James Cagney between Warner Bros. contracts, starring for Grand
National in a Hollywood satire he clearly relished. Terry Rooney, a
New York band leader and hoofer, is shipped to Hollywood to become a
movie star, hates everything about the factory system, and walks out
on his own hit picture — while studio publicists try to manufacture
a romance that has nothing to do with his real life. Evelyn Daw,
William Frawley, and Gene Lockhart co-star, with Victor Schertzinger
directing his own score. Cagney gets to tap-dance, roughhouse, and
mock the industry that made him, and the film is far sharper than
its poverty-row distributor suggests. The film entered the public
domain through non-renewal of copyright.
Comedy · Musical · Romance
