I have always thought this would be an especially good movie to study the US's Great Depression with, or maybe use it as a summary of a Great Depression unit.
Did anyone watch this in a US History class? If so, what did you think? Did it help increase your understanding of that era?
Yes, I watched this in a college US History survey class. Now I'm working as an adjunct professor and am going to see if I can incorporate it into my class. I loved the movie and think it gives a good understanding of how the entertainment industry and culture of the 1930s was affected by the Great Depression. Lyric and costume analysis is fun as well as looking at the dance numbers.
shareAlso interesting as pre-code movie - a lot of youngsters don't know about Hollywood's early racy years. Some of those chorus gal wisecracks still sound fresh and cheeky 70 years on - nothing innocent about them!
shareIt would be worth a try unless they complained that it was in b&w not color. I hear that all the time when I show something in class.
shareI think it would be a relavent movie to show while discussing the Great Depression. It also would serve to show kids that Hollywood and movies were the dominant cultural medium of the depression and movie attendence only suffered briefly and in fact flourished later on during the depression.
Plus you can point out that movies didn't always need CG effects to amaze audiences.
I tell you another interesting factiod about the effect of the Depression on Hollywood...I was reading a book called Edith Head's Hollywood recently and Edith described working in the industry designing movie costumes beginning in the 1920's. She said that as soon as the Depression hit the ladies hemlines plummetted from knee-length to mid-calf. Apparently the flirty, fun look of flapper fashions seemed altogether too frivolous for such lean times.
Many movies that were filmed just prior to the Depression, in which all the ladies were wearing these knee-length dresses, had to be shelved because they looked incredibly dated. Edith learned her lesson and from then on always played it safe with her costumes, never adhering too much to any one trend.
Whadda ya hear, whadda ya say!
I took a course called History through the Film at Temple U in Philly back in 1979. This was one of the films we saw, I loved it. Also we saw Gabriel at the White House, Pinky (40s) Rebel without a cause (50's) and the wonderful Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter. What a great class that was.
shareAlthough the film does indeed utilize the Great Depression as background and fodder, it's classic Hollywood escapism for the period---wealthy boys marrying penniless chorus girls while they're putting on a show (just what kind of a show boggles the imagination). So in that respect it doesn't really reflect the reality of the early '30s. It's what people wanted to see. The girls are hungry and unemployed in an early scene but soon are living in an art deco apartment and living the high life.
shareExactly... it's nothing more than Hollywood escapism... "The Grapes of Wrath" depicts a more realistic version of the Depression... Yet as usual, it's much harsher and depressing in real life...
.;*We Live Inside A Dream*;.
I thought that was a pretty swanky apartment, especially for "three stars" who never paid the rent.
shareOf course it is escapist fare to some degree. It's a musical comedy. If you want the harsh, nihilistic Warners world view of that era you can always check out I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang or Wild Boys of the Road.
shareThat did happen in real life both before and after
shareSure, as this was delightful escapism. I just watched it on TV and realized that it was made 83 years ago, but was as entertaining as anything today. And, for some reason, it brought tears to my eyes at unexpected moments.
Now the Forgotten man scene may have been inspired by the bonus march that happened months before the film was made. This explains why they decided at the last minute to make this the final scene.
The Bonus Army was the popular name for an assemblage of some 43,000 marchers—17,000 U.S. World War I veterans, their families, and affiliated groups—who gathered in Washington, D.C. in the summer ... Wikipedia
Date: July 28, 1932