42nd Street
Short description
42nd Street is a backstage musical about a Broadway producer, Julian Marsh, who is mounting a new show while his health is failing. The production is bankrolled by a wealthy man who is in love with its leading lady, Dorothy Brock, even though her affections lie elsewhere. Rehearsals are complicated by the romantic entanglements among the cast and by the star's difficult behaviour. When Dorothy is injured on the eve of the premiere, the show's future is thrown into doubt, and a young chorus girl, Peggy, is given the chance to take her place.
The film was directed by Lloyd Bacon, working from a screenplay by Rian James and James Seymour, and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck for Warner Bros. It was released in March 1933 and runs 89 minutes. Bacon made it between Kept Husbands and Footlight Parade, the second of the eight features listed from his career. Warner Baxter plays Marsh, with Bebe Daniels as Dorothy, Ruby Keeler as Peggy, George Brent, Guy Kibbee and Una Merkel among the credited cast of 92.
42nd Street took in about 2 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds a critics' rating of 7.7 out of 10 from 25 reviews, while on TMDB its audience rating is 6.9 out of 10 from 225 votes, so reviewers rate it somewhat more highly than the general public does.
What's left behind the scenes
- At the end of the dance to the song “42nd Street,” a curtain with the word “asbestos” is shown. Viewers in the 21st century may only know that this refers to a mineral composite that causes mesothelioma (a type of cancer), whereas in the first half of the 20th century, asbestos was used as a fire-retardant component in building materials; theaters in that era had asbestos curtains that were used to separate the auditorium from the stage in case of fire. From this perspective, the presence of the asbestos curtain in the film is a hint that, once hidden behind the curtain, Billy and Peggy will be getting up to something “hot.”
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
