Gold Diggers of 1933

So Gold Diggers of 1933 wasn’t my favorite movie that we watched in this class but I really enjoyed it for what it was…a musical. The plot was a bit sketchy and to me had a very lame conclusion. The characters that seem to both be playing each other one day are in love and get married the next. It felt like I was shortened out of an ending, I feel like there is almost a scene missing. I kind of wish they had gone further into character development and put in an extra scene or two that actually showed the switch in attitude; instead of just at the end going I think I love you, and immediately get married after like what three days.

But I can appreciate that they wanted to give the audience a happy ending, because with musicals at that time are more to lift spirits. After saying that, I found it interesting that they put "Remember My Forgotten Man” number at the end because out of all the numbers it was the most somber one, and had the most to do with the depression. I really liked the choice of it being at the end though, because I think it ends the movie on a very memorable song, and the message the song sends really hits home.

This brings me to my next point. I think they did a great job with placing the numbers where they did; it brought the movie full circle for me. Starting with “We’re in the Money” number, which ends by getting shut down then transitioning to the girls’ apartment, showing how they are struggling with the depression. Then once they start working on the production and have the two numbers in between, the love one in the park and the violin one, I think they were fun, which is where they were at in the plot line. And having the forgotten man after the happy ending was a way of saying that yeah there are happy endings but we are still in the middle of a depression, going back to reality.

So to sum up a bit, I wasn’t thrilled with the plot, but definitely enjoyed the movie because it was a musical. I really liked all the numbers, even though I have no clue what the musical within the musical was supposed to be about, it didn’t matter to me, the songs were all catchy and had nice dance sequences that were fun to watch and made me go “aw that’s cute” which is really all I want from a musical.