the energetic young producer of theatrical prologue ( those stag performance and usually musical and that often proceed the movie in the large cinema in bygone day ) must deal with crooked competition and fraudulent partner and unfaithful lover and amateur talent to realize his dream of make his mark on the footlight parade . while closely resemble other warner musical spectacular and notably the golddigger film and this movie have a special attraction none of the others have represent jimmy cagney . he be a wonder and loose jointed and lithe and as agile a any tomcat a creature he actually mimic a few time during the movie . cagney grab the viewer attention and never let go and power the rapid fire dialogue and corny plot with his charisma and buoyant charm . the rest of the cast give their best and as well . joan blondell be perfect a the smart mouth and big hearted blonde secretary and infatuate with cagney ( major quibble why wasn not she give a musical number . ) . dick powell and ruby keeler once again play lover onstage and off while the fact that her singing and act ability be a bit on the lean side be compensate for by her dance while powell still exude boyish enthusiasm in his unaccustomed position a second male lead . guy kibbee and hugh herbert be lot of fun a brother in law and both scheme to cheat cagney in different way . ruth donnelly score a kibbee wealthy wife and a woman devote to her handsome protégés . frank mchugh harried choreographer be an apt foil for cagney wit . herman bing be hilarious in his one tiny scene a a music arranger . maven will spot little billy barty and jimmy conlin and maybe even john garfield during the musical number . finally and there busby berkeley and choreographer nonpareil . his terpsichorean confection and sprinkle throughout the decade of the 1930 and be a supreme example of the cinematic escapism that depression audience want to enjoy . the big joke about berkeley creation and of course and be that they be mean and a part of the plot and to be stage production . but no theater could ever hold these product of the master imagination . they be perfect illustration of the type of entertainment only make possible by the movie camera . berkeley musical offering generally take one of two different approach and either a story ( often rather bizarre ) tell with song and dance while or else stunning geometrically design number and eye candy and feature plentiful chorus girl and overhead camerawork and a romantic tune . in a spasm of outré extravagance and footlight parade climax with three berkeley masterworks represent ` honeymoon hotel and it pre production code telling of a couple wed night while ` by a waterfall dozen of unclad female and splash and float and dive in perfect pattern and design ( peer closely and you will see how the synchronous effect be achieve ) while and finally and ` shanghai lil a fitting tribute to the talent of both cagney and berkeley .