Footlight Parade (1933) User Reviews

Grand entertainment, with Cagney hoofing and singing about his Shanghai Lil, and Busby Berkeley splashing water

[Terrell-4 · 8/10 · 8 May 2008]

It's hard to say which comes out on top, James Cagney's charm and energy or the mouth- opening excesses of Busby Berkeley's three grand showstoppers at the close. I give it a tie, with Footlight Parade one of the funniest and quickest of the early Thirties musicals. Although the movie clearly belongs to Cagney, Joan Blondell adds immeasurably to the good-natured story line.

And what's the story line? It's about Chester Kent (Cagney) who produces musicals, and who now is just about out of business as the talkies take over. He starts doing Prologues, live musical entertainment offered on stage before a movie starts. He gets the idea to do bigger ones and more of them, moving them around the country. He's a ball of fire and ideas, and he needs all the ideas he can get to keep relentlessly producing these things. But a rival is spying on him and stealing his ideas; Nan Prescott (Blondell), his wise-cracking secretary, loves him but he's too busy too notice; an office girl in black-rimmed, round glasses (Ruby Keeler) wants a chance to dance; his wife turns up saying she didn't divorce him after all; a blonde gold-digger is setting her hooks in him; his partners are cheating him...my gosh, what's next? This may all sound like a lot to digest, but everything happens fast, with Cagney bouncing, strutting, striding, finger-snapping, barking orders and occasionally - until the big last number when he goes all out singing and dancing -- doing a step or two just to show how it's done.

Instead of "Let's put on a show, gang" we have "We need to build three shows in three days, so lock the doors and let's start rehearsing." These three super Prologues are going to feature 40 chorines, spectacular effects and will mean a rich contract, with forty Kent units in deluxe movie houses...the whole Apollo movie house circuit! Exhaustion threatens, feet ache, but all those unbilled chorines in skimpy costumes (which include Ann Sothern and Dorothy Lamour; you can quickly spot Sothern but Lamour is more generic) stay the course, dancing their hearts out, giggling and chattering and looking remarkably unsweaty.

And then the curtains go up as each Prologue is presented in separate movie houses, one after the other on the same night, with the owner of the Apollo circuit going to determine that night whether he'll save Chester's skin or not.

First up is "Honeymoon Hotel" with Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler in a 9 minute production number that features a lot of wholesome lasciviousness, with brides and grooms (some might even be married), bedrooms and beds, and doors with "Do not disturb" signs.

Then on to the next theater and 11 minutes of "By a Waterfall" that probably had the Warner Brothers accountants worrying about bankruptcy. This number is so excessive -- dozens of swimming girls, trees, fountains, a huge grotto with waterslides, a giant pool -- you'd never think there was a Depression on. Berkeley pulls out all his tricks -- synchronization, human patterns, legs and arms doing all sorts of precision things -- and he does it in the water, with a lot of underwater photography looking up. The girls are sure game. They come up smiling with water in their eyes and still hit their marks. The whole thing must have been incredibly difficult and exhausting. Ruby Keeler, who has a couple of quick shots in the water, is the only one who looks a bit cautious.

And finally, the smash finale...11 minutes of Cagney dancing and singing with Keeler to "Shanghai Lil," with all sorts of bar girls and their customers, unusual in that the races are mixed up. There's Cagney and Keeler dancing on the bar, dancing on a table, Cagney fighting. There are what looks like fifty or sixty marching marines, hupping back and forth, rifles tossed and caught. Then...this is true...a human picture forms of Franklin Roosevelt and the NRA eagle. This may be the only Hollywood musical production that has ever featured Roosevelt, a big federal agency and a bevy of sexy Chinese prostitutes.

That's entertainment, folks. It's great!

Of course, Chester's Prologues get the big contract and Nan gets Chester. The movie is full of juicy clichés that make us smile. Ruby Keeler is so endearing as she earnestly stomps out her taps with her arms flying that you want to help her along. Joan Blondell makes us forget about a lot of Hollywood females who might have been more beautiful but who had a lot less wit and personality. The movie, however, belongs to Cagney, who grabs and shakes it, and to Berkeley, a man for whom too much was never too much.

"Beside a waterfall"

[richard-1787 · 8/10 · 4 May 2013]

I don't have anything original to add to the justified encomia others have lavished on this remarkable movie.

Watching it again tonight, I was, however, struck yet once again by the genius of Busby Berkeley in staging the last three numbers, the "prologues." Most remarkable of a very remarkable trio for me is "Beside a waterfall." It just keeps building and building and building. Yes, of course, some of the shots of the women in the water are very erotic. It was 1933, after all, and before the Hayes Code. Berkeley and Warner Brothers understood that pretty women posed erotically had a real appeal to men,

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I watched the end of this movie again this morning. Perhaps I paid closer attention to this number this time, perhaps I was just in the right "mood." Either way, I marveled at the suggestiveness of so much of it. Those jets of water spurting up - I use the verb advisedly - between the swimming women's legs. All those shots of women opening and closing their legs. It was remarkably erotic on my 46" tv screen. What must it have been like in 1933 on huge movie theater screens in the era before multiplexes????

