Vid: Weapon of Choice (Busby Berkeley movies)

[jetpack_monkey]

Title: Weapon of Choice
Song: Weapon of Choice by Fatboy Slim
Source: Busby Berkeley movies
For: fairestcat, Festivids 2022
Length: 2:32

Just Busby Berkeley Vibes

Watch on YouTube

Vimeo Password: rubykeeler

Watch on Vimeo

Download the 33.4MB MP4 (right/ctrl-click and "Save file as...")

Archive of Our Own link

Notes: Busby Berkeley was the top choreographer in 1930s Hollywood. His sequences were often the finale for a "let's put on a show" film, although sometimes he would have sequences in the body of the film as well. He was known for inventive staging, kaleidoscopic bodies, and sheer ambition.

I've had this vid in my head ever since I saw my first Busby Berkeley movies on Filmstruck (RIP). The idea centered on a visual that turned out to not actually exist, oops. I was delighted when I saw that fairestcat requested these movies because it was the perfect excuse to put this long-gestating idea down on a timeline.

Not all Berkeley sequences are represented -- Shanghai Lil was avoided for racism/yellowface reasons, for instance. However, the sequences stretch across ten different films. Clipping was handily assisted by the existence of a bonus feature in the first Busby Berkeley box set which was literally just the choreographed sequences for the included films, plus a couple extras. All killer, no filler.

Sources:
42nd Street (1933)
Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
Footlight Parade (1933)
Fashions of 1934 (1934)
Wonder Bar (1934)
Dames (1934)
Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935)
Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936)
Varsity Show (1937)
Gold Diggers in Paris (1938)

Comments

[diannelamerc]

Love it! I'd seen excerpts of a few dance routines in the past (enough to understand what a "Busby Berkley musical/number" meant, but I had no idea of how much he played around with the format. How fun!

[jetpack_monkey]

Thanks! This comment also inspired me to add a little context to my notes.