The Movie:
Is there anyone who better exemplifies the sheer manic giddiness of Golden Age Hollywood than Busby Berkeley? The kaleidoscopic, lockstep effects for which he became famous seemed like a window into a magical domain of fizzy, carefree wonder, far removed from the turmoil in which the real world of the 1930s found itself. Unfortunately, like a lot of fizzy items, too much exposure considerably lessens the oomph factor, and your enjoyment of these four second-tier Berkeley efforts will probably depend on how much tolerance you have for fairly tame, by the numbers 30s musicals, albeit injected with occasional (and sometimes very occasional) Berkeley genius, not to mention your particular tolerance for such performers as Dick Powell, who stars in three of these films.

Like a lot of assembly line product that rolled off the studio lots back then, all four of the films featured in this second Berkeley set star a lot of the same actors, with a similar repeated group behind the cameras. It all makes for some fairly interchangeable fare at times, never less than enjoyable, but, with the exception of Hollywood Hotel (strangely the only feature without a traditional big Berkeley production number despite being the only feature completely directed by Busby in this set), rarely rising to a knockout level of "wowza" entertainment. The fact is the world had changed since Berkeley first burst upon the motion picture scene with 42nd Street--while the Depression was still in full swing (no pun intended, musically speaking), the election of Roosevelt had given the nation a new hope and purpose. Even escapist musicals were slowly declining in popularity and these four films came on the scene during that descent, with an at times uneasy juxtaposition of escapist production numbers mixed with slapstick and screwball that isn't particularly well proportioned.

1936's Gold Diggers of 1937 has one of the silliest plots of this set, with Powell as an insurance agent (who sings, naturally--doesn't your agent?) hooking up with showgirl Joan Blondell, who wants out of showbiz and comes to work for the insurance agency. Her showgirl buddies are all on the make for well-to-do men, chief among them the delightful Glenda Farrell, who, like many others, shows up in other efforts in the set. Through the machinations of the chorus line girls, a pair of down on their heels producers (Charles D. Brown and Osgood Perkins--Anthony's dad) is brought into the fold, both of whom work for a hypochondriac Broadway impresario (Victor Moore). That sets in motion the main gist of the second act, getting Moore to sign a life insurance policy so that his underlings can murder him, collect the dough, and put on a show. Not exactly Garland, Rooney and a barn, you may be thinking at this point. Some of the humor of this piece is indeed surprisingly sharp, if black to the extreme, but there's simply not much impetus for Berkeley to show his genius. We get pretty standard "book" numbers in this film, none of which you'd exactly call a classic, finally leading (as is so often the case in these films) to the knockout Berkeley finale, "All is Fair in Love and War," featuring some probably unintentionally funny gigantic rocking chair props that couldn't help but remind me of Lily Tomlin's Edith Ann.

Powell is just a smirking annoyance in this film, and unfortunately Blondell isn't much better, though she at least shows a little native spunk. It's the supporting cast, largely Farrell, Perkins and Brown, who make this film sporadically engaging. Otherwise, it plays largely as something in between an A and B picture, with middling results.

Extras: All of these releases sport very similar extras, usually a Technicolor short, a cartoon or two (often utilizing music from the films), and a trailer. 1937 offers the color featurette "Romance of Louisiana," cartoons "Plenty of Money and You" and "Speaking of the Weather," and the theatrical trailer. The best extra, and probably the one most sought after by collectors, is the long delayed (and announced for The Jazz Singer) "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" two strip Technicolor excerpt from Gold Diggers of Broadway.

Powell does a much better job in the breezy 1937 entry Hollywood Hotel, directed outright this time by Berkeley, though, strangely, with virtually no music and none of the big dance numbers for which he was rightfully famous. In this entry, Powell is a former saxophonist in Benny Goodman's band (Benny and guys are costars of the film), who has received a 10 week Hollywood contract, going to La-La land and getting involved in a mad merry-go-round with studio star Mona Marshall (Lola Lane), the epitome of ego and "star quality" (for better or worse), as well as her former double and current waitress, Virginia (Lola's real-life sister Rosemary Lane). Hugh Herbert is on hand as Marshall's braindead father, and all of Hollywood's various eccentricities are dealt with with a surprisingly contemporary humor that is frequently spot-on (Lola's many tantrums and meltdowns are brilliantly handled). None other than "Lolly" herself, the redoubtable Louella Parsons, also has a costarring role and proves conclusively that those who can't act, critique. One of the great thrills of this film is seeing the Goodman band at its apex, with such stellar players as Harry James, Lionel Hampton and Gene Krupa tearing through some great swing numbers with ease. This, despite its lack of big dance routines, is easily the best thing in this second Berkeley volume and if you've never seen it, you're in for a major treat.

