All classic-film fans must have movie moments that they wait for, the bit that sums up all you love about a film.
We’ve seen this movie-how many times? We recall seeing it at the dear old Regency revival house, way back in the days when New York still bristled with revival movie theaters like a well-used rug with cat fur and watched it even further back, on late-night TV, before cable or even Betamaxes existed. The conductor smiles, the music starts, and the show goes on. Then there’s a close-up of one pale, tense hand-slapping the step, then angrily waving, as if flinging a scoop of dirt at us.
There’s a scream the music stops, the spectators stare, and the conductor pauses, arms suspended in the air like a coat hanger. It’s right where the “Shanghai Lil” musical number begins, when a body tumbles down a flight of stairs onto the stage. There’s one moment in 1933’s Footlight Parade that we always wait for, and that’s a shot of James Cagney’s hand.
