i really, really adored this movie and i'm so glad i watched it. screwball musical comedy romance hijinks ensue. however, a mole who is leaking ideas to a rival firm is making life difficult and forcing him to focus on nothing but the work, much to the chagrin of Chester's secretary Nan, who wants nothing more then to be in his arms and for him to be happy. his business partners are reluctant at first before embracing the idea and tasking Chester and his team with creating many prologues for export to theaters across the country. realizing how chain stores work in terms of making something once versus making something infinitely repeatable, that the way out is to simplify the shows and embrace the new medium of motion pictures by pivoting to creating 'prologues', which would be short stage shows that played before the movies. Chester, however, is constantly contemplating a way out, and has an eureka moment when buying aspirin for a headache at a local chain store after divorcing his wife when she refuses to give up the easy life. it's a low bar, i know, but it does get over it! the quick setup for Footlight Parade is that Chester Kent's Broadway career is rapidly failing in the face of the new medium of 'talking pictures', and everyone involved feels like they are only counting down the days to their final obsolescence. Shanghai Lil is also really good but it's couched in some unfortunate orientalism, though it should be noted it's infinitely better then i thought it would be aside from white women dressed as chinese sex workers. i can't even fathom how incredible seeing this on the big screen in a dark theater would have been, as watching it in my family room on my 4k OLED was already amazing. By A Waterfall is probably my favorite one in terms of how unbelievable the scale of it is and how awe-inspiring every frame of it was. Honeymoon Hotel is just a ton of fun and incredibly catchy and funny. the movie looks pretty ok for the most part, but it obviously is saving it's big moments for the production numbers which deliver in spades and are genuinely breathtaking even nowadays. the cast puts their entire ass into their rolls, with no one really slouching, even bit parts! Cagney is amazing as Chester and is very much the beating, dancing, fast-talking heart of the movie who is only matched by Joan as Nan who seemingly effortlessly keeps up with his pace. the rapid-fire pacing of the comedy made me think about how many takes these scenes must have taken, because everyone involved is so incredibly on point. there are so many spicy zingers throughout the movie that really catch you off guard, along with some incredible comedic pacing and timing mixed with the strong physicality acting of almost the entire cast that makes the movie such a joy to watch. owing to this, it's kind of shocking what Footlight gets away with for the time! one of my favorite bits is when Nan Prescott (Joan Blondell), Chester Kent's (James Cagney) long suffering secretary who not-so-secretly longs for Chester's affections kicks out her old 'friend' and Chester's new fiance Vivian Rich (Claire Dodd) out of their shared apartment after she tries to take advantage of the drunken Chester as Nan tries to clean him up, saying " as long as there are sidewalks, you'll have a job!" which honestly got an OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH out of me. see, Footlight came out in October 1933, and the Production Code/Hayes Code was finally materially enforced in July 1934, killing pre-code Hollywood for 30 years. while i wasen't laughing as much as say a Marx Brothers movie or something like Hellzapoppin', there were a lot of moments where my dad and i just let out some hearty guffaws, especially with the more spicy dialogue owing to this movie's very interesting timing. i wasn't prepared for how funny this movie was going to be on top of being an incredible musical. though i was surprised that the musical parts only came in at the third act, holy shit are they ever worth the wait. Last night's movie was Footlight Parade (1933)! and it was so fun and charming! this was my first Bubsy Berkeley musical, and it appears i picked an amazing one.
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