Gold Diggers of 1933

I really liked Gold Diggers of 1933. It was engrossing, funny, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I do however have a few quick criticisms.

- The story line was a little strange. It started off with some unemployed show girls trying to make it through the depression. They start to get a show together and things are looking up. Then out of nowhere it is suddenly a weird love story involving two of the girls tricking two rich men into buying them lots of extravagant things. It was just a little bizarre, and I feel like it never really finished what it started. It's almost as if it were two movies combined into one.

- The musical number were very strange. They really had nothing to do with the rest of the film, except for the beginning mentioning that they were making a musical. Petting in the park was at least a little bit related I suppose. The forgotten man was just really nonsensical, and little or nothing that related it to the rest of the movie. I was actually rather glad that there were so few musical numbers in the film, because I really do not enjoy musicals.

- Gold Diggers of 1933 seems like it could be an early version of today's ever popular romantic comedy. It was funny, featured some unlikely pairings of lovers, and was generally pretty upbeat.

Baby face

Baby Face is by far the best film I have seen so far this semester. It was engaging, perfectly paced, and some what humorous (though I think it's just because it's old). Here are some thoughts that I have on the film.

- It's an interesting take on the American Dream. The American Dream is the concept of using your skills to get to the top and get rich. What if your talent is the power you have over men? The film portrays this out right, and surprisingly doesn't really show too many negative consequences that arise through doing this.

- Anytime that she says "why don't we just talk this over?" she is going to use sex to get something that she wants.

- First she sleeps with the guard on the train to secure free passage. Then she sleeps with the human resources rep to get a job. She then goes on to sleep with numerous bosses in order to gain promotions through the company. She works her way up from filing, to mortgage, to accounting, and finally into the president's office. In total she sleeps with seven men throughout the course of the film.

- Despite her heavy reliance on sex to get ahead, she seems to actually be good at her various jobs. I think this is key to her success. If she wasn't a good secretary or what have you, she would never have been able to work her way up the chain using sex alone. She is a strong, competent female despite her obvious moral shortcomings.

- I know that we haven't yet gotten in noir, but Lily is a bit of a femme fatale. She is an extremely alluring female, who causes the demise of two men, and the near demise of a third when they get caught up in her web. She uses her powers to hypnotize her victims and convince them to spend large sums of money or her. When she gets what she wants, she is done, no matter how the male may feel about her.