mark.waltz Most backstage musicals really had little plot line, but in the case of this MGM Oscar Winning Best Film, it has plenty of plot to spare, with some of the raciest dialog and controversial characters that indeed makes it understandable why this would have been the movie to see in the months preceding the start of the great depression. It's the story of two sisters (Bessie Love and Anita Page) who make it big as a song and dance team on Broadway (much like the Duncan Sisters who briefly had film careers at MGM) and have major issues as they both become involved with leading man Charles King. Older sister Bessie is pretty but lacks the sex appeal of her younger sister, bombshell Anita, who seems quite self-centered and spoiled. At one point, she has a temper tantrum backstage which has to be seen to be believed with her older sister trying to keep her from walking off in the middle of a performance. The musical numbers, most notably the title song and "The Wedding of the Painted Doll", are creaky to look at, but fascinating, a historical view of what transition movie photographers and sound engineers needed to fix from the transition from silent to sound and where to place the microphone so the camera and actors could move around rather than be static and stuck in one place. This is a fascinating companion piece to "Singin' in the Rain" which years later told the story of the early days of sound and the issues that movie musical filmmakers needed to work on.Charles King and Bessie Love truly shine in their leading roles as the leading man and sensible older sister, while Anita Page is quite impish in her spoiled girl role. Every archetype of Broadway character is presented both dramatically and humorously, with some hysterically funny banter between an obviously gay costume designer and a very butch wardrobe lady. Fine character performances by James Gleason, Eddie Kane (as a producer whose name parallels Broadway's real top producer at the time) and Jed Prouty, as well as appearances by the song-writing team of Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed, who ironically would go onto produce many of MGM's biggest musicals of the 1940's and 50's including "Singin' in the Rain". Obviously, he knew what he was talking about. So overlook the slow moving camera and put yourself in the shoes of 1929 audiences who definitely tapped away as they dreamed of no skies of gray on the great white way.

Python Hyena Broadway Melody (1929): Dir: Harry Beaumont / Cast: Bessie Love, Anita Page, Charles King, Eddie Kane, Jed Prouty: Musical that began it all even after The Jazz Singer established the talkies. It regards a big event that will happen with two young women. They wish to embark upon a Broadway career, which leads to the obvious conclusion. It establishes the musical structure but shot like a 30 minute sitcom. Harry Beaumont establishes the feel and excitement of the Broadway process with dance numbers that carry through. This is an early musical and although hardly the best of its kind it establishes the feeling and celebration as to how musicals would advance. Both women are played with amusing enthusiasm by Bessie love and Anita Page whose attitudes shape the whole experience. Supporting players are not quite as broad and fall under predictable clichés that can deflate any charm the film had sustained. Charles King plays the main male lead whom will become a reason of tension when romantic notions set in and threaten the girls. Eddie Kane is also featured amongst the stereotypes. The film is about making it in the business of entertainment and the pressure that accompanies that pursuit. With that said the film is fun with charming musical numbers yet it isn't without its limitations. What it does do is stand as a landmark musical that would influence the genre. Score: 6 / 10

Dalbert Pringle The following are lyrics by Arthur Freed - A million lights they flicker there - A million hearts beat quicker there - No skies of gray on the Great White Way - That's the Broadway Melody.Released in 1929 - The Broadway Melody is a somewhat difficult movie to review since one feels that with every comment they must be reminding the readers that this was one of the very first all-sound pictures to come out of Hollywood.Set against the backstage hubbub of an elaborate Broadway musical revue that's being financed by big-shot, Frank Zanfield, The Broadway Melody's all-too-familiar plot revolves around the romances, the heartaches, and the struggles of certain prominent cast members who are appearing in the show.I found that far too often it became quite clear that the technicians behind the cameras and sound equipment didn't have a full grasp of what to do with this new medium - And, as a result, a number of the scenes came across as being noticeably clunky, disjointed and overlong.It's interesting to note that this film (now 85 years old) predates the Hayes Code, which placed strong restrictions on what could and could not be seen (or heard) in movies.This film does not contain any nudity, but there were a number of scenes where 2 of the female characters were shown in various states of undress, including shots of them parading around indoors in just their undergarments.Even though The Broadway Melody wasn't a particularly good picture, it was interesting to view it in the context of its significance and value in the history of early movie-making.*Trivia note* - Back in 1929 movies generally had 35-cent admission prices. With that in mind - This film grossed nearly $4 million upon its initial release.

mikegordan This is yet another Best Picture winner that would come to define Oscar as being style-over-substance, except the Musical Genre's no longer as popular as it once was (okay, Chicago did win, but that's for another review). This, however, is an interesting piece.For starters, during the eligibility period of the 2nd Academy Awards (late 1928-mid 1929) was a period in time where Hollywood was transitioning from silent to talkies. Thanks to some advancements in technology, we got the speakers, the recorders, and sound stages, many of which due to Broadway. And speaking of Broadway, what better way to show off the talkie trend than to give us a Broadway-like musical? Only Broadway Melody went a step further and even introduced Technicolor for the very first time in cinematic history (though only in a limited number of musical sequences, many of which didn't survive).So where does this film fall? Well, for the time, it certainly had a lot more to brag about for its accomplishments than most talkies did. But like a ton of other films from that time period that made the technological leap, it suffers from several of the faults that Hollywood was just not accustomed to at the time. The acting became uncomfortably awkward, the Technicolor looked really grainy and hideous-looking, the sound quality was very poor, and it simply became a lavish luxury.The story and the characters are completely forgettable as well. I just saw this movie on NetFlix, and I can't remember a thing about anybody or anything that went on. This is a primary example of giving us a half-baked story with cardboard cutouts as a means to showing off its technological advancements.So yeah, while its history is interesting, the movie itself is just an embarrassing bore. A lot of people may defend this film by saying that it simply didn't age well, and to "try viewing it from when it first came out," but this excuse simply isn't going to fly. Maybe if the story and characters were engaging, even with the embarrassing performances and dated technology, I may cut the film some slack. But the intent of the Oscars that year speaks for itself; Best Picture was the only Oscar it won that year, and it won for the spectacle alone. Even if that was because there were only 7 categories, the Oscar ceremony in subsequent years (with only 2 exceptions) will prove that there's no excuse for its lack of quality.It may not be the worst film to win Best Picture, but again, I can only recommend this film to those that are interested in learning of the Academy's humble roots. If you don't care about Oscar, then I'd seriously skip it. I will give it a generous--yet deserving, 4 out of 10.