_{Day 34 of Project Glowing Rectangle, in which I try to divert some of my daily doomscrolling time back towards a more nourishing oblong: Cinema.}

Title: 42nd Street
Director: Lloyd Bacon
Writer: Rian James, James Seymour
(Based on the novel by Bradford Ropes)
Year: 1933
Country: USA

Format: DVD
Length: 89 minutes
Seen: 5 February 2026
Rewatch

42nd Street (1933) is a backstage musical following the cast and crew of ‘Pretty Lady’, a new show preparing to open on Broadway. The leading lady, Dorothy Brock (Bebe Daniels), is having an affair with the show’s financial backer (Guy Kibbee) whilst continuing to see her old vaudeville partner (George Brent) behind his back. And despite a string of successes, director Julian Marsh (Warner Baxter) is bankrupt thanks to the Great Depression, so he’s staking everything on ‘Pretty Lady’ being a hit. Into this high-pressure environment comes Peggy Sawyer (Ruby Keeler), a wide-eyed ingenue looking for her big break.

But the real star of the show is the legendary Hollywood choreographer Busby Berkeley. He’s responsible for the spectacular, kaleidoscopic dance routines that make 42nd Street so memorable. The musical numbers in the ‘Pretty Lady’ show-within-a-show don’t seem to make much sense or tell any kind of cohesive story… but they’re exactly the kind of spectacle I came to see.

Also there’s legs—lots of legs—a surfeit of legs! “After three weeks, a leg ain’t nothing to me but something to stand on.” Add a wisecracking supporting role from a pre-stardom Ginger Rogers and 42nd Street is a damn good time… despite most of the songs being utterly forgettable!