42nd Street (1933) is the classic, fast paced, backstage movie musical a refreshing film musical forever and saved Warner Bros. It saved the studios from bankruptcy, helping it grow into a major studio. Set during the Depression and about the Depression, the film is considered the backstage musical par excellence, the grand daddy of them all. It was based on putting on a show tradition stemming from MGM's first sound film, The Broadway Melody, another "backstage musical".
Lloyd Bacon provided its skillful director, with a funny, often-sardonic screenplay by Rian James and James Seymour. …
