Some other competitors get wind of it and the competition is on.
#Movie footlight parade movie
Stage live relevant prologues to the movies that are being shown at the various movie theaters that are springing up overnight from the old theaters. In an effort to stimulate the show business economy and his own personal economy, out of work theater director James Cagney comes up with a brilliant idea. Those behind the curtains were hit as bad as those in front. He’s hilarious, per usual.The Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Depression following almost ruined the American Musical Theater, in fact it was the final death blow to vaudeville. She catches the eye of Dick Powell, who has a considerably small part in this film compared to other Berkeley musicals, but she has no time for him since he hangs around with wealthy Ruth Donnelly.īut one of the cast highlights is Frank McHugh who leads the dance rehearsals and is always so overwrought and stressed to the point of making himself sick. Ruby Keeler plays a mousy secretary, who glams herself up and becomes a dancer. Joan Blondell is wonderful as always and this is a great pairing for her and James Cagney.
Outside of Cagney’s character, this film has an excellent supporting cast. While James Cagney is still known more as a Hollywood tough guy, today’s audiences also know him as a song and dance man from films like this or his Academy Award-winning performance in “Yankee Doodle Dandy.” But can you imagine seeing this film for the first time in 1933 and only knowing James Cagney from gangster roles like “Public Enemy” (1931)? I love Cagney’s fast-talking businessman who comes up with wild ideas for musical numbers. It could be compared to “42nd Street” or the “Gold Diggers” films, which Berkeley also worked on, but “Footlight Parade” has something those didn’t: James Cagney. “Footlight Parade” is one of my favorite pre-code 1930s musicals, and I think it is some of Busby Berkeley’s best work.
“Honeymoon Hotel” performed by Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler “Sittin’ on a Back Yard Fence” performed by Ruby Keeler and Billy Taft “Shanghai Lil” performed by James Cagney and chorus “By a Waterfall” performed by Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler The “By a Water Fall” number was featured on The Great Movie Ride at MGM Studios in Walt Disney World from 1989 until the attraction closed in 2017. Preserved by the Library of Congress in 1992 Cagney’s character Chester Kent is said to be based on choreographer Chester Hale, who was in Hollywood during this time, according to Neibaur’s book. James Cagney campaigned for the lead in this film because he wanted to get away from the tough guy roles, according to the book James Cagney Films of the 1930s by James L. For the “By a Waterfall” number, there was a camera underneath the swimming tank, according to Spivak’s book to 7:45 a.m., according to the book Buzz: The Life and Art of Busby Berkeley by Jeffrey Spivak One daily call production report showed they shot from 9 a.m. It took a week to film the “By a Waterfall” number and much of the time all the girls were in the water and there would be six hours between takes. To get a movie theater contract, Chester makes a dormitory out of the theater so that no one can leak the ideas. His secretary Nan (Blondell) is in love with him and helps him with ideas, but they learn that some of his ideas are leaking out to other similar agencies. James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Frank McHugh, Guy Kibbee, Ruth Donnelly, Hugh Herbert, Claire Dodd, Gordon Westcott, Arthur Hohl, Billy Barty (uncredited)Ĭhester Kent’s (Cagney) Broadway musicals are failing, because of talking films, so he reinvents himself and begins producing the musical numbers shown before the movie begins. I’m not sure why the girls aren’t wearing clothes.
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