1930's Films / Musicals: Plot / Influences

1930s films / musicals: plot / influences
Films and musicals in / set in the 1930s was very well known as show boat
musicals. This meaning the very similar happy story line. Boy meets girl, they
fall in love, vast amount of chorus girls running around, the usual showcase of
this era. There was no real pushing of boundaries in this era, as the first change
of story line occurred in Oklahoma in the 40s which challenged the whole set in
stone scripture that many musicals and films followed. The way musicals were
done in this era were known to please people. After the great depression, it
was good to have happy upbeat cheese music to help everyone feel good and
happy about themselves again. Which is why so many of the musicals in this
era can literally be seen in another, basically mirrored.
Musicals and films in the 1930s era / based in that era all seem to follow
similar patterns. One of the most common patterns is love, the very clich kind
of love. Man meets woman for the first time, yet instantly knows hes in love.
The whole love at first sight dream. They both fall hopelessly in love with
another, despite their being obvious obstacles in the way, let alone the fact
they dont actually know one another.
For example:
- Anything goes, based in the 1930s. The start of the story is of Billy
Crocker a young wall street broker has fallen in love at first sight with a
beautiful girl he met in a taxi.
- Another big re occurring theme throughout 1930 based films/ musicals,

is the idea of setting the story to take place either on a boat or about a
boat. Again, anything goes, along with Dames at sea,
The re ocuring theme of shows being about shows, so the whole getting ready
for a show process seemed to kick off a hit with audiences. So again was
followed on by various musicals:
Dames at sea- getting ready for a show, then seeing the show
Top hat again very showboat in terms of the glitz and dancing
42Nd street- same story, rehearsals for a show, again chorus girls galore.
The 1930s were also a big time for styled dance, dance was a release for
people and it was such a huge passion. Dancers were celebrities, we saw the
likes of Fred Astaire and Ginger rogers arise during this era. There dancing was
loved by many, again being another huge influence for shows, if they can pull
off dancing like that on stage, then its no wonder it attracted fans, and then
inspired directors to follow in a similar direction.
the first appearance of the cartoon character Popeye was in the Betty Boop cartoon
from Paramount and Max Fleischer, Popeye the Sailor (1933)
The 1930s decade (and most of the 1940s as well) has been nostalgically
labeled "The Golden Age of Hollywood"(although most of the output of the decade
was black-and-white). The 30s was also the decade of the sound and color
revolutions and the advance of the 'talkies', and the further development of film
genres (gangster films, musicals, newspaper-reporting films, historical biopics,
social-realism films, lighthearted screwball comedies, westerns and horror to name a
few). It was the era in which the silent period ended, with many silent film stars not
making the transition to sound (e.g., Vilmy Banky, John Gilbert, and Norma
Talmadge). By 1933, the economic effects of the Depression were being strongly
felt, especially in decreased movie theatre attendance.
Fortunately, musicals produced at Warner Bros. reached their full flowering by capturing the unique,
innovative surrealistic choreography of Busby Berkeley, who arranged dancers and chorus girls in
geometric, kaleidoscopic displays. Two of master choreographer Busby Berkeley's earliest films (and
the most popular of star Eddie Cantor's six films for Samuel Goldwyn) were Whoopee (1930) and
UA's The Kid From Spain (1932). Berkeley's last choreographic work before leaving for Warner
Bros. was Roman Scandals (1933) - notorious for totally-nude, long-haired slave girls (portrayed by
the Goldwyn Girls).
The first of Berkeley's choreographed-directed musicals for Warner Bros. was Lloyd Bacon's
backstage show 42nd Street (1933). The successful musical inspired the Gold Diggers series of films
with more of Berkeley's trademark choreographing: Mervyn LeRoy's Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)

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1930s films / musicals: plot / influences

- Another big re occurring theme throughout 1930 based films/ musicals,

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