Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Iseerphia All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

chaswe-28402 This superb film is a spectacular presentiment of the evil already brewing in 1935; encompassing the relationship between capitalism and the great economic depression soon to culminate in the eruption of World War II, five short years later; and the silliness and inanity of the gold digging frivolity with which it was being preceded. It is only with the wisdom of the hindsight of multiple decades that Berkeley's instinctive perceptions of the evil to come can be fully appreciated. The unsurpassed climactic finale is both a reflection of the rise of fascism, and an anticipation of the catastrophe which would ultimately unwind. It's high art, besides the uniquely impressive musical numbers. The much derided plot is actually highly witty, and there is plenty of well-delivered, humorous dialogue. I found it funny, as well as disturbing. It should be understood as a satiric comment on the times, similar to the Berlin atmosphere later depicted in Cabaret. "Stop chewing on my fingers", says the deluded matron.

Robert J. Maxwell This is the story of extravagantly rich people, mostly fools, on vacation at an upscale resort in New Hampshire who put on a show for "the milk fund." There are enough problems to make you tear your hair out. Mrs. Prentice's dividend has been reduced from sixty cents to only forty cents on her six million shares. And this is 1935.It's pretty silly, although it has some decent built-in amusement. Sometimes it's strident. People shout at one another, arguing over who gets one third of the half of the fourth third's insurance that they are conning out of poor Mrs. Prentice.Dick Powell, Warner's resident juvenile crooner, gets to sing three songs (by Al Dubin and Harry Warren) to Gloria Stuart, the most nearly memorable being the climactic "Lullaby of Broadway".It's pleasant-enough nonsense and Busby Berkeley's direction moves forward with the speed of an express but, to tell the truth, it's not really vulgar enough for my taste. True, there is the "Song of Love" number with a thousand blonds dressed in white gowns seated at a thousand white grand pianos, and the pianos (and the girls) begin to move sinuously and form sine curves and double helices and whatnot. And, pretty soon, the girls stand up and swirl slowly around, flouncing their flounces, while the thousand pianos began to do a slow ensemble routine by themselves. Now -- I'll bet you didn't know that a couple of dozen pianos, in grand piano shape, curved where they should be curved, when fitted properly together will form a perfect square on which a young lady can dance. You did? I didn't.The "Lullaby of Broadway" number, it can be said, is at least a bit less decorous. More dancers are involved -- men and women both -- and they pound the floor with greater energy. Not satisfied with a full brigade of dancers seen from balcony height, Berkeley shows us a pair of shoes from BELOW, slamming and scooping on a transparent floor. That's nice. At least in one shot, when the dancers thump in rhythm, you can actually see the floor beneath resonate slightly, which is why no Army commander will march his unit across a bridge in anything but what's called "route step." I just threw that in for the heck of it.But I didn't see any overhead shots of a thousand scantily dressed girls unfolding into flowers or forming a pattern resembling the face of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. And nothing from underwater, nothing that even approaches the obscene. A grave disappointment.Still, it's distracting, and you get to identify with people in evening dress who complain about the character of the vintage champagne.

MartinHafer I liked the way this movie began. You see the staff of a hotel readying the place for customers. However, Busby Berkeley gets them to actually parody his own style of movies as you notice that the staff start behaving in a choreographed manner--replicating some of the movies Berkeley had made prior to 1935. It's pretty cute and a nice start.What follows are some amusing plots that really aren't all that important. In other words, while the antics of the cheapskate old lady and the huckster producer (Adolph Menjou) are fun, the plot doesn't amount to very much and just seems like padding until the amazing finale--a finale that is every bit Busby Berkeley. If you like this sort of over the top schmaltz, then you are in for a treat as you see scenes like the many white pianos (trust me--you just need to see it to understand), the extremely well choreographed dancing and the nice music. In particular, their rendition of "Lullaby of Broadway" is toe-tapping good.While all of this is VERY familiar, you can't help but admire the work that went into making "Gold Diggers of 1935". As far as whether or not to see it, it all depends on if you like this style of musical--a style that went out of style soon after this movie debuted. Up until about 1937, such huge extravaganzas were the norm for Warner Brothers and they made a ton of them. But the style was completely obsolete by the 1940s--and it is something that probably will surprise most modern viewers not acquainted with this type of film. For what it is, it's very well made. Not the best of the type, but very good.

erikpsmith Among the films Busby Berkeley was associated with, Golddiggers of 1935 is a standout. Other viewers have noted the astonishing "Lullaby of Broadway" sequence, which, yes, is everything they say it is. And the dreamy "white piano" sequence is pretty amazing, too.But you know, there's more to it. And I think you just have to chalk this up to Berkeley's drill-team background. The sequences come off with such precision.There's the crisp editing at the beginning, when the hotel managers are explaining the financial arrangements at the hotel to their employees. No pay, just tips, and make sure the managers are cut in. It's a funny bit, of course, but the way the film is assembled here accentuates the humor in a way you just don't see in your typical movie of 1935.The part that really is memorable, though, is the sequence at the beginning where Dick Powell escorts his young lovely through the hotel lobby. I guess I really ought to go back and time it, but I think it runs for something like three minutes without a cut. And all the while, hundreds of extras are rushing back and forth, and you can tell the crew must have been dashing in and moving things that were just out of camera range. You know how much work that must have took? You know how everyone on the set must have been sweating at the 2 1/2 minute-mark, worrying that someone might trip and they'd have to start all over again? I have to wonder -- how many takes were required? It's a scene every bit as complicated as the celebrated opening shot of "Touch of Evil," and maybe more so, certainly a dozen times more tricky than anything in "Rope" -- and yet this one doesn't seem to be noted anywhere in the annals of Hollywood.So let's just say that this film is one of Berkeley's most inventive and technically interesting offerings. And you know what else? It's a fun movie, too.