Popular reviews

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  Review by theriverjordan ★★★ 11

  The first hour of “Dames” is meaningless filler. It constitutes the entire plot of the film, but is filler nonetheless. 

  The last half hour of dance sequences  — per the Busby Berkeley standard, is transcendent. 

  It was also very much the end of the party. 

  “Dames” arrived - along with the Hays Code - in 1934. While Berkeley’s fantastical choreography still wowed, it was also clearly leashed. Without the flood of ‘raunchy’ leg shots and bawdy innuendos of his earlier projects, “Dames” feels very much like the start of Hollywood ageing the legend out of relevance. 

  Not one to go out on anything less than peak spectacle, “Dames” still contains moments that rank among the best of Berekely’s imaginings. 

  The…

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  Review by theironcupcake ★★★★ 14

  "New York City reeks with sin, especially the hotels. I wouldn't go near any of them!"

  Pop Culture 101: #6

  After an extraordinarily aggravating past couple of work hours, to the point that my brain is ready to implode, I find that throwing on Dames provides pretty good distraction from the chaos. It may not be the best Busby Berkeley-choreographed experience, but it is quite possibly the most BB-licious time you could have at the movies. Really, truly some of the wackiest musical numbers ever put onscreen!

  Joan Blondell warbles an ode to anthropomorphized flannel britches and Dick Powell fantasizes about an infinite series of Ruby Keelers (seen in part here), such that no one Broadway venue could possibly contain…

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  Review by RetroHound ★★★★ 2

  I am in a supremely good mood after watching this. Could have used more Joan Blondell, but it was a really good show. And the main song is "I Only Have Eyes for You" which I only knew from the 1950s do-wop group The Flamingos. That was a surprise.

  The story is about a rich man who is overly concerned about morals, especially other people's morals. He is going to give 10 million dollars (almost 200 million today) to his cousin (Zasu Pitts) and her husband (Guy Kibbee) if they will promote good morals. But their daughter (Ruby Keeler) is in love with a theater man (Dick Powell) and that is bad news for morals. Joan Blondell helps get the money for the show by blackmailing Guy Kibbee.

  This has some of Busby Berkeley's best choreography. Really some top notch stuff here.

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  Review by Owen ★★★½

  Hugh Herbert is looking to give 10 million dollars to Guy Kibbee as long he and his family can stay off the drink and out of the theatre. Trouble is his daughter, Ruby Keeler, is in love with her black sheep musical writer cousin, Dick Powell, and Kibee is being blackmailed by chorus girl Joan Blondell to bankroll their show.

  Which, I think, means I just spent longer thinking and writing about the plot than anyone involved in 1934 did. There's a few decent blows at puritanism just before the production code came in (and a few more bath shots for good measure, who knows when they'd next be able to do them) and Powell and Blondell and Keeler were…

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  Review by Jack Darnell ★★★★ 11

  I’ve seen quite a few bizarre films in my day, but I never thought that a pre-code musical would ever join those ranks. Dames has just about everything: Dick Powell trying to sleep with his cousin, a millionaire uncle who has the mind of Travis Bickle, Joan Blondell enjoying popping into men’s beds just before they go to sleep to spook them, dozens of cut-out cardboard heads of Ruby Keeler dancing in a void, Blondell speaking to and then dancing with men’s undergarments as a partner (oh god the line When I’m off on Sundays, I miss all these undies), and of course Keeler saying the iconic and classic phrase:

  ’I don’t care what either of you say. I’m free,…

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  Review by sakana1 ★★★ 8

  Jesus tap dancing christ — I have never done acid, but watching the musical numbers in this movie is what I imagine it must feel like.

  Nothing could have prepared me for the utter insanity that is the mere existence of the laundry number, and from there we're launched into a nightmare world of flying Ruby Keeler heads, upside-down women, and things multiply and tilting forever and ever and ever, until your brain melts and comes out your ears.

  Listen, I recognize that Busby Berkeley was a genuinely gifted man, with enviable vision. One thing at which he was not gifted, however, was editing himself. Just take one piece of jewelry off, Busby. Just one! (To be fair to him,…

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  Review by Gentry ★★★★

  “Your knees in action, that’s the attraction.”