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But these erotic poses are not JUST erotic poses. The number keeps building and building and building. What will he do next, you keep wondering? Oh, that. But "that" is even more incredible than what has come before. By the time you get to the end of this number, you're exhausted, not just physically and erotically, but imaginatively as well. How could anyone have maintained and built on that suspense for 10 whole minutes? I can't tell you, but Berkeley did.

Third of the three prologues, "Shanghai Lil," is definitely not something that could have been filmed the same way just a year or two later when the Production Code was put in force. We see an opium den, a lot of prostitutes, at least one interracial couple, etc.

Having watched it again tonight, I will add that this is a strange "musical." There is almost no music for the first hour and a half. It's all in the three closing numbers. But what numbers!

"Is it my fault if somebody invented talking pictures?"

[utgard14 · 8/10 · 20 July 2014]

Stage musicals are having a rough go of it due to the rise in popularity of movies. So musical director Chester Kent (James Cagney) moves to producing prologues, which are short live musical stage productions that are presented in movie theaters before the movies are shown. Chester's prologues are a huge hit but the pressure of having to come up with new ideas is getting to him. To make matters worse, a rival prologue director is stealing many of his ideas. Now he has three days to come up with three brand new prologues and prevent their being stolen in order to land a big contract.

First-rate Busby Berkeley musical from Warner Bros. with a terrific cast and the wonderful choreography Berkeley was known for. Most of the musical numbers are saved for the last half-hour but they're all great. James Cagney and Joan Blondell are lots of fun. They always had perfect chemistry. There's also a lot of snappy pre-Code lines, particularly from Blondell. Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler are also enjoyable. Nice support from solid character actors Frank McHugh, Guy Kibbee, Arthur Hohl, and Hugh Herbert. Fast-paced and highly entertaining. Essential for fans of Berkeley or the great leads.

This is New Jersey, not Hollywood

[krorie · 10/10 · 23 April 2006]

An opium den, a dirty little boy (actually a midget), prostitutes galore, a violent fracas in a dive, a motel for sexual shenanigans, scantily clad babes with cleavage a lot, a boozer falling down the stairs, a racially mixed clientèle in a bar with Asians, Africans, and Anglos treated equally, does this sound like a film playing at the local shopping mall? Wrong. These are all scenes from a 1933 musical.

The first half of "Footlight Parade" is preparation for a musical extravaganza which occupies the last half of the film. Chester Kent (Cagney) is about to lose his job and does lose his playgirl wife as a result of talking pictures squeezing out live stage musicals. His producers take him to see a popular talky of the day, John Wayne in "The Big Trail." Before each showing of the flick, a dance number is presented as a prologue. Shorts, news reels, serials, and cartoons would later serve the purpose. Kent gets the idea that a prologue chain would be the road to salvation for the dwindling live musical business. Kent is basically an idea man along the lines of choreographer Busby Berkeley. Could it be that Cagney's character is patterned after Berkeley? Could be.

In preparation for the prologues, Kent learns that his ideas are being stolen by a rival. He uncovers the traitor, fires him, then unbeknown to him a new leak is planted in the form a dazzling temptress. His assistant, Nan Prescott (Joan Blondell - soon to be Mrs. Dick Powell) has the hots for Kent and is determined to expose the wiles of the temptress. A new singer from Arkansas College shows up in the form of Scotty Blain (Dick Powell) who turns out to be a real find and is paired with Bea Thorn (Ruby Keeler). The resulting three prologue musicals, which couldn't possibly have been presented on any cinema stage of the day, are as fresh and enjoyable today as they were over seventy years ago, "Honeymoon Hotel," "By a Waterfall," and "Shanghai Lil."

Of special note is the song and dance of tough-guy James Cagney. Like Fred Astaire and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Cagney's dancing appeared natural and unrehearsed, although hours went into practice to get each step just right. Not as good a singer as Astaire, Cagney's singing, like Astaire's, sounded natural, unlike the crooning so popular at the time. It's amazing that one person could be so talented and so versatile as James Cagney.

Most critics prefer the "Shanghai Lil" segment over the other two. Yet the kaleidoscopic choreography of "By a Waterfall" is astonishing. How Berkeley was able to film the underwater ballets and to create the human snake chain must have been difficult because it has never been repeated. The close up shots mixed brilliantly with distant angles is a must-see. The crisp black and white photography is much more artistic than it would have been if shot in color.

Though not nearly as socially conscious as "Gold Diggers of 1933," "Footlight Parade" stands on its own as one of the most amazing and outrageous musicals ever put on the big screen.

They don't make them like this anymore!

[tdesai99 · 10/10 · 20 May 2007]

Clever, gritty, witty, fast-paced, sexy, extravagant, sleazy, erotic, heartfelt and corny, Footlight Parade is a first-class entertainment, what the movies are all about.

The realistic, satirical treatment gives a fresh edge to the material and its pace and line delivery are breathtaking. To think that they only started making feature talking pictures 7 years before this! The brilliance of the dialogue cannot be matched anywhere today, especially considering that "realism" has taken over and engulfed contemporary cinema.

