alix1929 Posted March 14, 2004 Share Posted March 14, 2004 Which is your favorite between these three? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bansi4 Posted March 14, 2004 Share Posted March 14, 2004 alix I have to go with "42nd. Street" which I consider the definitive backstage musical. Loaded with sensational production numbers, snappy songs and of course Ruby Keeler tap-tap-tapping and coming back a star. Who could resist such a musical with such class and sass? I couldn't. Mongo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cinemetal Posted March 14, 2004 Share Posted March 14, 2004 It's the first one I saw, has my favorite songs, and in my mind it builds to the most satisfying climax, plus Ruby's at her most adorable, so my vote goes to 42nd Street, which is neck-and-neck with Love Me Tonight for my favorite musical of all time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loliteblue Posted March 14, 2004 Share Posted March 14, 2004 my vote is 42nd street Ruby Keeler the dancer with the mostest! twinkle toes!......my favorite to me none can compare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
classicsfan1119 Posted March 14, 2004 Share Posted March 14, 2004 Definitely "42nd. Street"! It has also been a smash hit on Broadway. ML Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
valvolina402 Posted March 14, 2004 Share Posted March 14, 2004 I have to give my vote to Footlight Parade. It was the first musical i ever saw. Other reasons I love it are the wonderful teaming of Joan Blondell and James Cagney, and Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell. I love when Joan kicks the woman James Cagney is going to marry (can't think of her name) in the butt, and right out the door, and when she talks about her being used to being on streetcorners. I laugh evertime i see it, it never gets old for me. Of course anything with Joan Blondell's sarcasm and blunt insults is great as far as I'm concerned! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alix1929 Posted March 14, 2004 Author Share Posted March 14, 2004 My all time favorite is FOOTLIGHT PARADE, due to the chemistry between James Cagney & Joan Blondell. I think they worked well together in all the movies they co-starred together. In this movie she gets to zing off a lot of good lines. I love the one where she introduces blonde floozy Vivian Rich to Cagney as, "Miss Vivian B, I mean Rich." Someone else also mentioned the line where she tells Vivian, "As long as there are sidewalks, you'll have a job." And although I can't remember the name of the character actor who plays the "censor," I also like the humor he provides. "You can't do that in Buffalo!" Who was he...? I know I should know, but can't remember. I also like GOLD DIGGERS because of the chemistry between Blondell and my favorite, Warren William. My heart always palpatates during the "Cheap and vulgar" scene. I did notice something interesting the last time I saw this movie. Blondell was not a terribly tall woman (of course not, she plays opposite Cagney a lot!) and in most of this movie she looks up to Warren William, who was tall. In the "cheap & vulgar" love scene, she & William are face to face--I wondered if someone elevated her part of the stage or something, so they could play the romantic scene better. Anyone else notice that? Perhaps I did, being a short girl myself. 42nd STREET is my least favorite, although I like Warner Baxter. "Sawyer, you're going out there a youngster, but you've **got** to come back a star!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flickerknickers Posted March 15, 2004 Share Posted March 15, 2004 Alix, as usual, I'm with you regarding Footlight Parade as my fave! That line you mentioned, "As long as there are sidewalks..." is one of my all time faves. All the dialogue is wild! Maybe I've watched 42nd Street too much because I'll also put "GOld Diggers" over 42nd street, too. Did you know there was a late silent/part talkie, "Gold Diggers of Broadway" (1928) filmed entirely in Technicolor? Boy, wouldn't that be a feast for the eyes? I understand there's only about ten minutes of film left. The rest decomposed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moviejoe79 Posted March 15, 2004 Share Posted March 15, 2004 I'll have to go with "42nd Street" - it's one of the first musicals I ever saw, and although I've seen it dozens of times, it still knocks me out. I love every song from it, especially "Young and Healthy" with Dick Powell and Toby Wing. The choreography is great - especially when Berkley films through the girls' legs. I also love the cast - Not only Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler, but you got Bebe Daniels, George Brent, Warner Baxter, Ginger Rogers, Guy Kibbee, Ned Sparks, and Una Merkel all in the same movie - and they're all great in their parts. My favorite line is when the guy says to Ginger Rogers "Anytime Annie!" - and then I think Una Merkel says "She only said no once, and that time she didn't hear the question." Another good one is when the snobby chorus girl gives her address as "Park Avenue," and Ginger says "and is her homework tough!" - Priceless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msladysoul Posted March 16, 2004 Share Posted March 16, 2004 Anything with Ruby Keeler gets me. Ruby is so irrestible, you can't help but like her, she's like the girl next door. Every guy wants a girl like her, Every girl wants to be her friend. Its not a big surprise to me Ruby made it. Ruby made big during the depression time and she gave hope to every young girl through her performance. Every girl could relate to her, and to her all american beauty. Her screen presence was just likeable, she was different from her screen rivals like glamourous, sexy, over the top Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, Mae West, Jean Harlow, Kay Francis, Constance Bennett, Myrna Loy, Nancy Carroll and other stars of the time, Ruby wasn't the other woman. I love Ruby with Dick Powell, her and Powell made the best screen couple, I don't like to see Powell with anyone but Ruby, he appeared with Joan Blondell and Gloria Stuart and Ginger Rogers but they didn't move me the way Powell and Ruby did. They were America's Sweetheart. Ruby was just natural. She never thought much of her dancing, but her dancing makes you want to get up and dance, she makes it look so easy. She doesn't try to look all professional or graceful, she just dance and have fun with it. Wonder if Ruby wasn't married to Al Jolson, would she have dated or married Dick Powell? what do you all think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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