Extras: The Technicolor short this time is "Romance of Robert Burns," and the cartoon is "Porky's Five and Ten." There's also a funny Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy short "Double Talk," as well as the theatrical trailer.

Another excellent entry from 1937 is Varsity Show, perhaps more enjoyable for its musical costar, this time Fred Waring, than for its putative stars, Dick Powell, and, this time yet another lineup of Lanes, Priscilla and Rosemary. The plot, probably the most reminiscent of the many MGM Garland-Rooney "let's put on a show" films, finds the kids of Winfield College battling the powers that be in order to put on their annual musical extravaganza. Powell in this one is the alum who has a string of Broadway flops to his credit, brought back to the school to help save the annual show. Waring and his fabulous Pennsylvanians are on board here, providing some beautiful swinging choral music that is actually the highlight of the film, despite an impressive football themed finale by Berkeley, replete with a gargantuan staircase and his patented overhead kaleidoscopic shots. This is in fact the film where Waring was introduced to a young college choral director named Robert Shaw, helping to mentor the young man into becoming probably the formost choral director of the 20th century. This film evidently debuted at over two hours, which seems awfully long for this trifling kind of fluff, but all known prints run at around 80 minutes, which this release does. It's hard to see how they possibly could have filled 40 more minutes with material; the film feels long as it is.

Extras: No Technicolor short on this one, but another great Bergen/McCarthy effort, "A Neckin' Party," as well as the cartoon "Have You Got Any Castles?" and the theatrical trailer.

Gold Diggers in Paris, from 1938, at least temporarily relieves us of Powell to give us a surprisingly engaging Rudy Vallee, sans megaphone, involved in a patently nutty plot dealing with him as the manager of an about to be bankrupt nightclub with a group of chorus girls who are mistaken for a legitimate ballet troupe and invited to an international dance competition by daffy Hugh Herbert (with a sort of French accent, no less). Add to the drama the fact that Vallee's ex-wife (Gloria Dickson) ends up rooming with his new girlfriend (Rosemary Lane), not to mention the exploits of the real (jilted) ballet company and its gangster acolyte, and you have enough identity and relationship confusion to populate several screwball comedies. Despite these admirable setups, the comedy in this effort is pretty strained, falling mostly on the shoulders of Herbert and (are you ready?) special comedy musicians, The Schnickelfritz Band, which might be compared to Spike Jones doing polkas (now that's funny). Also unintentionally humorous, for me anyway, is the patented big Berkeley finale, which starts with Lane climbing a ladder, then entering the stage through a window that's supposedly Vallee's attic art studio. Which of course led me to the eternal question, how did the theater audience see Lane climbing the ladder? If you're spending time wondering about such dilemmas, obviously the film is not engaging you enough, and that's sadly the case here with this final entry into the Gold Diggers series. A largely lackluster Warren-Dubin score, and workmanlike (meaning largely uninspired) direction by Ray Enright just add to the listlessness of this outing.

Extras: A great segment from the "Broadway Brevities" series is presented in "The Candid Kid," as well as two cartoons, "Cinderella Meets a Fella" and "Love and Curses." The theatrical trailer rounds out the offerings.

The DVD

Video:
All of these remastered efforts sport actually above average transfers, with good contrast and at times excellent sharpness. While there are the usual occasional instances of dirt, damage, and of image degradation (noticeable especially in stock shots, as in Paris, or even rear projection moments), for the most part all of these films look splendid for their age.

Sound:
The remastered Dolby mono soundtracks were a pleasant surprise to me, especially in the films featuring Goodman and Waring. There's little of the boxiness and high end compression you routinely get in these older soundtracks, with all dialogue clear and music sounding surprisingly spry. All of the films offer English and French subtitles.

Final Thoughts:
This one was a hard one for me--I love Berkeley and I love classic musicals. Unfortunately, this really isn't Berkeley at his best, and this is a mixed bag, to put it politely. Hollywood Hotel is a delight, Varsity Show has great music, but the other two simply kind of lie there, despite the overtime work of their supporting cast, especially. My recommendation is that you Rent It to see if it strikes your fancy enough to want to make it part of your permanent collection.

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"G-d made stars galore" & "Hey, what kind of a crappy fortune is this?" ZMK, modern prophet