42nd Street
Warner Bros. | Release Date: March 11, 1933 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
83
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 9 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
TV Guide MagazineStaff (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
100
EmpireStaff (Not Credited)
A movie that could only have been produced by the 1930s studio system. Absolutely spectacular. Read full review
100
Chicago TribuneMichael 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]
90
The New York TimesMordaunt Hall
The liveliest and one of the most tuneful screen musical comedies that has come out of Hollywood. Read full review
90
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
Everything about the production rings true. It's as authentic to the initiate as the novitiate. Read full review
88
LarsenOnFilmJosh 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
80
Time OutStaff (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
80
The New YorkerPauline Kael
The backstage story is pleasantly tawdry and corny.
50
Chicago ReaderDave 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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