Romancefest 3: Sadiefest - Footlight Parade

I was first introduced to Busby Berkley when I was a kid. I was obsessed with THE WIZARD OF OZ, and the 50th anniversary edition VHS tape had a cut scene at the end of it featuring a dance for the Scarecrow choreographed by Berkley. The over-the-top number captured my imagination and I remembered Berkley ever since.

Now I've finally scene a real bonafide Busby Berkley choreographed musical -- FOOTLIGHT PARADE, starring James Cagney as a stage choreographer forced out of business by the advent of talking pictures who hits upon the idea of creating an assembly line of "dance units" to perform prologues before movies in theaters across the nation.

The first half of the film deals with Cagney's struggles to keep his new company afloat, culminating in a crucial trio of performances of three prologues that will make or break his career. These lavish, creative and -- yes -- over-the-top performances make up the last half of the film.

FOOTLIGHT PARADE moves along at a lightning pace. The editing is efficient, the story is light and the snappy dialogue is delivered so rapidly, I'm not sure how audiences caught all the racy jokes in 1933. I guess they had to come back for more.

An actor like Cagney is ideal for this kind of film. At first it seems counter-intuitive -- a tough guy in a dance movie. But soon it makes total sense. His no-nonsense, breakneck style of acting fits perfectly in the cruel world of show business, especially this hyper-romanticized version, and he's willing to do anything -- sing, dance, look cool, look like a fool -- whatever it takes.

The supporting cast is also great. We've got whip-smart Joan Blondell as Cagney's "girl Friday" and eventual love interest, Ruby Keeler as a secretary who lets her hair down to become a sexy song and dance girl, Dick Powell as a gigolo turned song and dance man, and Frank McHugh as Cagney's chief dance instructor, who is slowly being driven insane by the stress of his job.

I could mention any number of more background characters, because while the story is simple, there's a lot of plot. To the movie's credit, it doesn't let itself get bogged down in plot, and a lot of the machinations of the good guys and the bad guys happen so quickly we've been through three movies worth of trouble in an hour of screen time.

After that, the dance numbers start up, and boy are they something else. First there's a gang of chorus girls in lingerie signing and dancing their way through a wedding night at the Honeymoon Hotel, followed by a group of bathing beauties synchronizing their way through a trippy swim routine, and finally we get Cagney himself searching for his Shanghai Lil amid a brothel of soldiers, sailors, and opium smoking prostitutes.

This movie has it all -- it's sexy, it's funny, there are more shapely legs than you can count, and the dance numbers will blow your mind.

Sadie Says:

In reading Paul's review of FOOTLIGHT PARADE, I immediately found myself with an ear to ear grin. Why? Because he TOTALLY got it. It had all the right elements for the Paul seal of approval. That's a good feeling for a chick recommending classic movies!

For those who are interested in more Busby Berkeley musicals, there are many to watch. Take a look at 42ND STREET and GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933.