This has lost that magic ingredient which was present in all those 1930s Warner musical/light comedies. It's hard to define what's missing but it's that sparkle which made those films so uplifting and joyful: a naïve optimism, faith in our fellow men, a belief that however tough life gets, it can always get better. This was never better displayed than in GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 and was never shown less than in this one. That warm, cuddly, cheesy fun has soured into a cynical, mocking, almost cruel sense of humour. I can't believe that attitudes changed that much since 1933 but "Gold digging" as portrayed in this film is rather distasteful and quite a sordid way to behave.
What was so entertaining about GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 was how it showed that "gold digging" was for some people living at the height of The Depression, a necessity - it could make the difference between eating or starving. They weren't bad girls, they were just normal, trying to make the most of their lot. It looked both humorously and sympathetically at people in that situation, it did its best to cheer those people up. The gold diggers in 1935 are just con artists, crooks and chisellers and even though one of them is Joan Blondell, you're not going to like them. Since Darryl Zanuck left the old studio, the studio of the common man, it's like WB schizophrenically switched to making those judgemental, unpleasant "look at all these scroungers getting everything for free from our taxes" type show we get on some tv stations. Glenda Farrell's character is particular nasty - she shouldn't be nasty, she's Glenda Farrell! The whole atmosphere just feels wrong.
That unpleasant, unsavoury after taste - which was actually there in WONDERBAR as well - coupled with mediocre, lack-lustre musical numbers, a disillusioned cast wearing expressions of "here we go again, same old rubbish but this time with half the budget" on their sad faces makes this a sad thing to watch. Of the post-Zanuck Warner musical, Busby Berkley's STAGE STRUCK (also 1936 and also with Blondell and Powell) is the only on which stands out as having some of that original spirit of fun in it.
Unfortunately, like in this horrible picture, STAGE STRUCK also features Dick Powell with that moustache as well. Although it might look to us like something from a joke shop, it's worth remembering that somehow he managed to win the heart of Joan Blondell with that growing on his face so we should actually be congratulating him on his ingenuity!
What was so entertaining about GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 was how it showed that "gold digging" was for some people living at the height of The Depression, a necessity - it could make the difference between eating or starving. They weren't bad girls, they were just normal, trying to make the most of their lot. It looked both humorously and sympathetically at people in that situation, it did its best to cheer those people up. The gold diggers in 1935 are just con artists, crooks and chisellers and even though one of them is Joan Blondell, you're not going to like them. Since Darryl Zanuck left the old studio, the studio of the common man, it's like WB schizophrenically switched to making those judgemental, unpleasant "look at all these scroungers getting everything for free from our taxes" type show we get on some tv stations. Glenda Farrell's character is particular nasty - she shouldn't be nasty, she's Glenda Farrell! The whole atmosphere just feels wrong.
That unpleasant, unsavoury after taste - which was actually there in WONDERBAR as well - coupled with mediocre, lack-lustre musical numbers, a disillusioned cast wearing expressions of "here we go again, same old rubbish but this time with half the budget" on their sad faces makes this a sad thing to watch. Of the post-Zanuck Warner musical, Busby Berkley's STAGE STRUCK (also 1936 and also with Blondell and Powell) is the only on which stands out as having some of that original spirit of fun in it.
Unfortunately, like in this horrible picture, STAGE STRUCK also features Dick Powell with that moustache as well. Although it might look to us like something from a joke shop, it's worth remembering that somehow he managed to win the heart of Joan Blondell with that growing on his face so we should actually be congratulating him on his ingenuity!