In a change to our scheduled programme...

 Those of you who came to the screening of Singin' in the Rain a few months ago may recall that I made a comment that evening which raised a question I promised I would address in the future.

I had said that although Singin' in the Rain was one of my favourite films, it was not one of my favourite musicals. Inevitably, I was asked which film was my favourite musical, and I promised to return to that subject at a future date. 

That date has not quite arrived, despite what I said at the end of last Thursday's event. Sorry.

I know I promised everyone my favourite musical next Thursday, but on careful reflection I have decided to postpone that occasion by one week. In a last minute substitution, I have chosen an earlier film which also ranks very highly on my list of all-time-great musicals (not that I am admitting to the existence of such a list).


42nd Street is the original "Backstage Musical". It tells the story of the director and cast of a Broadway Musical Revue as they struggle to "put on a show". If that premise sounds clichéd and derivative, it's only because virtually every Backstage Musical written over the next ninety years owed its existence to this film. 


What 42nd Street delivers is a surprisingly unflinching portrait of the harsh reality of life on a chorus line - especially during a depression. 

The dance sequences were choreographed by the one and only Busby Berkeley in his uniquely cinematic style. 

When I was at University I had a Film Studies professor who swore positively that Busby Berkeley's dance routines were filled with gay subtext. Thirty years later, I'm still searching for that gay subtext (unless my old professor was working on the theory that Busby Berkeley was secretly a lesbian).

What is certain is that there is a great deal of sex and sexuality in 42nd Street (made two years before the Production Code spoiled everyone's fun). The dialogue is filled with innuendo so explicit as to be barely innuendo, and one of the musical numbers is essentially about a young girl losing her virginity.

Judge for yourself on Thursday (the 9th of December) in our penultimate film night of the year!



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