Our movie for May 2015 is Gold Diggers of 1933, a “deliciously-maddening extravaganza, Depression-era Broadway musical,” according to one critic on the Rotten Tomatoes website. Indeed, it ranks 100% on their rating meter… impressive for any movie.

Gold Diggers of 1933 is just plain fun from beginning to end. Yet, surprisingly, it ends on a number called, “The Forgotten Man” which was inspired by the World War I veterans march on Washington, DC. And this is after it opens with a number by Ginger Rogers that has become as immortal in screen legend as her dances with Fred Astaire have become. The “We’re In The Money” audiences may have been broke and struggling at the height of the Depression, but they flocked to see this picture anyway. It was the third most-popular movie at the U.S. box office that year.

Gold Diggers stars Warren William, Joan Blondell, Aline MacMahon, Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell, and features Guy Kibbee, Ned Sparks and Ginger Rogers. (In this film, Ginger is on the edge of super-stardom.) As a pre-code film, it is far less restrained in tone or content. The costumes you will see are the first sign of that.

Gold Diggers of 1933 will be shown at Old City Hall on Friday, May 15th at 7:00pm. Doors open at 6:30pm. This one is fun… come join us.