Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Busby Berkeley and Eddie Cantor

I showed Denise the amazing dance sequences from Kid From Spain last night. It is so very embarrassingly and painfully socially incorrect. But the dance sequences are jaw-droppingly amazing. I love what Busby can do with alot of ladies in a pool and Eddie Cantor. There are no YouTube clips from this film. But I did find this beautiful shot.

With the resurgence in popularity of musicals these days, how come no musical film producer is doing anything like this? Wouldn't High School Musical or Hairspray or Chicago be so much better with some Busby Berkelian Matrix-style dance numbers thrown in? Berkeley did it all with simple tricks like mirrors, reverse film direction, funky camera angles, etc. I want to see a Busby Berkeley number with some Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 3-D effects!

4 comments:

rossi said...

Anything like this?

I bet you would be a Renato Carasone fan if you understood Italian. Although it wouldn't help with this clip which is some sort of made up language. Sound for sound's sake. It's also pretty modern for it's time--a tape loop! This aired on TV!

Here is a bit more classic Carasone.

Charlotte said...

Hmmm. That first clip is really cool, but it's got a slightly different flavor than Busby. I think it's pretty hilarious.

You'll have to come over one night after you get back for a night of champagne and Busby Berkeley musical numbers.

Anonymous said...

http://blogging.la/archives/2007/10/greatest_dead_angelenos_20_bus.phtml
little piece on busby

Charlotte said...

Yay! Busby!!!! He's the best in my book.