This film was made at a time when the Hayes code restricting content was being ignored and the result is a fresh, self-referential, critical and living cinema that spoke directly to contemporary audiences suffering through the depression and the general angst of the age. I'd recommend watching any film from this period, that is 1930-1935, for a vision of what popular cinema can potentially be.

James Cagney in a Busby Berkeley masterpiece

[jimjo1216 · 2 March 2011]

This is a pre-Code Warner Bros. Busby Berkeley musical starring...James Cagney!

Cagney develops live musical prologues to be shown on stage at movie houses before the start of a film. (If you've seen the "Let's Go To The Movies" number in ANNIE you get the idea.) It's one catastrophe after another as Cagney tries to keep things running smoothly while staying a step ahead of the competition.

Joan Blondell is great as Cagney's secretary, who loves him more than he realizes. The solid cast also includes Busby Berkeley regulars Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler as a young new tenor and a secretary-turned- leading lady, respectively, with Frank McHugh as the perpetually worried dance instructor and Hugh Herbert as the morality adviser/censor. Lloyd Bacon directs the showbiz tale, with spectacular choreography by the inimitable Busby Berkeley.

I've seen this film's contemporaries (42ND STREET and GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933) and usually feel lukewarm toward these early musicals, but I found myself surprisingly receptive to FOOTLIGHT PARADE. I really liked Blondell's performance, with the romantic tension and snappy wit, and I could tolerate Keeler in her role. McHugh adds whiny comic relief and the script has some racy pre-Code touches. The film also benefits from James Cagney's screen presence. Cagney, best known for his gangster roles, demonstrates some dance steps in this rare musical appearance.

Berkeley choreographs a handful of routines (including an awkward cat- themed number), but saves the three biggest for the very end: "Honeymoon Hotel", "By A Waterfall", and "Shanghai Lil". As was often the case, the dance numbers are meant to be staged within the context of the story (a show within a show) and as was always the case, Berkeley choreographs cinematically, using camera movements, insert shots, and cuts that make no sense within the reality of the story. But his routines are meant for the moviegoers and they are awe-inspiring.

The water nymph routine will blow you away. I've seen my fair share of Busby Berkeley numbers, but the water nymph sequence may be his masterpiece. Did Berkeley invent synchronized swimming? I don't know, but he might as well have. There are unbelievable kaleidoscopic overhead shots as well as underwater choreography. I can't figure out how they did the shot of the swimmers in concentric rings, spinning in different directions, since the swimmers seemed to be lying still in the water. (Movie magic?) The more complex overhead shots are some of the most impressive visuals I've ever seen in a musical.

"Honeymoon Hotel" is a racy little number about couples spending their first night together in a hotel. Men in pajamas, women in negligees, bedrooms. There's a peculiar "child" that runs around causing mischief, but the scene has a neat larger-than-life dollhouse shot and a creative bit of stop-motion animation. "Shanghai Lil" follows a sailor through a crowded saloon in search of an elusive woman. There's a brawl, there are marching soldiers in formation, there's Ruby Keeler dolled up like a Chinese call girl, and there's Jimmy Cagney dancing and singing.

With a great cast and impressive dances, this is an enjoyable ride. Maybe the best of the early WB musicals.

Cagney and Berkeley!!! What a team!!!!

[alfiefamily · 7/10 · 15 January 2007]

"Footlight Parade" is just one of several wonderfully jaunty musicals that Warner Bros. produced in the early 1930's to ward off the Depression. "42nd Street" and the Golddiggers series were also produced during this era, and they made literally, millions of Americans forget their troubles for a little while, and enjoy themselves.

While most of the films produced had the great talents of Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, and Dick Powell, only Foolight Parade had the incomparable James Cagney. Almost ten years prior to his most well-known musical, "Yankee Doodle Dandy". Here he dances in that most original of dance styles, with his arms usually lowered at his side, and his legs doing all types of undulations and kicks. It's easy to see that he is enjoying himself, and that makes us enjoy him all the more.

While almost all of the musical sequences appear at the end of the film, they are well worth the wait. I believe that this film was made just prior to the installation of the production code, so some of the costumes and scenes are a bit risqué. But it's all in fun.

It doesn't matter what the plot of the film is, just know that there are plenty of laughs and a superlative cast. Besides those already mentioned, Guy Kibbee is at his flustered best here.

7 out of 10

Busby's Surreal best

[bkoganbing · 10/10 · 14 March 2006]

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. Those behind the curtains were hit as bad as those in front.

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. 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. Some other competitors get wind of it and the competition is on.

Footlight Parade is my favorite Busby Berkeley film. It gives James Cagney a chance to display some of his versatility as a dancer as well as a tough guy. In his retirement Cagney said that while he screened his few and far between musicals a lot, he could barely be bothered with some of his straight dramatic films. He wished he'd done a few more musicals in his career and I wish he had.

Of course the staging of these Busby Berkeley extravaganzas on the stage of a movie palace defies all logic and reason. But it's so creative and fun to watch.

Dick Powell gets to sing three songs in Footlight Parade, Ah the Moon is Here, Honeymoon Hotel, and By a Waterfall, the last two with Ruby Keeler further cementing that screen team. Ruby sings and dances with Powell in the last two and she partners with James Cagney in my favorite number from Footlight Parade, Shanghai Lil.

