an opium den and a dirty little boy ( actually a midget ) and prostitute galore and a violent fracas in a dive and a motel for sexual shenanigan and scantily clad babe with cleavage a lot and a boozer fall down the stair and a racially mixed clientèle in a bar with asian and african and and anglos treat equally and do this sound like a film playing at the local shopping mall . wrong . these be all scene from a 1933 musical . the first half of footlight parade be preparation for a musical extravaganza which occupy the last half of the film . chester kent ( cagney ) be about to lose his job and do lose his playgirl wife a a result of talk picture squeeze out live stage musical . his producer take him to see a popular talky of the day and john wayne in the big trail . before each showing of the flick and a dance number be present a a prologue . short and news reel and serial and and cartoon would later serve the purpose . kent get the idea that a prologue chain would be the road to salvation for the dwindle live musical business . kent be basically an idea man along the line of choreographer busby berkeley . could it be that cagney character be pattern after berkeley . could be . in preparation for the prologue and kent learns that his idea be be steal by a rival . he uncover the traitor and fire him and then unbeknown to him a new leak be plant in the form a dazzling temptress . his assistant and nan prescott ( joan blondell soon to be mrs. dick powell ) have the hots for kent and be determine to expose the wile of the temptress . a new singer from arkansas college show up in the form of scotty blain ( dick powell ) who turn out to be a real find and be pair with bea thorn ( ruby keeler ) . the result three prologue musical and which couldn not possibly have be present on any cinema stage of the day and be a fresh and enjoyable today a they be over seventy year ago and honeymoon hotel and by a waterfall and and shanghai lil . of special note be the song and dance of tough guy james cagney . like fred astaire and bill bojangles robinson and cagney dancing appear natural and unrehearsed and although hour go into practice to get each step just right . not a good a singer a astaire and cagney singing and like astaire and sound natural and unlike the crooning so popular at the time . it amaze that one person could be so talented and so versatile a james cagney . most critic prefer the shanghai lil segment over the other two . yet the kaleidoscopic choreography of by a waterfall be astonish . how berkeley be able to film the underwater ballet and to create the human snake chain must have be difficult because it have never be repeat . the close up shot mixed brilliantly with distant angle be a must see . the crisp black and white photography be much more artistic than it would have be if shoot in color . though not nearly a socially conscious a gold digger of 1933 and footlight parade stand on it own a one of the most amazing and outrageous musical ever put on the big screen .