#Footlight parade movie

There are all sorts of backstage intrigues, not the least of which concerns the predatory hijinks of gold-digger Claire Dodd and the covetous misbehavior of Cagney's ex-wife Renee Whitney. Halfway through the picture, Cagney is obliged to assemble three mammoth prologues and present them back-to-back in three different theatres.

#Footlight parade movie

To keep his head above water, Jimmy hits upon a swell idea: he'll stage musical prologues for movie theatres, then ship them out to the various picture palaces in New York. 'Footlight Parade: Sounds of the American Musical' gives listeners the best seat in the house for a celebration of Broadway and Hollywood musicals from the early 20th century to current hits: from Gershwin, Berlin and Rodgers & Hammerstein to Lin-Manuel Miranda. Cagney is unceremoniously put out of business when talking pictures arrive.

The film screens at AFI Silver this weekend. efforts of 1933, Footlight Parade stars James Cagney as a Broadway musical comedy producer. WCP film critic Noah Gittell calls Footlight Parade 'a perfect crystallization of everything pre-Code cinema had to offer ' that is, all that predated 20th-century moralists and the industrys self-censorship. When Footlight Parade went before the cameras during the summer of 1933, the Warner Bros Great Depression musicals template was already established. The last-and to some aficionados, the best-of choreographer Busby Berkeley's three Warner Bros.