Gold Diggers of 1935 | |
---|---|
Theatrical release poster
|
|
Directed by | Busby Berkeley |
Produced by | Robert Lord |
Screenplay by | Manual Seff Peter Milne |
Story by |
Robert Lord Peter Milne |
Starring |
Dick Powell Adolphe Menjou Gloria Stuart Alice Brady |
Music by |
Songs: Harry Warren (music) Al Dubin (lyrics) |
Cinematography | George Barnes |
Edited by | George Amy |
Production
company |
|
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date
|
|
Running time
|
95 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Gold Diggers of 1935 is an American musical film directed and choreographed by Busby Berkeley. Starring Dick Powell, Adolphe Menjou, Gloria Stuart and Alice Brady, featuring Winifred Shaw, Hugh Herbert and Glenda Farrell. The film is best known for the famous "Lullaby of Broadway" production number, which features Shaw singing the song which won Harry Warren and Al Dubin an Academy Award.
The movie was the fourth film of the Gold Diggers series of movie musicals, after the now lost silent film The Gold Diggers (1923), Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929) and a remake of the earlier film Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933). Both the original and the 1933 film made a great deal of money for Warner Bros. and Gold Diggers of 1935 was an attempt to repeat that success. It was followed by Gold Diggers of 1937 and Gold Diggers in Paris.
In the resort of Lake Waxapahachie, the swanky Wentworth Plaza is where the rich all congregate, and where the tips flow like wine. Handsome Dick Curtis (Dick Powell) is working his way through medical school as a desk clerk, and when rich, penny-pinching Mrs. Prentiss (Alice Brady) offers to pay him to escort her daughter Ann (Gloria Stuart) for the summer, Dick can't say no – even his fiancee, Arline Davis (Dorothy Dare) thinks he should do it. Mrs. Prentiss wants Ann to marry eccentric middle-aged millionaire T. Mosley Thorpe (Hugh Herbert), who's a world-renowned expert on snuffboxes, but Ann has other ideas. Meanwhile her brother, Humbolt (Frank McHugh) has a weakness for a pretty face: he's been married and bought out of trouble by his mother several times.