Joan Blondell is Cagney's no nonsense girl Friday at the theater. Like in Blonde Crazy, she's the one with the real brains in that duo and it's her quick thinking that bails him out of some domestic problems he has on top of his theatrical ones. One of Blondell's best screen roles.

Look for Dorothy Lamour and Ann Sothern in the chorus as per the IMDb pages for both of them. John Garfield is seen briefly in the Shanghai Lil number. And in a scene at the beginning of the film, producer Guy Kibbee takes Cagney to a movie theater where they are showing a B western starring John Wayne. The Duke's voice is unmistakable. But what's even more unusual is that the brief clip shows him in a scene with Frank McHugh who plays another Cagney assistant in Footlight Parade. I think the brothers Warner were playing a little joke there. I've got to believe that clip was deliberate.

Footlight Parade is Busby Berkeley at his surreal best.

Oh, Those Dancing Feet!

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 14 August 2012]

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.

Depression Era Musical Masterpiece

[claudiacasswell · 9/10 · 23 July 2002]

Footlight Parade is among the best of the 1930's musical comedy extravaganzas. A snappy script and an all-star cast including Jimmy Cagney, the lovely Joan Blondell, Dick Powell, and Ruby Keeler make this film a cut above the rest. Directed and choreographed by the creative genius Busby Berkeley, this film will have you grinning from ear-to-ear from start to finish.

Busby, of course, is the undisputed master of the Hollywood musical with "Gold Diggers of 1933" and "42nd Street" to his credit (as Dance Director). Footlight Parade is graced by hundreds of scantily-clad chorus girls, a Berkeley trademark. The elaborate dance numbers were shot with only one camera and Busby was the first director to film close-ups of the dancers. His obsession with shapely legs and "rear-view" shots is amply demonstrated here. The overall effect is highly erotic and mesmerizing.

Our boy Jimmy Cagney plays Chester Kent, a producer of "prologues" or short musical stage productions that were performed in movie theaters to entertain the audience before the talkies were shown. He's surrounded by crooked partners, a corporate spy, and a gold-digging girlfriend. Although Cagney had a solid background in vaudeville, this was the first film in which he showed his dancing talents. Joan Blondell is memorable as Cagney's wise-cracking, lovestruck secretary. And Ruby Keeler is adorable, as always.

The film climaxes with three outstanding production numbers, "Honeymoon Hotel", "The Waterfall", and "Shanghai Lil", each one a masterpiece and not likely to be duplicated in today's Hollywood where so-called "special effects" have replaced creative cinematography.

Claudia's Bottom Line: Clever and erotic, with some of the best musical production numbers ever put on celluloid. A thoroughly enjoyable Depression era romp.

More musical gold from Busby Berkeley

[sme_no_densetsu · 7/10 · 26 June 2010]

Coming hot on the heels of "42nd Street" and "Gold Diggers of 1933", "Footlight Parade" further solidified Busby Berkeley's reputation as a star in the world of Hollywood musicals. This particular film features a trio of musical numbers that rank among his best.

The story here is a fairly slight one, existing mainly to pave the way for three Berkeley musical numbers late in the film. James Cagney plays a Broadway producer reduced to making live prologues for movie houses as sound films gain popularity. When a lucrative contract calls for three new prologues at short notice the feat seems impossible, especially with a myriad of personal & professional problems to deal with.

The cast is a pretty good one which includes some of the stars from earlier Berkeley musicals. These include Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell & Guy Kibbee. Meanwhile, James Cagney delivers a spirited performance in the lead role.

Lloyd Bacon, the director of "42nd Street", occupied the director's chair once again here and put in a solid effort. However, it's the Busby Berkeley musical numbers that steal the show. "Honeymoon Hotel", "Shanghai Lil" and especially "By a Waterfall" feature top notch choreography along with catchy tunes from Warren & Dubin.

In conclusion, three stellar Busby Berkeley musical numbers make this film a must-see. You'll have to make it through a somewhat uninvolving story in order to get to them but they are more than worth it.

Is this a great movie - or what?

[PWNYCNY · 10/10 · 14 September 2005]

It has singing. It has drama. It has comedy. It has a story. It's one of the greatest movies ever made ... period. If you can't enjoy this movie, then you must be either asleep or in some kind of mental disarray. In "Yankee Doodle Dandy" James Cagney sings and dances his way to an Academy Award; but in this movie he is BETTER! This is James Cagney at his quisessential BEST! He's fast with the one-liners! He's fast with his feet! It's nonstop action. And the song-and-dance skits are classics, especially "Shanghai Lil." And the supporting cast is great; and the entire movie is upbeat, fast moving, and exudes confidence. And even though this movie was made over 70 years ago, it's still watchable, even today. And of course, this movie features Miss Ruby Keeler (who was married to Al Jolson). She is the perfect partner for James Cagney ... and Dick Powell too! If you like upbeat, fast paced movies, with lots of singing and dancing, this is the movie to watch.

The plot don't matter...the musical numbers do!

