User reviews

To say the least, watching this movie was an interesting experience. For one thing, "The Broadway Melody" predates the Hayes Code, which placed strong restrictions on what could and could not be seen (or heard) in movies. For example, we see numerous shots of Hank and Queenie in various states of undress, including shots of them in their undergarments as they change clothes, and even one of Queenie in the bathtub(!). No, nothing is revealed, but in 1929, it must have been scandalous to see this.

Another interesting aspect of this film is that, despite the fact that it is a "talkie," title cards like those seen in silent films appear throughout. Apparently, MGM wasn't quite sure how to progress the story of the movie as it switched to different sets.

Another thing I noticed was the similarities between some of the characters' names to those of real people. Specifically, "Jock Warriner" sounds like "Jack Warner" (who was head of Warner Bros. Studios) and "Francis Zanfield" is similar to "Florenz Ziegfeld" (of Ziegfeld Follies fame). It would seem the writers didn't have far to go to create some of these characters.

As for the acting, Bessie Love is the best performer in the film. Her character, Hank (yes, a man's name!), is intelligent, strong-willed, determined, and tough-minded, and she deservedly received an Oscar nomination for her performance in this film.

"The Broadway Melody" is a somewhat dated movie (to echo the sentiment of TV Guide), but it is still worthwhile to watch. The script is a little hokey, but the performances (especially from the women) shine through.

Even though the occasional subtitle appears like training wheels on a bicycle with The Broadway Melody sound had finally arrived to tell the story of a movie. Though the movies had learned to talk, the players hadn't quite gotten down acting with a microphone instead of exaggerated gestures to make a point.

Everybody was overacting that year, you ought to see Mary Pickford's Best Actress performance in this same year. In fact she beat out Bessie Love who did a very good job as one of the aspiring Mahoney sisters for stardom on the Great White Way.

Bessie Love and Anita Page play the Mahoney Sisters who come to Broadway after being sent for by an old friend Charles King. King's had his eye on Love, but now little sister Page is all grown up. And she's also attracting Broadway wolf, Kenneth Thomson.

Charles King was a popular Broadway leading man of the day, his career going back to 1908 there. Such people as George M. Cohan, Irving Berlin, and Vincent Youmans had songs introduced by him. King had a nice singing and dancing act. He never really took to the big screen, but introducing Broadway Melody and You Were Meant For Me should qualify him for some screen immortality.

The plot is your usual backstage story, but the greatness of Broadway Melody was the singing and dancing. The possibilities of the screen musical hadn't been fully explored, it would take Busby Berkeley to do that in a few years. In its numbers Broadway Melody is a photographed stage musical.

But not a bad one at that. And our second Best Picture Oscar.

MGM's "The Broadway Melody" has often been criticized and lampooned, but the film holds up better than its reputation would suggest and has historical, social, and entertainment value that merit its viewing. This musical from the early days of sound won the second Best Picture Academy award and the first that went to a sound film. While its technical accomplishments may have impressed audiences in 1929, they are important today only as they show the hurdles that faced an industry in transition. The sound is harsh, which can be expected from early recording techniques, and, like the struggling technicians comically demonstrated in "Singin' in the Rain," sound created several problems for filmmakers. The camera in "The Broadway Melody" rarely moves, most of the scenes are in long-shot or mid-shot, and occasionally characters blur when they walk out of the camera's focal range. Thus, observant viewers can spot in this movie many of the real situations that faced the studios and directors during the sound transition period in the late 1920's.

Another interesting aspect of "The Broadway Melody" is social. Like the two fliers in "Wings" from the prior year, the two sisters, who form a stage act that they are attempting to bring to Broadway, openly demonstrate affection in a manner that would raise eyebrows today. The two fliers in "Wings" kissed on the mouth, embraced, and openly showed an affection that could only be interpreted as love, although there was nothing sexual implied. Here too, the two sisters kiss on the mouth, sleep together in each other's arms, and embrace more than even two sisters would be permitted to do within current social norms. Again, there is apparently nothing sexual in their affection, only sibling love. