BUSBY BERKELEY: GOING THROUGH THE ROOF (1998) B/W & C 52m

w/Esther Williams, Dorothy Coonan Wellman, Kenneth Anger

From Now Playing, the TCM Viewer's Guide: "One of the world's most feverishly inventive minds was set loose during the Great Depression at Warner Bros., where choreographer Busby Berkeley (1895-1976) enlisted that studio's great technical facilities and pool of music talent to create numbers that dazzled escapism-hungry audiences. Berkeley, born in Los Angeles, was a top Broadway dance director before being imported to Hollywood by producer Sam Goldwyn in 1930. Extravagant and erotic, his mass choreography for such Warner Bros. musicals as 42nd Street (1933) and Dames (1934) had movie-goers bug-eyed. Berkeley was not only an inspired choreographer but a daring technical innovator. Best known of all his effects was the 'Berkeley top shot,' where he literally took the camera through the soundstage roof to create his trademark overhead view of dancers in kaleidoscopic patterns. In addition to choreography, Berkeley began directing feature films in the early 1930s; among his directorial credits are Hollywood Hotel (1937) at Warner Bros. and Babes in Arms (1939) and Strike Up the Band (1940) at MGM. ... Busby Berkeley: Going Through the Roof [is] a TCM original documentary about the life and career of this astonishing artist."