Footlight Parade

Footlight Parade (1933)

Runtime: 103 minutes

Directed by: Lloyd Bacon

Starring: James Cagney, the typical people you'd expect in a Busby Berkeley musical

From: Warner Brothers

Sunday night, I rewatched Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a film I still think is pretty good. I wasn't planning on watching this last night but then the awful news about Manchester broke, and I thought it was best that I saw something like and pleasant, which it was. Hear all about this below: 

Personally, I decided that due to the horrible world news of last night, I would see something that wasn't dark and/or full of death; instead I would watch something light and pleasant. This was a good choice, as if it could successfully entertain those in the Great Depression... heck, the people of the United States this year may find this to be a good antidote to what's going on currently in this country...

Anyhow, this film is about James Cagney as a producer of vaudeville who has to find a new line of work once “the talkies” become popular and vaudeville went away. Instead, he joins the field of making “prologues”; this was before the movie studios filmed them and had them play before the double feature started... it was on-stage musical numbers done at each auditorium. As it had to be done at many locations around the country, it was incredibly stressful for Cagney to come up with new ideas for musical numbers, especially considering there's a dirty rat that's a spy for the competition and is leaking ideas. A lot happens in this fast-paced film (including some romance) and it ends up that they are on a deadline to present 3 lavish numbers all in one night to earn a big contract... or else.

Like I said this is a movie that moves pretty fast and that includes plenty of rapid-fire witty dialogue. The film is never boring, that is a guarantee. As this was still Pre-Code, it means that you get to hear several risque lines of dialogue that they could never have said even 18 months later. Ironically, a character in the film is a censor who tries to make sure nothing in a routine is too raunchy. While there are some politically incorrect moments, I understand that was how Hollywood was so I did not get too outraged. The cast has some names you'd expect in a Busby Berkeley film (Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Joan Blondell, Guy Kibbee) and it was nice seeing those talented performers but to me Cagney was the highlight as the lead, showing off his considerable charisma. You even get to see him sing and dance.

As always, I enjoyed seeing those lavish Berkeley musical numbers, expertly choreographed, incredibly lavish, and are pretty spectacular. It was a treat finding out that the final act was 3 of those routines all in a row. Thankfully this was incredibly charming and took my mind off of what's wrong with the world, at least for 103 minutes.