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 22 July 2015]

While "42nd Street" and "Gold Diggers of 1933" had very strong story lines, the follow-up with Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler, "Footlight Parade", did not, presenting more of a revue like structure to this entertaining account of the creation of prologues to big movie events, traveling around New York City from theater to theater to put on a quick show. James Cagney puts aside his machine gun and grapefruit to play director and hoofer, showing another side to his many talents in the somewhat racist "Shanghai Lil" production number where Ruby Keeler replaces "R's" with "L's". While this number is artistically excellent, it is comparable to all of the blackface numbers utilized in minstrel and vaudeville show as well as many movies who would continue to have Caucasians playing non-whites in both singing and non-singing roles throughout the golden age of movies.

Much better artistically and definitely more timeless is the delightful "By a Waterfall", the elaborate, rather lengthy production number that is Busby Berkley's follow-up to his 1932 Sam Goldwyn film "The Kid From Spain" which opened with a similar water musical number. Ruby's also in this with her regular partner Dick Powell. The number is an absolute delight from start to finish. She puts on a cat suit and sings "Sittin' on a Backyard Fence", a delightful mini-number where little Billy Barty plays a mouse. As a sequel to "Shuffle Off to Buffalo" from "42nd Street", "Honeymoon Hotel" is perfectly witty as relatives invade an eloping couple and house detectives remind them that "You're in Jersey City, and not in Hollywood". Once again, Barty (who also had a fun little cameo in "Gold Diggers of 1933") appears, playing Keeler's baby brother who is accidentally "left behind".

What exists of a story surrounds Cagney's battles with ex-wife Renee Whitney while his assistant Joan Blondell pines for him. Warner Brothers contract players Frank McHugh, Ruth Donnelly, Guy Kibbee, Hugh Herbert and Claire Dodd also add amusing moments to the proceedings. Definitely one of the musicals that woke up to the censors for what they believed to be needed changes in movie good taste, "Footlight Parade" remains an easy on the eye treat that isn't going to tax your brain, but will provide some very interesting insight to the styles of entertainment that the country was enjoying during the early years of Roosevelt's presidency as the country struggled to move out of the depression. There's no depression here, however, so just enjoy all the silliness and the best of what Busby Berkley could do.

Even Cagney Can't Save This Busby Bomb

[ccthemovieman-1 · 3/10 · 9 March 2007]

Unfortunately for me, the first Busby Berkeley movie I ever watched was "42nd Street." I then expected all of his stuff to be that good. I found out that wasn't necessarily the case, even here, with my all-time favorite classic-era actor James Cagney.

Oh, the musical numbers at the end are as spectacular as always, but the story is like many of the others and quite tiresome. They seem to always involve screaming, unhappy show producers. In this film, it's Cagney who winds up shouting things out so often that he gives me a headache after awhile and his character wears thin....fast!

Even the songs in here are anywhere near "42nd Street" class, songs you could hum for years and years - decades, I should say. The songs in this movie are not memorable. No, this is one of the few early Cagney films - and Berkeley films - I totally dislike and was very disappointed with while watching.

Cagney Struts His Stuff In Busby Berkley Spectacular

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 28 March 2000]

The energetic young producer of theatrical prologues (those staged performances, usually musical, that often proceeded the movie in the larger cinemas in bygone days) must deal with crooked competition, fraudulent partners, unfaithful lovers & amateur talent to realize his dream of making his mark on the FOOTLIGHT PARADE.

While closely resembling other Warner's musical spectaculars, notably the GOLDDIGGER films, this movie had a special attraction none of the others had: Jimmy Cagney. He is a wonder, loose-jointed and lithe, as agile as any tomcat - a creature he actually mimics a few times during the movie. Cagney grabs the viewers attention & never lets go, powering the rapid-fire dialogue and corny plot with his charisma & buoyant charm.

The rest of the cast gives their best, as well. Joan Blondell is perfect as the smart-mouthed, big-hearted blonde secretary, infatuated with Cagney (major quibble - why wasn't she given a musical number?). Dick Powell & Ruby Keeler once again play lovers onstage & off; the fact that her singing & acting abilities are a bit on the lean side are compensated for by her dancing ; Powell still exudes boyish enthusiasm in his unaccustomed position as second male lead.

Guy Kibbee & Hugh Herbert are lots of fun as brothers-in-law, both scheming to cheat Cagney in different ways. Ruth Donnelly scores as Kibbee's wealthy wife, a woman devoted to her handsome protégés. Frank McHugh's harried choreographer is an apt foil for Cagney's wit. Herman Bing is hilarious in his one tiny scene as a music arranger. Mavens will spot little Billy Barty, Jimmy Conlin & maybe even John Garfield during the musical numbers.

Finally, there's Busby Berkeley, choreographer nonpareil. His terpsichorean confections, sprinkled throughout the decade of the 1930's, were a supreme example of the cinematic escapism that Depression audiences wanted to enjoy. The big joke about Berkeley's creations, of course, was that they were meant, as part of the plot, to be stage productions. But no theater could ever hold these products of the master's imagination. They are perfect illustrations of the type of entertainment only made possible by the movie camera.

