She doesn't care for him but the mother pushes her because of the money. The son has been married and divorced 4 times...and marries...again while there. Among all this the heiress decides she'll put on a ply to benefit the "Milk Fund". When a no-goo producer hears about he tries to milk her for all she can. Mixed in you'll see people that are suppose to be married marrying others and goldigging women setting up a man to get his dough and blackmails him.My complaint was that this is the "meanest" of the Busby Berkley musicals. I mean I know this is suppose to be comedy and all that but the original was way more fun. This is just not what I expected in the Gold Diggers series. The real surprise is the girl who sets up the guy by forging/faking a letter of intent and she tells her lawyers to sue. Before this she tries to take $7,500 from this guy who's holding it cause it's the receipts for the play that is to support the milk fund. I mean, does this girl have any conscious? Stealing money from the Milk Fund? Geez.It doesn't help that the cast in this is just not up to the the task. There are a few known ones but this early on they weren't very established. You'll notice Adolphe Menjou and Dick Powell. You also get to see Gloria Stuart but she wasn't an A-list actress during that time.The musical number at the end is all Busby Berkley for sure. He does it like only he could do. Very entertaining but this is not the best of this series by a long shot. I guess to me it's almost always the case that most sequels aren't near as good as the originals. This one just doesn't hold a candle to 1933.