ones & Barry are doing a show!” Despite the ongoing economic depression, the theatrical enterprise plans to put on a production of “Pretty Lady,” to be helmed by Julian Marsh (Warner Baxter), one of the most noted, demanding, back-breaking musical-comedy directors around – and an unhealthy man on the verge of another nervous breakdown. And thanks to wealthy, sleazy agent Abner Dillon (Guy Kibbee), who will do anything for Dorothy Brock (Bebe Daniels), he’s managed to get her a contract for the principle part.

With five weeks of rehearsals on the schedule, Marsh picks out a bevy of women for the massive singing and dancing numbers, with Peggy Sawyer (Ruby Keeler), Lorraine Fleming (Una Merkel), and Ann Lowell (Ginger Rogers) getting specially selected thanks to a connection with a stage manager. As everything gets underway, little dramas unfold, from dissatisfaction with elements of the script and the performers, to backstage gossip, to scheming by rivalrous business associates, to complicated romances, to physical exhaustion. “It’s out! The whole number!”

With its sizable cast, including George Brent, Ned Sparks, Dick Powell, George E. Stone, and more, along with countless chorus line girls, “42nd Street” is an extensive endeavor, while also serving as something of an expose into the world of Broadway productions, perhaps most pointedly in underworld influences, lascivious executives, and the way that jobs are acquired through prior relationships (nepotism, before that word became a household term). But thanks to the moviemaking era, all of this is visually sanitized, even if that doesn’t stop the obvious implications of various interactions, some of which comes from the source material, Bradford Ropes’ novel. For what is often considered one of the greatest musicals of all time, there’s quite a focus on dramatic plots of fraying couples, fresh flirtations, and drained or failing energies (or aggravated stars).

Oddly, the song-and-dance sequences during the practices are the only glimpses of musical numbers the audience gets; a considerable portion of the running time expires before the signature Busby Berkeley ensembles take center stage. And, although there’s a wealth of humor and plenty of engaging players, the personas themselves are largely unsympathetic and uninspiring. Crowds of overzealous employees yelling and scurrying about to frantically put on a show, with routine hurdles of technical and personal types, don’t amount to much entertainment value. By the finale, which is the anticipated “Pretty Lady” play, presented with full songs (and solos) and intricate sets (and props and extras), it’s not enough to make “42nd Street” stand out – save for the significance of its arrival and success in 1933, before many of the most striking musicals of the late ‘30s and early ‘40s, allowing it to be influential for the genre in the following years. The title tune remains memorable (as does the parting shot), but this pioneering product-of-its-time no longer possesses much filmic power. “You’re going out a youngster, but you’ve got to come back a star!”

– Mike Massie