The Gold Diggers of 1933
Our summer cycle will be festive or not. Sound and image, song and dance, instrument and breathing, strings and gestures: so many possible combinations to express what cinema and music can achieve and express together. Musicals, concert films, catchy music. Jazz, classical, contemporary, disco, punk... Revolt and enchantment, distress and emphasis, joy and rhythm, melancholy and bass, laughter and stridency: diverse expressions characterizing cinema and music's historical alliance, will definitely make us fly, dream, dance!
From the 30's to the present day and across all possible genres, this cycle aims to open our minds at a time when we most need it. The first week of July will be an eventful one, as the cycle will open with several evenings in cabaret mode, where we will present for the first time concert films produced in Quebec during the confinement, with the participation of major artists of the current music scene: Klô Pelgag, Marie Davidson and Godspeed You! Black Emperor.
Preserved in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant"
The "gold diggers" are four aspiring actresses: Polly (Ruby Keeler), an ingenue; Carol (Joan Blondell), a torch singer; Trixie (Aline MacMahon), a comedian; and Fay (Ginger Rogers), a glamourous character. The film was made in 1933, during the Great Depression and contains numerous direct references to it. It begins with a rehearsal for a stage show, which is interrupted by the producer's creditors who close down the show because of unpaid bills. (Wikipedia)
Mervyn LeRoy
Mervyn LeRoy was an American film director, film producer and screenplay writer. In his youth he played juvenile roles in vaudeville and silent film comedies. During the 1930s, LeRoy was one of the two great practitioners of economical and effective film directing at Warner Brothers studios. LeRoy's outstanding films of his tenure at Warners include Little Caesar (1931), I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (1932), Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) and They Won't Forget (1937). LeRoy left Warners and moved to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in 1939 to serve as both director and producer. His most outstanding success was organizing the production of The Wizard of Oz (1939). (Wikipedia)
Photo : Wikipedia
Busby Berkeley
Busby Berkeley (November 29, 1895 – March 14, 1976) was an American film director and musical choreographer. Berkeley devised elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns. His works used large numbers of showgirls and props as fantasy elements in kaleidoscopic on-screen performances. Berkeley's numbers were known for starting out in the realm of the stage, but quickly exceeding this space by moving into a time and place that could only be cinematic, to return to shots of an applauding audience and the fall of a curtain. (Wikipedia)
Photo : Imdb