One of the landmarks in the musical genre from the 1930’s choreographed by Busby Berkeley that still holds up perfectly nowadays, being deeply entertaining.

Starting from an array of musical numbers that increase exponentially in quality, beauty, and emotion from one to the other, concluding with the poignant, crude and fantastic number “Remember My Forgotten Man” that puts into shame, again not because the rest are weak but because this last one is great, the other numbers in comparison.

Precisely for this last number, Joan Blondell acts as the lead and does it superbly, just as she does it for the entire film. Alongside Aline MacMahon, Warren William, and the hilariously gullible Guy Kibbee, the four provide the most funny and enjoyable scenes (some of them “peppered” by some Ginger Rogers short appearances).

On the other hand, for this particular film, the recurrent couple formed by Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell do not provide their most endearing effort. Their relationship, although being the key element for the plot, becoming not the most interesting aspect on the film.

In fact, when it comes to the story, we could say that, and very probably linked to the just mentioned performances, that the most delightful part is those tangential stories focused on the relationships between the side characters and not the main thread of the prohibited love between the two protagonists. We could even say that, to a certain extent, this supposedly secondary plot becomes prevalent for a big part of the film.

In conclusion, format-wise the film shouldn’t have much to highlight since we could perceive it as the usual musical Broadway backstage story from those years headlined by the Keeler and Powell couple. But then again, the combination of a fantastic supporting cast and the always enchanting number choreographed by Berkeley provide us with yet another classical musical that you cannot miss.