Sid Caesar was 12 when Dames came out in 1934. I wonder if he saw it? There is a remarkable similarity between Hugh Herbert and Caesar, both in their facial expressions, especially the eyebrows, and their rapid fire, staccato delivery. Was Herbert a model for Caesar?
While Dames is an obvious knock off of 42nd Street in cast and in basic plot elements, Dames is a surreal comedy, in the vein of some W.C. Fields movies of the era, while 42nd is a noir realist drama. The third in this triptych of theme, cast and musical theme and variations is Gold Diggers of 1935. And they are all Busby Berkley musicals from the rebel studio Warner Brothers, a few years before MGM established its franchise for classy but wholesome musicals with The Great Ziegfeld in 1936.
It is safe to say Robert Z. Leonard out Busby'd Berkley with incredible spectacles like A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody. But this was based on an actual Flo Ziegfeld stage production, though with more space and money. So presumably Berkley's productions were a sort of adaption of Ziegfeld's Broadway spectacles to the screen. There seems to be a circle of inspiration and admiration here between Berkley and Ziegfeld, Warner Brothers and MGM.
I say surreal because how else would you describe breaking into song on the Staten Island ferry and then a string ensemble appearing on deck to accompany him? Several of the musical numbers morph between the stage, "actual" street and subway scenes, and back to the stage, all while the real audience is in the movie theater, of course. Compare this to W.C. Field's International House (with a crazed Cab Calloway directing Reefer Man), and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break, which bend reality into a pretzel. You might add Herbert's Hellzapoppin', which is to reality what Easy Rider is to the AAA. There were some rather odd movies made back then.
Dames is not a great movie, but it does have a place in the evolution of musicals. At first, directors felt they needed some excuse in the plot to get the actors onto the stage to sing, or at least have them play professional actors/singers. But once you move the musical away from stark reality, bursting into song, as on the ferry, no longer seems to odd.
Watch Dames before 42nd Street and it will make 42nd look better. The weakness in both is the stylized early 30s acting. Compared to good modern acting 42nd looks weak, but compared to Dames, it looks fine.
When I think of musicals, I naturally think of MGM. And when I think Warner, I think of James Cagney type crime dramas. Yet, if you look at the record, Warner did some of the best musicals, like The Wizard of Oz, Yankee Doodle Dandy (with a wonderful singing-dancing Cagney), Show Boat, Singin' in the Rain, The Music Man and Caberet, musicals that stand the test of time, artistically, as well or better than MGM's.
As a footnote, Caesar lives in a little town just outside NYC that Ziegfeld and Fields and Fitzgerald once called home.
While Dames is an obvious knock off of 42nd Street in cast and in basic plot elements, Dames is a surreal comedy, in the vein of some W.C. Fields movies of the era, while 42nd is a noir realist drama. The third in this triptych of theme, cast and musical theme and variations is Gold Diggers of 1935. And they are all Busby Berkley musicals from the rebel studio Warner Brothers, a few years before MGM established its franchise for classy but wholesome musicals with The Great Ziegfeld in 1936.
It is safe to say Robert Z. Leonard out Busby'd Berkley with incredible spectacles like A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody. But this was based on an actual Flo Ziegfeld stage production, though with more space and money. So presumably Berkley's productions were a sort of adaption of Ziegfeld's Broadway spectacles to the screen. There seems to be a circle of inspiration and admiration here between Berkley and Ziegfeld, Warner Brothers and MGM.
I say surreal because how else would you describe breaking into song on the Staten Island ferry and then a string ensemble appearing on deck to accompany him? Several of the musical numbers morph between the stage, "actual" street and subway scenes, and back to the stage, all while the real audience is in the movie theater, of course. Compare this to W.C. Field's International House (with a crazed Cab Calloway directing Reefer Man), and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break, which bend reality into a pretzel. You might add Herbert's Hellzapoppin', which is to reality what Easy Rider is to the AAA. There were some rather odd movies made back then.
Dames is not a great movie, but it does have a place in the evolution of musicals. At first, directors felt they needed some excuse in the plot to get the actors onto the stage to sing, or at least have them play professional actors/singers. But once you move the musical away from stark reality, bursting into song, as on the ferry, no longer seems to odd.
Watch Dames before 42nd Street and it will make 42nd look better. The weakness in both is the stylized early 30s acting. Compared to good modern acting 42nd looks weak, but compared to Dames, it looks fine.
When I think of musicals, I naturally think of MGM. And when I think Warner, I think of James Cagney type crime dramas. Yet, if you look at the record, Warner did some of the best musicals, like The Wizard of Oz, Yankee Doodle Dandy (with a wonderful singing-dancing Cagney), Show Boat, Singin' in the Rain, The Music Man and Caberet, musicals that stand the test of time, artistically, as well or better than MGM's.
As a footnote, Caesar lives in a little town just outside NYC that Ziegfeld and Fields and Fitzgerald once called home.