Berkeley's musical offerings generally took one of two different approaches, either a story (often rather bizarre) told with song & dance; or else stunning geometrically designed numbers, eye candy, featuring plentiful chorus girls, overhead camerawork & a romantic tune. In a spasm of outré extravagance, FOOTLIGHT PARADE climaxes with three Berkeley masterworks: `Honeymoon Hotel' and its pre-Production Code telling of a couple's wedding night; `By A Waterfall' - dozens of unclad females, splashing, floating & diving in perfect patterns & designs (peer closely & you'll see how the synchronous effects were achieved); and finally, `Shanghai Lil' - a fitting tribute to the talents of both Cagney & Berkeley.

Historically significant film....

[deuchler · 10/10 · 24 January 2006]

"Footlight Parade" is fascinating on so many levels. There is no way the supposedly staged "theater prologues" could have been produced in any theater on earth, of course. Think of the huge pools and three-story tall fountains for "By A Waterfall," for instance. (Berkeley directed John Garfield in "They Made Me a Criminal" six years later and had the Dead End Kids singing "By a Waterfall" as they took their showers.)

"Shanghai Lil" is the best production number in the picture. It's a catalog of '30s Warner Bros. sensibilities. Note the African guys mixed into the scene with white and Asian prostitutes. You would never see blacks integrated into a social scene in other films of the period unless they were porters on a train or maids in a big house. Here the black guys are sitting at the bar and singing with the others. I also get a thrill when the military dancers do a "card section" presentation of Roosevelt's image. There's also the NRA eagle--the logo of the controversial National Recovery Administration of the New Deal. FDR was the new president and hopes were so high that he'd pull the nation out of the Depression. You'd never see something so working class oriented coming out of MGM, of course. Warner Bros. wholeheartedly supported the uplift dictated by the F.D.R. administration.

Dear little Miss Ruby Keeler was never better than she is playing the Chinese hooker, "Lil." She hardly even watches her feet as she dances, which was one of her signature flaws.

The Pre-Code stuff is fun. The "By a Waterfall" number is wonderful in that regard. The girls change into their bathing suits on the crowded bus speeding through Times Square with all its lights on. The spread-eagle girls swimming over the camera provide the kind of crotch shots that would not be seen for 35 years. In a few months the Production Code would eliminate such naughty pleasures.

Shangai dreams that blow the roof

[chaos-rampant · 1 November 2011]

I am thankful for these so-called 'backstage musicals'; beyond their superficial charms, they have deepened the ways we imagine. Without knowing it they have provided us with some of the best essays about the endeavor to express, to make visible, the unfathomable contours of the heart.

Once more we have a film about a filmmaker fighting to stage a vision, here a preshow as opening act for the first talkies. He's a grunt, always storming in and out of rooms, yelling directions, now and then pausing to show the steps to the troupe or scream at a phone; but always fretting about new ideas to stage. He's played by James Cagney, whom we know best from tough-as-nails gangster roles. It's very apt casting. Cagney had many expressive talents, and a violent energy with the intuitive power to carry these into a performance.

But none of the ideas he comes up for the show seem like they've been very well thought out, they're all unfinished premises rushed with one foot out the door, so it's all a mystery how this strong-willed hack can give coherent shape to creative chaos. What kind of show he'll be able to put together. Money is staked on him, fortunes.

He's surrounded by three women, one for each number he's called to improvise. One is an ex-wife out for leeching money, another is his loyal secretary secretly in love. All three are fighting to seduce or be seduced, money is at stake again, and the art made with them.

It's all very enjoyable thus far, the rapid-fire banter and atmosphere of festive uproar. But it's not that it truly soars until we actually get to see on the stage how the various tribulations, that from our end so far seemed random and meaningless, were in fact shaping the vision that we get to see.

We drive back and forth around town to see these; the first number is about newly weds in the 'Honeymoon Hotel' with marriage slyly perverted as illicit sex that ends with bedroom eyes and mock happiness which we know will not last, and didn't for him, the other is a scene from everyday life on the street transformed on stage into the most gaudy spectacle with wood nymphs frolicking beneath cascading waters.

The third is the most stunning, because it substitutes for the internal processes that yield one happy end within another, both on the same stage. We knew our man was the author of these visions, the dreamer as it were, but was content so far to pull the strings from behind. Here an accident of fate forces him to get up on that stage and act out the part he was intuitively drawn to create: the number is about this man seeking out the woman of his dreams in a sort of smoky, semi-conscious stupor, and again the unforeseen circumstances - in this case, war - that keep love from them. Eventually he tricks both fates and us, the camera, to fulfill the dream.

So the happy end meant to take place in reality is pure Hollywood fiction, while the pure Hollywood fiction of the song and dance number reveals from machinations inside the soul a true purpose outside.

It is excellent stuff about the makings of images choreographed from the heart. Their power to articulate is this; art that reflects, salvages purpose from a life that appears incoherent, yet also reveals capricious fates of our own making that we have set in motion by simply living our part. Clearly this grunt could not have staged what he did, even with expert craft, if life around him had not seduced inspiration out of him.

