Dunham16
His 1933 blockbuster 42ND STREET focuses on serious issues backstage of performers and show creators. The following year he used three members of its principal cast, Guy Kibbee, Dick Powell and Ruby Keeeler as three of his leads in DAMES casting other familiar faces from Hugh Herbert to Joan Blondell to Zasu Pitts. This is a screwball comedy few of the scenes played straight its ending ending having nothing to do with tying up the threads of the plot. The brilliance of this film in my opinion is the way Berkley softens the true presentation of the hard life and desperation of show business people of the era by having a longer production number of the finished show filmed than in most of his films and having his two well known character actors, Hugh and ZaSu filming much of their familiar comic shtick to soften the blow of the reality of the scenes of the hard times of the performers.
atlasmb
If you look at the movie poster or watch the trailer for this film, it is clearly--and unabashedly--marketing the fact that it contains hundreds of women, many of whom were used in Busby Berkeley's huge production numbers. "Dames" also contains hints of pre-Code scandal and nudity--just hints.This Depression-era film, with its energetic dancing, upbeat songs, and extravagant displays of youthful enthusiasm and beauty was designed to take viewers away from the realities outside the theater doors. And it does that very well.Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Joan Blondell, and a wonderful cast of character actors including Guy Kibbee, Zasu Pitts, and Hugh Herbert thespiate (that must be a word) through a script that holds together but is largely inconsequential, except to provide a contrast between the opprobrium of Hugh Herbert's (Ezra Ounce) character, which is directed at the impropriety of the theater, and the onstage (and on screen) entertainment.The entire film is held together by the glue of two great songs: "I Only Have Eyes For You" and "Dames". Dick Powell is the perfect vocalist (of his day).The other "star" of the film is Mr. Berkeley's imaginative staging and camera work, including zooms, camera movement and special effects that are start-of-the-art in 1934.This is a classic because it provides a view of its era, and stylistically it is a paragon of its genre. After "Dames", there will be better scripts, better dancing, better effects, etc., but it encapsulates the spirit of its time.
MikeMagi
Busby Berkeley has rightfully been lauded as a legendary dance director. But he was also a master of special effects -- and there's no better proof than "Dames." Back in the primitive days before computer generated imagery, he somehow fashioned a floating flotilla of Ruby Keeler faces, a high-kicking chorus of Keeler clones, a series of vanishing crowds (for "I Only Have Eyes for You") and a dance troupe that turned to paper through which Dick Powell suddenly burst. All came off as seamlessly as the dizzying kaleidoscopes that were his trademark. As for the rest of "Dames," it's not bad. There's some sprightly satire of blue noses, personified by Hugh Herbert as the whimsically named billionaire Ezra Ounce who wants to close down Broadway. But if that happened, you'd never get to see Ms. Keeler tap dance as if she was killing cockroaches or watch Joan Blondell perform a witty tribute to the passion of laundry day.
donniefriedman
Just wanted to add - the names of the comic protagonists were no doubt send ups of well-known contemporary writers. Ezra Ounce = Ezra Pound. Horace Hemingway - well, that's pretty clear. Who knew Hollywood had a literary bent? I am interested in why Ruby Keeler was so popular. Was it because she was promoted by husband Al Jolson? Was it because she was cute in an unconventional way? It wasn't because she could dance, although she was known as a "hoofer". I saw a documentary on Dames in which the commentator pointed out the contemporary audiences couldn't get enough of Ruby Keeler, and Busby Berkeley certainly obliged with the zillion images of her in I Only Have Eyes for You.
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