42nd Street

42nd Street (1933) is one of Hollywood's defining backstage musicals, directed by Lloyd Bacon — stream it online on iFILM. Warner Baxter plays Julian Marsh, a Broadway producer pouring the last of his health and money into one final show. When his leading lady breaks her ankle the night before opening, the spotlight falls on a chorus girl who has never carried a production.

Ruby Keeler plays Peggy Sawyer, the nervous newcomer shoved onto the stage with a now-legendary instruction from Marsh. Ginger Rogers and Dick Powell round out the cast, and Busby Berkeley's choreography turns the musical numbers into something closer to abstract geometry than dance — hundreds of performers arranged into kaleidoscopic patterns that had never been seen on screen before. Released in the depths of the Great Depression, the film hit audiences hard: a story about a last chance, grinding discipline, and one night that changes everything.

The film landed an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture and was later selected for the Library of Congress National Film Registry. Watch 42nd Street (1933) online on iFILM.