Quick recap: Director Julian Marsh has been hired to put on a musical, even though he is very close to a nervous breakdown. Of course, nothing goes right and hilarity ensues.

If there’s one thing I love, it’s a stereotype about over-stressed directors

Fun (?) fact: A line in the song ‘Shuffle Off to Buffalo’ says ‘I’ll go home and get my panties’, which is sung by the male lead. Back in the 1930s, ‘panties’ was a synonym for ‘underwear’, so men used the word too.

probably thinking about his panties

My thoughts: 42nd Street is the chicken noodle soup of movies-comforting, well known, satisfying and also a little bland. It’s the kind of film I could probably watch a few times without getting bored, but not one of my favorite movies I keep coming back to. And that’s ok sometimes.

When I think of the musical genre, 42nd street is the kind of film that pops in my head- something all-American, with a bunch of theatre stereotypes and big, flashy numbers. No songs stuck out particularly for me, but I enjoyed them nonetheless. This isn’t really your typical movie musical though, because no one bursts into song at the drop of a hat. Instead, all of the dancing and singing is isolated into the rehearsal, which I loved because the movie was about the making of the musical and so the musical itself didn’t really have to make sense. You do get to see a few numbers at the end, to see how everything comes together, but I liked not knowing what the musical was supposed to look like. It all felt like a hot mess, just like director Julian Marsh saw it.

The plot and acting was a little bland for me, but maybe it’s because I’ve seen the situation play out on so many sitcoms and kids’ television programs. Basically, a small town girl, Peggy, is cast into a tiny role but through various circumstances, ends up as the lead and does a perfect job. Meh. The star of the musical, Dorothy Brock, was temperamental, but not necessarily evil. She is dating the financier of the musical, even though he is clearly not her type because if she loses him, there will be no show. That part of the plot seemed the most familiar to me for some reason…..

Final review: 4/5. The dancing was phenomenal and the rest of the film was decent enough to watch again.

Up next: Last Year at Marienbad

Quick recap: A young girl has foolish ideas of marrying instead of going into the family business of being someone’s mistress

from a scene where a creepy old man sings about how much he loves little girls because they grow up into women he wants to date

Fun (?) fact: The cat in the film hated Leslie Caron, who played Gigi and had to be drugged anytime it was in a scene with her. Considering that the cat had nothing whatsoever to do with the plot, I’m not sure why director Vincente Minnelli didn’t just let it go.

I couldn’t find a picture for Gigi’s cat, but this came up and I liked it better. That cat looks like it knows something.

My thoughts: Without knowing anything about Gigi, I was fully prepared for it to suck. I ran across a list a few months back that ranked Best Picture winners and Gigi was at the bottom. I assumed from the synopsis Netflix provided  that maybe the writer of the list just didn’t like musicals but 5 minutes in, I realized that no, this movie is in fact terrible and messed up.

Before I get into my rant, and believe me there will be a rant, I’d like to admit that I really loved the musical portion of the movie. The songs were catchy and witty and I found myself humming them the next day. The actors also did a fine job with their characters, although the heavy French accents got on my nerves. It felt like they were over the top, but when I looked up trivia I learned that they were genuine so I’ll give it a pass. The setting and costumes were also wonderful and reminded me of something Disney might put together to showcase Paris long ago.

So, why is this movie so bad? Basically, Gigi, who is a 15 year old girl (very important. Don’t forget this detail) has been born into a family of courtesans. She lives with her grandmother and mother but visits her great aunt once a week for lessons on snagging a rich guy to sleep with. Yeah. Gigi is naturally against the whole thing, but is seen as a girl in need of a makeover so that MEN WILL SLEEP WITH HER. So, in comes Gaston, a rich guy, who likes to hang out with this family but not sleep with any of them. He is particularly fond of Gigi, but sees her more like a child BECAUSE SHE IS. After a weekend with him at the beach, the Great Aunt and grandmother decide that poor Gigi needs to be transformed so Gaston will want to sleep with her. When he sees ‘grownup’ Gigi for the first time, he is repulsed (maybe because she’s 15?) but then sings a song about how he thought she was a baby but seeing her in that dress reminded him that he can totally hit that now. So he does. Gigi isn’t too happy about the whole thing but whatever, that’s the family business. The movie ends with Gaston returning the girl to her grandmother and running away, as the audience thinks he’s a jerk. But then he comes back and announces that he doesn’t want her as a mistress but instead as a wife. Awww. Except not, because she is freaking 15 years old.

There’s a scene at the beginning of the film where Gigi and Gaston are playing around and he threatens to spank her. Knowing how this would end only ups the creepiness factor.

Final review: I’d love to give this movie a 1/5 but I was thoroughly entertained in a car crash sort of way, so let’s go with 3/5 and then never speak of it again.

Up next: Fantastic Planet