"I Wanted To Make People Happy, If Only For An Hour"

Busby Berkeley is GOD. End of sentence. Period. Oh my word. I always knew the most perfectest time to explore the realm of Busby Berkeley would come upon me one day. AND IT DID. I can't believe it took me this long.

I rented Gold Diggers of 1933. Every moment of "The Shadow Waltz" segment made me gasp. The moment the glowing violins came into play, I knew I was in love. I watched it five times in a row (um, the segment, not the whole movie). Then I immediately bought the boxed set. Recently released by Warner Brothers (who, for the record, seem to have the best collection of classic movies), it packages together 42nd Street, the aforementioned Gold Diggers plus Gold Diggers of 1935, Dames, Footlight Parade & a bonus disc with a number of standalone numbers of Berkeley's from other films.

I am creaming my shorts. Seriously, Berkeley's musical sequences are perfect, dazzling cinema. If ever anybody asked for an example of the joyous heights to which film can not only aspire but in fact reach, I would show them the "By a Waterfall" sequence from Footlight Parade. I'm not sure I've ever experienced anything so intensely, purely visceral as Berkeley's numbers within the realm of narrative cinema. There aren't enough superlatives in the English language to do justice to the magnificence. The surrounding "plots", which were helmed by other directors such as Mervyn LeRoy, are generally so much piffle, but they're fun piffle, anyway. My one complaint is that Dick Powell is a chipmunk-cheeked ass.

And also, Fred Astaire can suck it. I recently also watched Top Hat. One of the extras was a short documentary in which Astaire's disdain for the camera acrobatics of Berkeley is revealed, & he is "credited" (I would say "blamed") for the movie musical's return to the still camera, head-to-toe two-shot formula. "Either the camera dances or I do" he is reputed to have said.

Personally, I think I'll keep dancing with Busby. I am SO EXCITED to watch the other four discs.