Modas de 1934

A user before called it dated, a user after that said of course it's dated it's from 1933. I am always amused by those comments.

I think some people don't understand what 'dated' means. Dated means it's tired, old, boring and has no teeth. Which is exactly the OPPOSITE from this kind of film!

It's PRE CODE : the dancing is provocative, the gals are prostitutes and guys are gangsters + the music numbers are fresh young loud and simply alive! So what on earth are you talking about people??

This movie is glamour and sleaze and that's what you want from a 30s!

You want to watch something dated? Try a Von Sternberg/Dietrich film.

This a great one.

Despite its garish title, "Fashions of 1934" is actually a pretty decent movie, certainly better than the bad reputation it's stuck with. Armed with a snappy script and fast paced direction, the actors in "Fashions" shine, showing off their abilities, whether they be comedic, dramatic or both. William Powell makes a good old rascal, the decent "un decent" man that was a virtual staple at Warner Bros. (the studio who produced this film) at the time. Bette Davis, all glammed up in red lipstick and classy dresses, shows off a rare ability for humor, fitting right in to the film's light hearted tone. As Powell's sidekick, Frank McHugh almost steals the show, mastering and even rising above the script's punchlines by exaggerated facial expressions and crude but effective slapstick. "Fashions of 1934" isn't a comedy classic nor does it aim to be one. It simply wants to entertain the audience with good humor, effective acting and direction that moves things along at a quick pace. By all accounts, it has succeeded.

FASHIONS OF 1934 (Warner Brothers, 1934), directed by William Dieterle, is a light comedy that pairs debonair William Powell for the one and only time opposite the very young but unrecognizable Bette Davis. Although an unlikely pair, there isn't much chemistry between them. It is also surprising for a first time viewer to find Bette in platinum blonde shoulder length hair supported with heavy eye lashes and lipstick. One can only imagine Davis detesting such an assignment having her look more like a department store mannequin than herself, but it was one of many such "nothing" film roles before the studio would know what to do with her. In spite of it being labeled a musical, Davis does not sing a note nor dance, but the movie itself does consist of one lavish production number, choreographed by Busby Berkeley, which needs to be seen to be believed, but otherwise, worth the price of admission. On and all, FASHIONS OF 1934 (TV and video title: FASHIONS), solely relies on comedy and its presentation of the latest fashions, which were probably never seen again after this movie finished its theatrical run.

The story opens with Sherwood Nash (Powell), a smooth operator who can talk his way in and out of anything, being evicted from his Golden Harvest Investment Corporation for back payment of rent. While his furniture is being moved out, Nash encounters Lynn Mason (Bette Davis), a fashion designer seeking employment. Looking over her drawn sketches, Nash, finding Lynn to be very talented, decides to pursue another kind of racket, that as a fashion swindler. He uses theatrical methods to steal dress designs from famous designers and presenting them to potential buyers at cut-rate prices. After getting caught, Lynn, Nash and Snap (Frank McHugh), Nash's girl-chasing partner, shipboard their way to Paris to get the latest designs. Trying to come up with new and original ideas, Nash meets and befriends Joe Ward (Hugh Herbert), a California feather merchant hoping to interest designers into using more ostrich feathers on their creations. With the help of his former girlfriend, Mabel Maguire (Verree Teasdale), posing as the Grand Duchess Alix, a Russian noblewoman, presently engaged to designer Oscar Baroque (Reginald Owen), Nash arranges to get revue and fashion show together featuring the Grand Duchess Alix. Nash meets further complications when there is a possibility that Lynn might walk out on him, and of he being exposed by Baroque, who wants to ruin him.

FASHIONS OF 1934 very much belongs to Powell, quite amusing and self-confident man. His performance itself never disappoints. The fashion show is preceded by a Busby Berkeley number, "Spin a Little Web of Dreams" (music and lyrics by Irving Kahal and Sammy Fain), as sung by Verree Teasdale. It highlights several chorus girls as human harps and others in pre-production code bikinis, exposing more skin of the female body than any other Berkeley number has up to that time. However, the heavy blonde wigs the semi-nude girls wear make them appear older than their actual youthful ages. And of course, in true Berkeley tradition, the girls in ostrich feather gowns form themselves into one large blooming rose.

In the supporting cast are Philip Reed as Jimmy Blake, a struggling songwriter in love with Lynn; Gordon Westcott and Dorothy Burgess as a couple of swindlers working for Nash in the early portion of the story; Henry O'Neill, Etienne Girardot and George Humbert as famous fashion designers who have their designs stolen by Nash; Hobart Cavanaugh as a man with a box of dancing worms; and Jane Darwell in a small role as a patron during the fashion show sequence. And then there is that Frank McHugh laugh, especially while either looking at some "naughty girlie photographs" or encountering them in the flesh.

FASHIONS OF 1934 is enjoyable fluff from the Golden Age of Hollywood, and would be recommended to those who enjoy watching pre-code production movies. Formerly presented on commercial television's WPHL, Channel 17, in Philadelphia prior to 1974, and available on video cassette in the mid 1980s from Matinée Classics, it can be seen occasionally on late night Turner Classic Movies.(***)

The plot of this film wanders all over the place, from various schemes of a con man in the fashion world (William Powell) to a few melodramatic romantic interests. The highlight worth waiting for is the ostrich feather musical number choreographed by Busby Berkeley, as well as a smaller number showing fashion designs inspired from historical figures. Until then, Powell is reasonably engaging in pursuing a young woman he's hired to sketch fashions (Bette Davis) as well as an old lover masquerading as an aristocrat in Paris (Verree Teasdale). To the latter, he says he never forgets her "personality" after swatting her behind, which reminded me of the playful euphemism in the 1946 song of the same name by Johnny Mercer. Davis is pretty and very chic, though she's unfortunately underused. It's great to see the fashion elements which appear throughout the film, but the rest of the cast and their various subplots don't add much. Frank McHugh plays a guy who laughs in a silly way in response to anything, including seeing the "filthy" postcards a bookseller is trying to push, and Hugh Herbert is sedate as an ostrich feather supplier who drinks too much. Of course, right? The film was released early enough in 1934 to beat the enforcement of the Production Code, and as a result there are lots of revealing outfits on display, including ostrich feather bikinis which predate the modern bikini by over a decade. Worth watching for the stars, fashion designs, and the musical numbers, but don't expect much more.

"Fashions of 1934" is an amusing light comedy starring William Powell and Bette Davis.

Davis looks much more sophisticated than she did in "The Man Who Played God." She's very glamorous and also very good in a film that's mainly fueled by Powell's performance as a con man.

The Powell character goes from con to con, sometimes a con within a con - he can't resist. One of his schemes is to copy fashion sketches from Paris and pass them off as originals.

Another is to sell a surplus of ostrich plumes by featuring them in a musical revue. This gives rise to a great musical number, "Spin a Little Web of Dreams." It's a Busby Berkeley kaleidoscope production. The audience at the musical revue, however, didn't see it as moviegoers did - from above.

This is a fun movie and notable for the actual fashions shown, a good performance by Powell, a spectacular number, and early Davis before she established her screen persona.