![]() Although Berkeley's numbers are always a treat, Footlight Parade doesn't break one out until the 40-minute mark, and even that one is cut-short. The problems with Footlight Parade mostly stem from a sense that it, like Kent's many in-movie creations, was thrown together hastily and without a cohesive story or theme to pull its many parts together. The aquatic number "By a Waterfall" is, by far, the stand-out, full of inventive design and suggestive Pre-Code era eroticism. There are three-and-a-half major dance numbers in Footlight Parade, and each one is, at turns, clever, engaging and jaw-dropping. One of the highlights of the cast, however, is Frank McHugh, as Kent's beleaguered choreographer, who is reluctantly forced to mimic a cat and sing a romantic duet with Powell. Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell pull out their usual charming cheese-ball tricks, and Guy Kibbee is on-hand to puff his cigar with typical incredulousness. ![]() Cagney is great, as is Blondell as his lovelorn assistant. ![]() There's a lot to like in Footlight Parade. With his career under pressure due to the change from silent to sound films, Chester devises a scheme to mass-produce these musical prologues, sending himself into a creative frenzy of sleepless labor, culminating in the production of three show-stopping numbers aimed at winning a lucrative contract. James Cagney stars as Chester Kent, an impresario of live entertainment prologues to motion pictures. Footlight Parade, also produced by Berkeley but directed by Lloyd Bacon, has many of the same winning ingredients at play - such as Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, and Guy Kibbee- but is sort of a (likable) mess in comparison. Earlier this year, I fell instantly in love with the Busby Berkeley-produced musical Gold Diggers of 1933, with its lively cast (including a young Ginger Rogers), unexpectedly oddball sense of humor, and stunning musical set-pieces.
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