  Busby Berkeley on TCM Rewatch Mind Dump

  Not a bad little clam-bake. If you cut out the Busby Berkeley numbers (I’m not suggesting you do this), this is the Guy Kibbee show. Maybe his finest hour.

  Kibbee (a moral man, has never dawdled) screaming about huge rats in his sleeping compartment and the conductor assuming he’s having alcoholic hallucinations.

  Hugh Herbert, an athlete’s stomach.

  Blondell doing her best Mae West singing impression in "The Girl at the Ironing Board,” complete with a “come up and see me sometime.”

  At one point Ruby Keeler emerges from the retina of her own cardboard cutout eyeball.

  ➡️ Whirling Stages: Busby Berkeley Ranked

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  Review by Sally Jane Black 2

  "I Only Have Eyes for You" is my favorite love song. I am on record with this. I was aware that it was an old standard, and I knew it had been featured in films before. But I didn't recall or perhaps did not know that this was where it all began. The rendition here is spectacular, of course, but it doesn't match the Flamingos' stunning rendition. Still, on the strength of that song alone, this movie became an instant favorite.

  The plot is absurd, the sort of Depression-era fantasy that must have packed them in. It features Busby Berkley's signature dance extravaganzas and a fresh faced, charming Dick Powell, along with some crack comedians and some wonderful running gags (notably, a narcoleptic bodyguard) that make it a solidly enjoyable film.

  December count: 60/100.

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  Review by nora ★★★ 3

  that musical number where everyone is holding up ruby keeler's face exasperated the confusion over why ruby keeler was a star that i generally feel watching busby berkeley musicals to a new level. her screen presence is so bland! there are like 5-10 minutes of this movie where every dancer is twirling big cutouts of her face and dressing/acting like her and yes it's incredible because it's some good surreal busby magic but wow she is so devoid of charm it's astounding to me. anyway these movies are always a tonic and i very much enjoyed joan blondell's hijinks and all the references to buffalo and dick powell looking like sigmund freud.

  also the bits lampooning the morality group in this movie seem like explicit commentary on the production code! i love it!

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  Review by k 🪐 ★★★

  No musical about musicals is complete without the
  1) Last minute cast shuffle
  2) Gratuitous yet visually dazzling final numbers
  3) Utterly nonsensical plot of the show-within-the-movie
  4) Aggressive camerawork and editing that uses the unique properties of the cinematic medium to produce greater spectacles than are possible in an actual stage production
  5) … Including the use of overhead shots of the ensemble
  6) The blonde diva and talented brunette amateur fighting over the milquetoast man who is involved in the backstage portion yet also the leading man
  7) And, of course, no more than 1 minute’s worth of ‘plot’ ‘resolution’ tacked onto the end

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  Review by Robert Hayes ★★★★

  'Sweet and Hot' are how I like my Dames!

  Yet another Busby Berkeley musical that delivered just what I have come to expect, and I was not disappointed at all. If anything, this late Pre-Code offering was a distillation of everything that came before it, all while thumbing its nose at sanctimonious moralizers. It was incredible! You have the delightful quirkiness of Joan Blondell singing about laundry in 'The Girl at the Ironing Board,' the surrealness of infinite Ruby Keelers in 'I Only Have Eyes for You,' and of course, plenty of 'Dames' in various stages of undress. The framing story being a little different from the usual backstage antics was a nice change of pace, even if it was as thin as usual. Overall, I'd put it about on par with Gold Diggers of 1933 and 42nd Street. I absolutely love these things, and I can't wait to see more!

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  Review by comrade_yui ★★★

  weird pro-incest musical, has the typical insane busby berkeley genius at the end with a hundred ruby keelers rotating in synergistic glee like little music box marionettes, as well as another hundred gals bathing together in neon-white bathtubs, but this time all the drama beforehand is this pseudo-handwringing about oncoming hays code censorship (not like it matters to berkeley because his ass is going to make horny music numbers no matter what, morals be damned). a definite comedown after the unmatched 1933 berkeley blitz at warners, but nobody's perfect.