Footlight Parade (1933)

Pretty Good

Instant Favorite.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

I first found out about this movie because it was listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, then I saw it featured as part of Disney's Hollywood Studios attraction The Great Movie Ride, I loomed forward to it, directed by Lloyd Bacon (42nd Street). Basically it is the time where Hollywood movies have developed sound, the "talkies" have audiences flooding into theatres, causing many stage productions to go out of business. Chester Kent (James Cagney) is a Broadway musical producer, he comes up with the idea to produce musical numbers called "prologues," short live stage productions presented in movie theatres before the main feature is shown. Kent faces pressure from his business partners to create large marketable numbers, and his job is made harder by a rival stealing his ideas, probably with assistance from someone inside his company. Kent is so overwhelmed with work that he doesn't realise Nan Prescott (Joan Blondell), his secretary, has fallen in love with him, and is doing her best to protect both him and his interests. Kent's business partner announces that a big deal and contract with the Apolinaris theatre circuit depends on him impressing Mr. Apolinaris (Paul Porcasi) with three spectacular prologues, presented on the same night, one after another at three different theatres. Kent locks himself, his staff and the performers in the theatre to continuously choreograph and rehearse the three production numbers, and to prevent espionage leaks. Kent then stages "Honeymoon Hotel", "By a Waterfall", featuring the famous 'Human Waterfall', and "Shanghai Lil", featuring Kent and Bea Thorn (Ruby Keeler) dancing together. In the end, after the last prologue, Apolinaris agrees to a deal, and Kent and Nan embrace with a kiss. Also starring Dick Powell as Scott "Scotty" Blair, Frank McHugh as Francis, Guy Kibbee as Silas "Si" Gould and Arthur Hohl as Al Frazer. Cagney is well cast as the gregarious producer using his theatrical experience to create something to wow audiences before the main movie feature, prologues may be a long forgotten tradition, but you can see from the story why they were very entertaining at the time. Choreographer Busby Berkeley was at his peak, this movie really showcases his talent for spectacular extravaganzas, the highlight is definitely the mesmerising "By the Waterfall" sequence, featuring the famous human waterfall and a water ballet of 100 chorus girls, this alone is the real treat, but all together it is classic musical. Very good!

When I was in junior college I took a summer film class and the instructor showed films in the girl's gym every Friday night.  It was free and there was always a big turnout. What was interesting was the selection of films. They were all Hollywood films from the early 30s like "Duck Soup," "20th Century" and "Fury." A sizable part of the crowd didn't have much background in film, and certainly hadn't seen very many older films. This was in the late 60s or early 70s and the new wave of American films was just underway, so audiences were prone to laugh at the old fashioned movies of the past. And indeed they did, but after a few films a surprising thing happened. People started cheering at the end of the films, and even cheering at moments during the films. They were really surprised at how good they were, how adult they were, and how funny they were. By the end of the summer, an amazing learning experience had occurred. At least one audience had grown to understand the value of older movies. One of the films shown was "Footlight Parade which was initially received with guffaws, but ultimately Busby Berkeley won the audience over. He was a visual genius no one has matched, but the film is more than visual extravagance."Footlight Parade" has a very intricate plot unfolding in a face paced story with witty dialogue and physical performances by both James Cagney and Joan Blondell. I couldn't decide who was cuter, Blondell or the very young Ruby Keeler. There was even a comment on the greediness of big business when we discover the owners of the production company have been skimming off the top (basically, taking money from the hard working man - James Cagney and the rest - to line their own pockets).  If that doesn't relate to what is going on today I don't know what does.  The story builds to three song and dance routines, choreographed by Berkeley: "Honeymoon Hotel," "By a Waterfall," and "Shanghai Lil." Each one is spectacular in its own way. "Honeymoon Hotel" was very racy, showing all these couples having affairs with others in the hotel. It's all told in visuals and a very infectious song that alludes to all the sexual chicanery. Really impressive and funny. "By a Waterfall," good God, what can be said about this?!! Simply stated, it has choreographed female swimmers forming patterns in a large pool, but it was just about the most visually phenomenal phantasmagoria ever produced. How it was achieved boggles the mind. When the camera shoots down and shows the swimmers' kaleidoscopic patterns, it was truly remarkable, and when the overhead lights go off and the pool lights underneath go on we get this languid shimmering, silhouetted spectacle that was just beyond ethereal. The last number, "Shanghai Lil," has producer/director Cagney forced to dance when the lead performer is found drunk. This was Hollywood encouraging America to pull itself out of the depression and have faith in Roosevelt's New Deal. It was invigorating to say the least!! We need something like this now!!  James Cagney was just a joy, so energetic and fun. His dancing always impressed me.  He had a very individualistic style. I think I prefer his solo style to Fred Astaire's, and that's saying a lot, but Astaire's paired routines with Ginger Rogers and Rita Hayworth were the best. Joan Blondell had a field day with physical comedy. Her timing was impeccable. This film is so progressive in thought that it's hard to believe Cagney later became a Republican.  The three songs are easy to like. Very old style 1930s numbers indeed they are, but they're extremely catchy, transformed into little jewels of the era by Busby Berkeley's visual panache. Today's Hollywood may have CG dinosaurs, but they don't make 'em like this anymore.

