72. Footlight Parade (1933)

Running Time: 104 minutes
Directed By: Lloyd Bacon
Written By: Manuel Seff, James Seymour
Main Cast: James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Claire Dodd, Frank McHugh

A MUSICAL HAT TRICK: PART TWO OF THREE

This one really didn't grab a hold of me until the final thirty minutes or so, where the musical acts are put to the screen and they are simply dazzling, and any points that this film gets in the end, will all be due to those final musical numbers.

Chester Kent (Cagney) is an out of work Broadway director and the reason he's out of work is because the talk of Hollywood is talking pictures and that's all that anyone wants to see. When he meets with his two producers, they inform him of this and take him to the local movie theatre to show him the proof in person. When Kent arrives at the theatre, he's surprised to see a short live musical number presented in the movie theatre before the main attraction is shown. Upon inquiring, he's told that they're referred to as prologues and that his producers can't afford to develop them for the pictures that they show in their movie theatres. Later, Kent gets the idea for the producers to buy up a bunch of theatres all around the country, and that way they'll be able to gets sets, costumes, etc... for the prologues, they'll make money and so will he and most importantly, he'll be back in business. So that's just what the producers do and "Chester Kent Prologues" are off to a rampant start.

We flash forward a bit, and take a peek inside Kent's offices and the madness that is his career. Life around the stuido is pure bonkers, as Kent is responsible for sending different companies of musical troops all over the country to perform his prologues and meanwhile he has to think up new ideas for prologues and find performers to be in them. His two main attractions end up being Bea Thorn, a former secretary in his office and Scotty Blair. Also in the meanwhile, Kent is forced to worry about a mole working for his outfit and taking his ideas to the rival prologue producer, Gladstone. Kent's secretary is the one who helps him keep his head on straight and sort everything out and secretly she'd like to be more than just his secretary, but it's her friend who speaks up before her and it's her friend that he becomes engaged to.

Kent's producers later reveal that they have a big deal pending with the Apollo Theatres, and if they can impress Mr. Apollo then they'll all be rolling in the dough. So Kent locks up his entire crew for three days, to ensure that the mole doesn't leak his ideas, and it's his mission to bang out three of the greatest prologues that he's ever created. This of course leads to the climax that I referred to in the beginning of this post, and what a climax it is. Despite the lackluster first half of this film, it's certainly something that should be sat through, just to get to the end.

So we've obviously covered what I liked about the film, let's talk about what I didn't like. For starters the dialogue was too fast and snappy for a musical. James Cagney was great, but after witnessing his performance in "The Public Enemy" and hearing his dialogue in "Footlight Parade", the dialogue in the latter sounded like it belonged in the former. Cagney's delivery on his lines is so fast, that it's something more suited for a gangster film, rather than a musical. There were also too many menail side plots that took away from the big picture. If the whole movie had been Kent's mission to create these three big prologues then it would have been a marvelous film, but instead we have to wade through engagements, divorces, love triangle and people cheating other people out of money, and by the time you get to that marvelous ending, you're just spent from having to get through the rest of the film. Cagney delivers a great performance, but one that didn't fit in with the musical genre and the ending is spectacular, with the three prologues: "Honeymoon Hotel", "By a Waterfall" and "Shanghai Lil", with "By the Waterfall" being the best, in my opinion.

RATING: 5/10 All five of those points go to the ending and what an ending it is. See this movie for the ending alone and you won't be disapointed.

NEXT UP: Gold Diggers of 1933...The third and final part of our musical hat trick, which should arrive from Netflix on Thursday, so tune in then.

January 19, 2010 5:21am

71. 42nd Street (1933)

Running Time: 89 minutes
Directed By: Lloyd Bacon
Written By: Rian James, James Seymour, from novel by Bradford Ropes
Main Cast: Warner Baxter, Ruby Keeler, Bebe Daniels, George Brent

A MUSICAL HAT TRICK: PART ONE OF THREE

If I were to add up all the musicals I've seen in my life, I could probably use my fingers to count them on. However, with my next three entries in the "1001" book (including this one), I may have to start using my toes to count them on, because their all musicals and the first one was a pretty good one, if I do say so myself.

Julian Marsh (Baxter) is a broke and ill theatre director, who hasn't had a hit in years and is out of cash due to the Depression. However, he's the best theatre director there is and when Jones and Barry, two Broadway producers decide to put on a show called Pretty Lady they immediately go to Marsh for the directing honors. Marsh eagerly takes the job, despite orders from his doctors that he's on the cusp of another nervous breakdown, but he needs the cash and can't pass up the opportunity to turn out another hit.

During the casting process for Pretty Lady, we are introduced to most of the rest of the main cast, including Dorothy Brock, the shows leading lady and the reason that the show's financial backer, Abner Dillion, is even putting up the money. You see, Dorothy is leading Abner along and he's playing the role of "sugar daddy" for Ms. Brock, while she is really in love with Pat Denning, her old vaudeville partner. Anyway, back to the casting process, as we meet the rest of the faces that will round out the supporting cast and the chorus line girls, including Peggy Sawyer, a rookie to the stage, who hopes to land her first role on Pretty Lady. We're also introduced to "Anytime" Annie Lowell (played by Ginger Rogers, in her pre-Astaire days) and Lorrain Fleming, two very catty and gossipy women, who are very enjoyable to watch.

So the rehearsals start, and Marsh is a slave driver of a director, pushing the cast to work days, nights and any other time, as long as they get the routine down pat and are ready to put the show on to a live audience in five weeks. While chain smoking, Marsh barks out the orders and Baxter plays him to perfection, always looking as though he's about to have that nervous breakdown that was mentioned. Marsh and the producers are also constantly trying to ensure that Abner Dillion doesn't find out about Dorothy's other beau, as he would surely pull his dough out of the project if he knew that she was two-timing him. The night before the show is to make it's grand opening in Philadelphia, Baxter fractures her ankle and the shows leading lady and star is put on the sidelines. Now the entire production rests on the shoulders of the young rookie Peggy Sawyer, as she's chosen to replace Baxter as the lead.

The first thing about this movie that really appealed to me is, that I think it does a good job of showing what it's like to work on a stage show. Not that I've ever been on a stage show, but if I had to imagine what it's like, this is definitely it. The hard work, the constant pressure to get everything right on cue and right down to every word and every dance step. The acting was mediocre, except for that of Warner Baxter, who plays the stage director Marsh brilliantly. The songs are also quite catchy, with renditions of: "Shuffle Off to Buffalo", "Young and Healthy", "You're Beginning To Be a Habit with Me" and of course, the title song "42nd Street". I'm really no expert on musicals, or what the great ones are and aren't, but I'd have to believe that this is one of the greats and I certainly had a fun time watching it. This flick was actually nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture back in it's day and it's not hard to see why.

RATING: 7.5/10 It didn't get the full '10' but for a musical of which I really didn't have any high hopes for, it certainly made a more than decent impression.

NEXT UP: Footlight Parade...The second part of our musical hat trick is here and waiting to be watched. I don't have anything else due in from Netflix, however, until Thursday, so I may end up saving it for tomorrow.

January 18, 2010 10:59am