42nd Street

Name: 42nd Street
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Musical
Released: March 11, 1933
Duration: 89 min
Rating: 83
Cast: Allen Jenkins, Bebe Daniels, Dick Powell, George Brent, Ginger Rogers

1933

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 9 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Ratings

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6.5

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6.5	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Warner Bros. | Release Date: March 11, 1933 | Passed

Starring: Allen Jenkins, Bebe Daniels, Dick Powell, George Brent, Ginger Rogers, Guy Kibbee, Ned Sparks, Ruby Keeler, Una Merkel, Warner Baxter

Summary: A director puts on what may be his last Broadway show and, at the last moment, a naive newcomer has to replace the star.

Director: Lloyd Bacon

Genre(s): Comedy, Romance, Musical

Rating: Passed

Runtime: 89 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Michael Wilmington

42nd Street is the quintessential '30s backstage song and dance movie-and one of the most influential and much-copied movie musicals ever. [09 Mar 2007, p.C6]

100

Empire Staff (Not Credited)

A movie that could only have been produced by the 1930s studio system. Absolutely spectacular. Read full review

100

TV Guide Magazine Staff (Not Credited)

The film that revived public interest in musicals after many early talkie bombs sabotaged the genre, 42nd Street was the first real glimpse of the surreal artistry of choreographer Busby Berkeley. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

Everything about the production rings true. It's as authentic to the initiate as the novitiate. Read full review

Josh Larsen

This may be the definitive Busby Berkeley-choreographed musical simply because the entire movie revels in the sort of things that Berkeley’s elaborate dance numbers revel in: innuendo, flirtations and flesh. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

Reviving the musical's fortunes in one fell swoop, Bacon and Busby Berkeley's backstage saga set the benchmark for the putting-on-a-show subgenre not by means of plot (a thin and hackneyed affair about a young understudy finding stardom when she covers for the temperamental diva) but through sassy songs and dialogue and dazzling mise-en-scène. Read full review

Dave Kehr

This 1933 film is the best known of the Warner Brothers Depression-era musicals, though it doesn't compare in dash and extravagance to later entries in the cycle. Read full review

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