"Footlight Parade" (1933) is the best of the "Big 3" early '30's Warners' musicals."42nd St." (1932) and "Golddiggers of 1933" (1933) were both gems, both wonderful, but the smoothest and most complete, and most advanced of the "Big 3" early '30's Warners musicals is "Footlight Parade" (1933).James Cagney is the star of show, and his talent is immense.....he really was a true top level movie star, outshining all of his fellow movie stars in every show he ever acted in.This is a "pre-code" movie which pokes fun at the censorship organizations set up across the USA and the "on the set" cops who were supposed to keep the movies "moral" but didn't yet face the Joe Breen/ Will Hayes office, which didn't kick in until the following year (1934).The adult humor in the "Honeymoon Hotel" sequence (the first of the 3 big production numbers at the end of the movie) is wonderful, and never seen again, or done as well.The aquacade photography and production part of the "By A Waterfall" sequence (the second of the 3 big production numbers at the end of the movie) is lovely, tasteful, and breathtaking, and also never repeated as well again. The Esther Williams movies and other "water ballet" efforts were never matched by the one in "Footlight Parade" (1933).James Cagney's wonderful dancing and electric presence make the "Shanghai Lil" sequence (the 3rd of the 3 big production numbers at the end of the movie) wonderful, and seem to inspire Ruby Keeler, his lady dance partner in that sequence, to do the best dancing and acting she ever did in any movie (and her other movies were also wonderful).This movie is one of the precious examples of big time Hollywood movie musicals at their very, very best.The VHS cassette which contained "Footlight Parade" (1933) I got and screened also included a 1934 Warner Brothers color cartoon titled "Honeymoon Hotel," the same song seen and heard in the "Footlight Parade" (1933).The cartoon is very well done, set in "Bugtown" and danced and sung by cartoon bugs, and also includes quick snippet "homages" to other songs from Warner Brothers musicals, but mainly is a spoof about the "Honeymoon Hotel" song ......all sung and danced by cartoon bugs.One of the great, classic early cartoons, and one of the earliest color cartoons.--------------------- Written by Tex Allen, SAG Actor.Email Tex Allen at [email protected] Visit WWW.IMDb.Me/TexAllen for movie actor credits and biography details.

Forget the plot. It's a kind of re-run of "42nd Street" with Cagney dashing around trying to put a show together in the face of nearly insurmountable obstacles. A couple of women keep insulting each other because they want to marry him, or clean his clock while divorcing him. Every movement is made at the speed of light. He discovers his new star -- Ruby Keeler -- when he spots his devoted and wholly instrumental secretary without her glasses. The numbers were staged by Busby Berkeley. And what numbers! The first, "At the Honeymoon Hotel" is a kind of sketch of Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler checking into a hotel where everyone's name seems to be Smith and trying to consummate their marriage despite numerous interruptions by family, strangers, and a demented midget. The vocals are done in Sprechgesang. I never realized so many words rhymed with "hotel." They even work in "New Rochelle." It's all pretty suggestive.It was during the second number, "By A Waterfall," that I realized how deeply in love with Ruby Keeler I was. Oh, sure, she can't sing and she can't act, and when she's dancing with those hoof-like feet she seems to be stomping a scurrying horde of roaches -- but she can't sing, can't act, and can't dance, so EARNESTLY. She's so awesomely winsome. Any normal man would want to rush up to her and hug her -- before she gets too sweaty -- and whisper reassuring things to her like, "Don't worry, Darling, talent isn't all it's cracked up to be." About this number. You have to be prepared for it. What I mean is, don't do any psychedelic substances before you watch it. It's performed entirely in the water, sometimes under it, a kind of pro-dromal symptom that would be followed ten years later by a full-blown Esther Williams attack.Several dozen young ladies are dressed in tight skimpy costumes, diving around, doing synchronized swimming, betimes shot from overhead, sometimes forming a pair of writhing snakes that then morph without a lot of to-do into an ovocyte being penetrated by a snake with a big head before, thrillingly, joyously, all the swimmers coalesce into a blastocyte with a big smile on it. As a finale, they held up coordinated placards that, taken together, became a remarkably nuanced portrait of Cedric the Entertainer. I found the rich use of impasto compelling. Or was it all in my mind? I think that was before the swimming girls formed the chrysanthemum, or maybe it was after. One of the shots is truly memorable in its own filthy way. It's done from underwater with the camera aimed straight up between a dozen spread thighs with Ruby Keeler swimming between them and trying to smile at the lens. She also tries to smile -- and to keep from blinking -- while a Niagara of water cascades onto her tiny head and shoulders. I had to pop my ears after seeing it.The ultimate number is a patriotic and thoroughly tawdry sketch of Jimmy Cagney as a sailor in a Chinese whorehouse "lookin' for my Shanghai Lil." It violates every code in the book -- prostitution, drunkenness, opium, bar room brawls -- only to pull itself together at the end and allow Cagney to smuggle Keeler aboard a battleship dressed in a sailor suit. Her Siniticized version of English is endearing. "Me love you long time!" No -- wait. Well, I told you I was confused.