Footlights A-Poppin'

[Kimbeez · 6/10 · 10 August 2003]

"Opulent" is one word for this film. I wanted to see "Footlight Parade" because I heard it was one of the definitive backstage movie-musicals and most of all, I wanted to see James Cagney dance! This movie was pretty good. James Cagney plays sort of a producer who imagines ideas for "prologues" or live performance numbers to accompany films playing in movie theaters. The task is grueling because Cagney has to think of several novel ideas every day, most of which are stolen by a rival prologue company. Cagney's job is highly frustrating as is Frank McHugh's, who has to stage and choreograph the prologues. McHugh is hilarious as the poorly harried dance director -- he never gets a break! I felt so sorry for him! Another character worth mentioning is Cagney's secretary, Joan Blondell. I savored her on-screen chemistry with Cagney and was rooting for her all the way. The only relationship in the movie I didn't really care for was with Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler. I couldn't feel anything between them, at least not with the same intensity as with Cagney and Blondell. It all seems cookie-cutter: A plain-Jane makes good with the handsome leading man by getting gussied up and putting on her dancing shoes. I don't really see anything between Powell and Keeler that makes me want to care or connect to them. But hey, that's Hollywood. Then, there's the Busby Berkley dance sequences. My only beef about the musical numbers is that they run too long. There's three of them at the end and in a constant succession, it's a bit much. I'm going to have a chorus of "By a Waterfall" stuck in my head for a couple of days. But even so, following "Honeymoon Hotel" and "By a Waterfall", the audience is greatly rewarded with "Shanghai Lil", the movie's centerpiece. Cagney is a gem -- he sings, he dances, he dons a sailor suit! His performance must have been surprising to his early audiences whom have never seen his song-and-dance-man side. Cagney shines and Keeler is cute and light on her feet as the elusive Shanghai Lil. Overall, "Footlight Parade" is pretty well done -- they don't make movies like this anymore. I would definitely give this movie a chance, even just to see "Shanghai Lil" alone.

The Genius of Busby

[ilprofessore-1 · 10/10 · 27 December 2006]

Busby's genius --his "fantastic" use of camera and editing-- is even more remarkably innovative when you remember that only a few years before this film was made on the sound stages of Warner Bros. in 1933 cameras were stuck in sound proof booths in order to deaden the noise of the machine. Many movies back then were no more than static reproductions of talky stage plays. Busby opened the door to pure cinema.

Busby is surely one of the first directors to realize that if you pre-recorded the music sound tracks before you filmed the musical numbers you could then move the actors and dancers as you wished; the performers would either be lip-syncing or dancing to playback and the camera could be anywhere high or low. Busby's previous experience as a drill master in the military also taught him how to train dancers and swimmers by giving them only a few steps (or strokes) to learn at a time; by clever editing a montage of shots in time to a set music track he could then give the impression of a continuously flowing extravaganza a la Zigfield. One can only imagine how many hours went into getting the never-to-be-equaled overhead snake design shot in "By A Waterfall."

Yes, the Odessa steps sequence in "Potemkin" is justifiably considered to be one of the great innovative moments in cinema. Let me cast my vote for Busby's incomparable last act to "Footlight Parade."

Footlight Parade

[jboothmillard · 7/10 · 19 June 2018]

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!

Almost as good as "Gold Diggers of 1933"...and it has Cagney to boot!

[jem132 · 8/10 · 25 December 2008]

I have a feeling that the Warners Bros Depression-era musicals are going to become a lot more pertinent in the next couple of years. Yes, we are in the economic doldrums (or have you been living under a rock) and times look bleak. But we always have the movies as a way to escape our troubles. In the 30's, film-going was hugely popular even at the height of economic gloom. "Footlight Parade (1933)" was one such film that audiences flocked to. While this Lloyd Bacon-directed musical doesn't quite capture the social issues of the time as "Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)" does, it's still a wonderful showcase of talent. We have to wait until the end of the film for the three centrepiece Busby Berkely extravaganza numbers, but boy, are they worth waiting for me. Yes, little Ruby Keeler is a terrible singer and actress, and her tapping is so-so, but Busby's magical "By A Waterfall" whisks her, and what seems to be a hundred other chorus girls, into a dizzying water wonderland. Of course Busby's numbers could never really be performed on a stage (they defy limits of gravity, for one thing), and they contrast terrifically with the realism of the tough, wisecracking non-musical scenes. And "Footlight" also has James Cagney in at the one of his all-too-few musicals (really, what couldn't this man do?). He even gets to take over from the leading man, don sailor garb and fawn over sexpot Shanghai Lil (who is really little Ruby in China-girl wig!).He co-stars with Joan Blondell, his adorable, adoring secretary who Cagney somehow overlooks in favour of other women (until the final reel, that is). Apparently Blondell was the only other woman who Cagney loved apart from his wife. And you can see the mutual adoration in every scene.

bizarre but entertaining early 30s musical show

[funkyfry · 7/10 · 19 April 2009]

When it came out, this was pretty much state of the art musical film entertainment. To this day it's more entertaining than most, in great part because it has James Cagney in the lead role as a musical prologue producer under a succession of deadlines and sheltered from all storms by his trusty "girl Friday" played by Joan Blondell. Also the musical numbers towards the end which were put together by Busby Berkeley are pretty much a knock-out as far as that type of thing goes.

