Revisiting Rewatchables, week 27: „Dames“
Welcome to the fourth Busby Berkeley film in my series. We already know the cast from previous films, so we feel right at home. This time around, there is not a jumble of plot to distract from the show numbers. In fact, the plot is pretty simple: a millionaire, Ezra Ounce (Hugh Herbert), fights against moral depravity: liquor, nicotine are the usual suspects, but what Ezra really abhors is theatre. One of his relatives, Horace P. Hemingway (Guy Kibbee), is forced to assist him in this campaign, if he wants to get ten million dollars. The story is mildly funny and gives Hugh Herbert and Guy Kibbee something to chew on. Their antagonists are Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler and Joan Blondell, who want to put on a show and are not easily intimidated. There is a running gag (cousin Ezra’s bodyguard who always falls asleep), and there is “Doctor Silver’s Golden Elixir”, the only remedy for cousin Ezra’s hiccups, which consists of 53% alcohol, something the teetotaler doesn’t seem to realise.
Of course, the story culminates at the opening night of the show, and that is when the film explodes with creativity. The first number, “The Girl at the Ironing Board”, is wonderfully silly and funny, with Joan Blondell romancing, and dancing with, laundry. There is even a wink at “42nd Street” (I enclose a link). From then on, the numbers become more and more spectacular and phantasmagorical. It is all about movement and shapes and symmetries, with incredible camera angles. One gets almost dizzy watching “I Only Have Eyes for You” which is obsessed with the face of Ruby Keeler. Ages before the Wachowskis cloned Agent Smith there was Busby Berkeley cloning Ruby Keeler (I enclose a link). The finale is “Dames” which is a marvel of stage design, choreography, film editing and camera work (I enclose a link; the number is longer; this is the second part). None of the numbers are about dancing, they are all about creating patterns in movement, and of course none of them could ever have been staged in a theatre, but that doesn’t matter.
“Dames” is an enjoyable film story wise, but it’s the musical numbers that blow your mind. They are utterly mesmerising. I can only imagine how one would feel watching these numbers while taking a swig of “Doctor Silver’s Golden Elixir”. No wonder uncle Ezra has a change of heart at the end of the film.