See these films: Gold Diggers of 1933 + 42nd Street @ the Brattle

42nd Street (1933)

Back in the Depression days Hollywood knew how to turn economic and social injustice into entertainment. Mervyn LeRoy's  Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933; 5:30 + 9:30 pm) starts with Ginger Rogers wearing only gold coins as she sings and dances in Busby Berkeley's saucy and satiric "We're in the Money" number. On a more somber note it ends with Joan Blondell belting it out in Berkeley's moving tribute to the poor, "Remember My Forgotten Man." Rogers and Berkeley return in Lloyd Bacon's 42nd Street (1933; 3:30 + 7:30 pm), the quintessential tale of a Broadway show struggling with hard times and the understudy who makes good when she gets her big break. The title number is one of the best of all time. Both are at the Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St, Cambridge | 617.876.6837 or brattlefilm.org.