Perry Kate Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

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

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

writers_reign For reasons best known to themselves Warners decided to go with two songwriting teams on this one, despite the fact that the number one team of Harry Warren and Al Dubin were already batting .600. Nevertheless they tapped Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg to provide half the score and the clash of styles is an apt metaphor for this hybrid movie which is neither fish nor fowl. Dick Powell was also a joke as a tenor and by saddling him with a moustache the producers only gave us cynics more to scoff at. Given the fact he was married to co-star Joan Blondell at the time the chemistry between the two is lackluster to say the least. Victor Moore has the key role which is ... er, Victor Moore, maybe he should have paid the two dollars and bought himself out of this one. Glenda Farrell does what she can but still winds up married to Moore - it's that kind of film. One the other hand musical buffs and Golddigger completists will welcome the chance to add this to their collections.

Alex da Silva Rossi (Dick Powell) sells a life insurance policy worth $1 million dollars to JJ Hobart (Victor Moore). He then sticks beside him to ensure that he doesn't kick the bucket. If he does, Rossi loses his income and he needs it to settle down with Norma (Joan Blondell) who has scammed a job as a receptionist for the insurance company. At the same time, a couple of JJ's managers who have spent all of his finances need the insurance policy money to stage the next show and scheme to bump him off with the help of Norma's friend, Gen (Glenda Farrell). Things work out for a happy ending and there are musical numbers thrown into the proceedings.Unfortunately, none of them are particularly good. We are subjected to that irritating form of spoken-word singing a couple of times. Joan Blondell is the offender. However, she is funny at the beginning of the film when going for a job as a receptionist. Glenda Farrell steals every scene that she's in and changes from a wise-cracker to a cold-hearted cow to the gold-digger with a heart of gold. Dick Powell is good in the lead role and has some funny scenes, eg, he is a salesman that hates sales. Good for him. The cast are enjoyable to watch......except Victor Moore. He is an unfunny, irritating man with a flat head who looks mentally retarded and has the most annoying, whiny, slurry speech pattern. I rather hoped that the baddies would get their way with him.The music numbers were a bit of a let-down for me coz I don't like war themes with soldiers and marching and all that crap but if you like marching and flag-waving, then you'll probably enjoy a couple of the set numbers including the finale. Busby Berkeley has done much better than this. Overall, the main cast make the film watchable (NOT Victor Moore) and it's OK. Nothing more.

Ron Oliver Warner Bros. trots out its Gold Diggers concept again in this amusing little musical which serves largely as a wistful reminder of the fun & vivacity of the original pre-Code feature. Perhaps Dick Powell's smarmy little mustache, seen immediately after the opening credits, should have been enough to signal that things were different now.The plot of every Gold Digger film is centered around its music. The songs here are pleasant, but unmemorable and the Busby Berkeley spectacle--'All's Fair In Love And War'--reveals the Master at his repose, his choreographed rocking chairs and banners not quite registering the requisite pizzazz one remembers from his earlier classics.Powell tries his hardest to ingratiate, but his preppy days appear to be passing and casting him as an insurance salesman is a bit of a ho-hum. Lots of fun, however, can be found with Warner's two sensational brassy blondes, Joan Blondell & Glenda Farrell, in their final film together. Still wisecracking & sassy, they grab the movie's best dialogue and run off with it, giving some laughter to their comedy duo swan song. Comic Victor Moore shines as a cranky impresario with a bad case of hypochondria.Sharp-eyed movie mavens will spot Fred ‘Snowflake' Toones as a shoe shine attendant; Jane Wyman as an excited chorus girl at the station; and Frank Faylen as a man shaving on the train, all unbilled.

lugonian GOLD DIGGERS OF 1937 (Warner Brothers, 1936), directed by Lloyd Bacon, is the third musical in the yearly-titled series with the choreography by Busby Berkeley. Released in theaters as a Christmas attraction of 1936, I find it to be a notch below the 1935 edition and no where near as good as the one of 1933, but still acceptable entertainment, highlighted with a show-stopping musical finale.The story begins at a convention in Atlantic City where Andy Callahan (William B. Davidson) of Good Life Insurance Company tries to encourage his salesmen to go out and sell. Rosmer "Ross" Peek (Dick Powell) and "Boop" Oglethorpe (Lee Dixon, in his feature film debut) are his two top insurance salesmen who lead the men into singing their way to the train station for their destination being New York City. While on the train, Boop becomes acquainted with a Southern gal named Sally (Rosalind Marquis); Ross meets up with Norma Perry (Joan Blondell), a stranded showgirl accompanied by Genevieve Larkin (Glenda Farrell), who in turn meets Monty Wethered (Osgood Perkins, father of Anthony Perkins), a crooked backer of JJ Hobart Productions. Rosmer helps Norma by offering her a position as his secretary at the insurance firm. As for Genevieve, she joins forces with Monty's assistant, Mr. Hugo (Charles D. Brown), another chiseler who has pocketed and lost most of Hobart's investments. They want to get the 59-year-old theatrical bachelor producer, JJ Hobart (Victor Moore) to take on an insurance policy by having Genevieve arrange to have Norma get Ross to meet up with him. After Hobart passes the million dollar insurance policy physical with Ross hired as his agent, Monty and Hugo try their best to see that Hobart meets with an "accident." But when all else fails, Hobart eventually does land in the hospital after Genevieve has a change of heart and tells him the truth. It is then up to the younger crowd, who feel that Hobart might die, to do away with the crooks Monty and Hugo and help put Hobart's upcoming show together.Songs featured include: "The Life Insurance Song," "Speaking of the Weather" and "Let's Put Our Heads Together" By E.Y. Harburg and Harold Arlen; "With Plenty of Money and You" and "All's Fair in Love and War" by Harry Warren and Al Dubin. Dick Powell, with his pencil-thin mustache, sings "With Plenty of Money and You" before the opening titled cast and credits. He reprises the hit money song to Blondell later on in the story as he accompanies her home from their dinner date. "Speaking of the Weather" also gets to be heard twice, first in the insurance office sung by Powell to Blondell, later sung by guests at the pool and garden party with Lee Dixon doing his "puppet on a string" tap-dancing solo. Also sung during the party sequence is "Let's Put Our Heads Together" (a pretty tune introduced by Powell). Of the songs presented, "All's Fair in Love and War" is the only number not part of the storyline. It's a ten minute staged production, part of the JJ Hobart Revue, compliments of Busby Berkeley and his display of chorus girls marching in military fashion and flag waving. This well choreographed finale was nominated for Best Dance Direction, and one of the few highlights of the film.Victor Moore, a pudgy bald character actor of numerous comedies, comes off best here. Besides being an amusing comedian whose catch phrase if, "Life begins at 59," the scene that stands out most is the moment he gets sentimental in telling gold-digger Genevieve (Farrell) of he being a lonely old man of the theater whose life has now been fulfilled by her presence in making him feel young again, and now wanting to marry her. Even Farrell manages to present herself as a gold-digger with a heart of gold, and she carries this particular scene well without making it appear silly. As for Powell, his character at times appears to be more foolish than funny, but makes up for it during the romantic and singing spots.THE GOLD DIGGERS OF 1937 became available on DVD in 2008, and can bee seen broadcast on Turner Classic Movies. Look fast for a young Jane Wyman in the early portion of the movie with one line, "Happy days are here again" as she and other show girls watch a parade of insurance men entering the train, and Susan Fleming (Mrs. Harpo Marx) in a small role as a secretary billed as Lucille. (***)