42^nd Street, Goldiggers of 1933, Footlight Parade, Fashions of 1934

(Busby Berkely, 1933)

IMDB

Former drill sergeant turned extravagant choreographer Busby Berkely, has been described as the first director to actually make the camera move and to truly involve his audience in his films. He made this look sophisticated and effortless, however it's fact that his background as a drill sergeant just meant that the cast would rehearse and rehearse until it was to his high standard!

Many of Berkely's films were pretty much the same, in terms of narrative, but in terms of innovative design, each film was as exciting as the next, each challenging the boundaries of camera work, choreography, set design, costume and what was socially acceptable. Many even featured songs with narrative subversion towards current events, one example of this being the number, My Forgotten Man, which was about the forgotten men of the first world war, amongst post-depression U.S.

Some of the issues tackled, and the way the chorus girls were presented, were seen, especially in 30's Britain, as impolite and improper, meaning that many of his films were banned in the U.K. as they evoked attitudes and ideology thought of as harmful to Britain's better interests.

One of Berkeley’s most recognisable examples of making the camera move then, is his signature shot in which he takes the camera between the bare legs of his line of chorus girls. The very same chorus girls whose costumes were more often than not, risqué. Their costumes made of a huge variety of different materials, including fur, leather, larvae and even, in one case, corsets made of tin. Noticeably, the girls were completely natural beauties, healthy and proportioned women as was desired of that time, unlike today's media-craving for stick-thin, “beautiful” people. Another signature use that Berkeley had for his chorus girls, was his kaleidoscopic aerial view of the women, in which they would use their bodies to create patterns and shapes in synchronisation, creating a beautiful yet, somewhat psychedelic effect.

The costumes were just as elaborate as the sets, which often had moving parts, various tiers and were on occasion integrated with floating pieces and even water. The sets formed part of Berkeley's various camera trickery, in which no post-production editing was ever used, just pure clever camera placing and optical illusions. Berkeley then, was a pure designer, whose glamorous and technical style has been imitated countless times since, but never captured. His surreal and innovative style paved the way for designers and directors alike.