Sunday, March 26, 2006
Classic Pre-code #4: The Devil's Cabaret 1931
The Devil's Cabaret 1931, stars Charles Middleton, the beautiful Mary Carlisle (who is still with us, and celebrated her 94th birthday last month), and Eddie Buzzell, an underrated comedy director who helmed the obscure gem, Cross Country Cruise 1934. The Devil's Cabaret is an early 2-strip technicolor short produced with footage salvaged from the abandoned 1930 musical, The March of Time, and new footage shot at MGM. The result is an eye-popping, surreal, vaudeville comedy/musical short that has to be seen to be disbelieved.
Happy belated birthday to Joan Crawford, one of the most evil and photogenic of Hollywood stars.
ReplyDeleteThe images of this movie look great! Don't you just love how feminine and petite dancers looked back then? Compare their physique with the dancers in "Chicago." Those look like body builders, with six and eight packs in their stomachs, agh.
The difference in musculature between the 1920's and 30's dancers, and todays dancers is incredible. I've alway prefered the softer bodied, feminine look of the early dancers, although sometimes their costumes didn't always show off their shapes to the greatest effect.
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