I don't usually rate films from this era as low as a 5, and I more often rate 21st century movies a 5 or lower. I am not saying all 21st century stuff is bad. Movies that have come out in the 21st century that I loved and thought were great included "Black swan", "Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind", "The pianist", "Girl with a dragon tattoo", "The Aviator", and "The curious case of Benjamin Buttons". I also thought the Harry Potter films were great.
Generally speaking though in my opinion, old times were better, in films and in real life. My list of great films I love from The Golden Age of Hollywood is pages long. I am not saying old times were perfect, nothing is. "Varsity show" was definitely not perfect. It was one of Busby's "slump films", which were three films he made during a bad spot during his life (the bad spot was Busby having accidentally killed someone in a car wreck and he was initially tried for murder). His three slump films were "Hollywood hotel", "Varsity show", and "Gold diggers Paris". Those three films lacked the magic of his usual wonder and had some characters in them which were more weird and stupid acting than what was in Busby's normal greatness.
The opening scenes I saw a familiar face in the late 1930s college crowd. A funny looking long toothed man who I had seen an older version of as a weird TV repair man in 1962 Twilight zone episode "Whats in the box". The man who voiced Whinny the pooh in the 1960s cartoon Whinny the pooh. He was about 19 here and was one of the students among others such as Johnnie Davis and pretty Rosemary Lane. Rosemary was pretty and nice, and was joined by Dick Powell who is been in almost every 1930s Busby Berkeley film. But Powell lost his touch a little here compared to his earlier stuff. "Gold diggers 37" was the first film where Powell wasn't as great as before (his first number of that film "speakin of the weather. Lighning flash!" did not have the same magic that his songs from "Gold diggers 33", "Gold diggers 35", "Dames", etc. had), although "Gold diggers 37" did have one wonderful song with the magic like in the previous films, which was the song at the party "Let's get our heads together" (even that song had one bad little spot that didn't fit with the magic of the rest of the song, and that was when two weird guys at the bar sung a line of the song in weird voices. That one tiny moment was unfortunately a preview of what was gonna happen a bit more during Busby's slump films which included "Varsity show"). "Lets get our heads together" in "Gold diggers 37" was the last wonderful piece of Busby magic until he bounced back again (due to his murder trials being acquitted) and made the wonderful Judy Garland films, starting with "Babes in arms" in 1939.
Powell here in "Varsity show" was eloped with Rosemary. She was cute and nice, but she wasn't as totally amazing and heavenly wonderful like Powell's earlier partners Ruby Keeler and Gloria Stewart. Ruby was an angel, especially "I only have eyes for you", "Like a waterfall", "Pettin in the park", etc., and Gloria was an angel in "Gold diggers 35's" "The words are in my heart".
"Varsity show" wasn't absolutely terrible. It was just a slump film which lacked the magic from Busby's better times, which fortunately was the higher percentage of his career. There one really miserable guy, who was a slump film style character. First, he yelled at all the kids to get out of the theater and then they just sat down and laughed. And then he got the police, but when they got there they just sat down and enjoyed the show. Then the miserable guy got the swat team, but they only joined the police to watch. Then he got the military armed forces, then the governor. They all did the same while this miserable guy's mounting frustration grew while no one else shared it. Most people knew that shows in the 1930s were nice to watch. This film was, I will call it mediocre.
Generally speaking though in my opinion, old times were better, in films and in real life. My list of great films I love from The Golden Age of Hollywood is pages long. I am not saying old times were perfect, nothing is. "Varsity show" was definitely not perfect. It was one of Busby's "slump films", which were three films he made during a bad spot during his life (the bad spot was Busby having accidentally killed someone in a car wreck and he was initially tried for murder). His three slump films were "Hollywood hotel", "Varsity show", and "Gold diggers Paris". Those three films lacked the magic of his usual wonder and had some characters in them which were more weird and stupid acting than what was in Busby's normal greatness.
The opening scenes I saw a familiar face in the late 1930s college crowd. A funny looking long toothed man who I had seen an older version of as a weird TV repair man in 1962 Twilight zone episode "Whats in the box". The man who voiced Whinny the pooh in the 1960s cartoon Whinny the pooh. He was about 19 here and was one of the students among others such as Johnnie Davis and pretty Rosemary Lane. Rosemary was pretty and nice, and was joined by Dick Powell who is been in almost every 1930s Busby Berkeley film. But Powell lost his touch a little here compared to his earlier stuff. "Gold diggers 37" was the first film where Powell wasn't as great as before (his first number of that film "speakin of the weather. Lighning flash!" did not have the same magic that his songs from "Gold diggers 33", "Gold diggers 35", "Dames", etc. had), although "Gold diggers 37" did have one wonderful song with the magic like in the previous films, which was the song at the party "Let's get our heads together" (even that song had one bad little spot that didn't fit with the magic of the rest of the song, and that was when two weird guys at the bar sung a line of the song in weird voices. That one tiny moment was unfortunately a preview of what was gonna happen a bit more during Busby's slump films which included "Varsity show"). "Lets get our heads together" in "Gold diggers 37" was the last wonderful piece of Busby magic until he bounced back again (due to his murder trials being acquitted) and made the wonderful Judy Garland films, starting with "Babes in arms" in 1939.
Powell here in "Varsity show" was eloped with Rosemary. She was cute and nice, but she wasn't as totally amazing and heavenly wonderful like Powell's earlier partners Ruby Keeler and Gloria Stewart. Ruby was an angel, especially "I only have eyes for you", "Like a waterfall", "Pettin in the park", etc., and Gloria was an angel in "Gold diggers 35's" "The words are in my heart".
"Varsity show" wasn't absolutely terrible. It was just a slump film which lacked the magic from Busby's better times, which fortunately was the higher percentage of his career. There one really miserable guy, who was a slump film style character. First, he yelled at all the kids to get out of the theater and then they just sat down and laughed. And then he got the police, but when they got there they just sat down and enjoyed the show. Then the miserable guy got the swat team, but they only joined the police to watch. Then he got the military armed forces, then the governor. They all did the same while this miserable guy's mounting frustration grew while no one else shared it. Most people knew that shows in the 1930s were nice to watch. This film was, I will call it mediocre.