But this is a pretty strange movie. I mean in one of those numbers, you've got Billy Barty running around pretending to be a lovable toddler, doing all kinds of weird stuff. Ruby Keeler seems to have a sickening smile plastered on her face at all times, but at least she's not required to act like in some of her later unfortunate films. You'd never guess that Dick Powell was any kind of tough guy from seeing him in this movie; apparently all the tough guy energy was allocated to the star Cagney. As for Cagney, his high speed rants about musical shows and so forth are endearing and annoying at the same time. After a while it gets a bit too much. You expect him to walk out and say, "Hey! I've got a great idea for a prologue! The women are cigarettes, and they come out of a pack of smokes! Oh no, we did that one last month!" It's funny but it gets a bit repetitive. In the moments where he has to get tough with the bad girl, Ruth Donnelly, some of the established Cagney gangster character comes out. In fact frequent B gangster director William Keighley is credited here with dialogue coaching, and it seems at times that Cagney and Blondell are invoking something very "street" even though the characters aren't criminal.

The musical numbers... what can you say? They stand alone as entertainment, the way that Berkeley uses the human body and geometry is really startling. But none of them really mean anything. It means "Honeymoon Hotel", nothing really more or less. And the whole pretense of the integration falls apart immediately, since the characters in the show are doing things that couldn't possibly be appreciated by a theater audience like the movie portrays. For example at one point they show the fine print on a newspaper, things like that. The whole thing could only exist on film, so the idea that the prologues are actually live shows is ridiculous. I can only suppose that audiences of the time were somewhat less critical about things like this than they would be ten years later or so, because this is a very polished production.

It's great to see Cagney himself show off his superb dancing skills, and he can actually share the stage with a dancer like Keeler. Cagney and Blondell have excellent chemistry and their scenes go off really well. The music I would say is only mediocre, but mostly pleasing if repetitive. Bacon's direction in general is very suitable but never interesting. The film's entertainment value is unquestionable and it has also picked up some nostalgic value along the way. It's a cut above most "let's put on a show" films of the 30s.

One of the best Depression era movies.

[brwhits · 8/10 · 15 March 2006]

This fabulous movie must be viewed knowing that millions scraped together 10 cents to see it and forget the gloomy day-to-day economic conditions during the 30's. Remember, 10 cents bought a loaf of bread back then, so this was a minor luxury for many people. It's testimony to how Hollywood did its best to make the USA feel a little better about itself. You'll note that with the studio system in Hollywood at the time many of the actors and actresses were type-cast in similar movies, e.g. James Cagney, William Powell, Ruby Keeler, Frank McHugh, Joan Blondell and Guy Kibbee . Then too, branches of the U.S. military were always respected with enthusiasm and patriotism as in the use of military precision marching by the great choreographer, Busby Berkeley, at the end.

The music makes it

[overseer-3 · 6/10 · 30 March 2004]

The fun song tunes make this classic pre-code musical, Footlight Parade, breezy and fun. All the scenes which were non-musical were kind of superfluous to the film. Just bring on the singing and dancing, the pretty girls, and the great old stars. This film is eye candy for all those who appreciate the great artistry of 1930's musicals. A year later some of the scenes, with the chorus girls in skimpy clothes and bathing suits in particular, would not be allowed to be shown, after the 1934 Production Code arrived on the Hollywood scene.

The only drawback for me in the film was Ruby Keeler. I never understood how she became so popular. She wasn't pretty, she couldn't sing, and her dancing skills were only passable. Ginger Rogers would have been better! However Ruby was married to Al Jolson, perhaps that played a hand in her career. She surely is one of the strangest show business success stories.

Even "By A Waterfall" can't compensate for a sappy script and absurd musical numbers...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 15 March 2006]

I can't join in all the praise for FOOTLIGHT PARADE. Others call its dialog "snappy"; get all choked up over the tinny sounds of Ruby Keeler's and Dick Powell's singing; and think Busby Berkeley outdid himself in improvising the kind of dance routines he's famous for.

Sorry--but I do agree that given the fact that this film was made when talking pictures were only six years old, it does demonstrate the great strides that were made since the advent of sound. As for the rest, there is no originality whatsoever in the proceedings.

Nor are there any great strides revealed by the hackneyed script, the tiresome comedy of Frank McHugh, the mascara-heavy eyes of Joan Blondell batting her baby blues at her boss (James Cagney), or the preposterous musical numbers that are supposedly being performed on a stage before a live audience, but performed for the camera with all of the cinema tricks then at the disposal of Busby Berkeley's fertile imagination.

Apparently, this was the start of Hollywood's fantasy idea of showing stage shows that couldn't possibly work in a real theater.

On the plus side, Cagney is likable and versatile as the hoofer putting on a show and does the liveliest job in the film. Not much can be said for the others--all routine and less than impressive.

In particular, Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell appear to no advantage as the singing leads, neither of them projecting voices that would make it into any kind of legit musical and Miss Keeler is completely at sea when it comes to delivering lines with any flair or credibility. The early recording techniques may have been partially to blame for how disastrous their singing is.

Only die-hard fans of early musicals can find nostalgic fun in this one. It only picks up speed for the final musical numbers and then sinks under the weight of their elephantine production values. The absurdness of it all is too painful for further comment.