SummaryA director puts on what may be his last Broadway show and, at the last moment, a naive newcomer has to replace the star.
Directed By:Lloyd Bacon
Written By:Rian James, James Seymour, Bradford Ropes, Whitney Bolton
42nd Street
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
83
User score
Generally Favorable
6.4
My Score
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Metascore
Universal Acclaim
89% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
11% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
100
42nd Street is the quintessential '30s backstage song and dance movie-and one of the most influential and much-copied movie musicals ever. [09 Mar 2007, p.C6]
100
A movie that could only have been produced by the 1930s studio system. Absolutely spectacular.
90
Everything about the production rings true. It's as authentic to the initiate as the novitiate.
90
The liveliest and one of the most tuneful screen musical comedies that has come out of Hollywood.
88
This may be the definitive Busby Berkeley-choreographed musical simply because the entire movie revels in the sort of things that Berkeley’s elaborate dance numbers revel in: innuendo, flirtations and flesh.
80
Reviving the musical's fortunes in one fell swoop, Bacon and Busby Berkeley's backstage saga set the benchmark for the putting-on-a-show subgenre not by means of plot (a thin and hackneyed affair about a young understudy finding stardom when she covers for the temperamental diva) but through sassy songs and dialogue and dazzling mise-en-scène.
50
This 1933 film is the best known of the Warner Brothers Depression-era musicals, though it doesn't compare in dash and extravagance to later entries in the cycle.
User score
Generally Favorable
67% Positive
8 Ratings
8 Ratings
17% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
17% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
Jul 18, 2023
7
Entertaining drama comedy musical, l liked most the backstage details of putting on a show, And the impressive big show numbers at the end
Jan 31, 2025
6
Es complicado emitir una opinión de un tema que no te gusta, en mi caso serían los musicales, así que, con respecto a esta película, tengo sentimientos encontrados. A diferencia de otros musicales que generalmente cantan en toda la película, aquí, en cambio, solo se canta al final. Antes de eso, nos presentan la historia, y en cuestión de historia, me aburrió, no conecto conmigo lastimosamente. La protagonista real no tiene carisma, entiendo que quisieron hacerla tierna, pero esa ternura, para mí, se convirtió en falta de personalidad. Si bien las subtramas tienen algo más de peso, no se terminan de concretar satisfactoriamente, quedan como en el aire, para dar paso al clímax que es la presentación, y puede sonar hasta irónico, pero me gustó bastante, especialmente los planos que hacen para representar los bailes y la historia, quedé gratamente sorprendido, pero son 25 minutos en una película de una hora y media, por lo que, para mí, se quedó a medias.
Production Company:
- Warner Bros.
Release Date:Mar 11, 1933
Duration:1 h 29 m
Rating:TV-G
Tagline:OK. Say, Jones and Barry are doin' a show! - That's great. Jones and Barry are doin' a show.
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 2 Nominations
National Film Preservation Board, USA
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Online Film & Television Association
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination




























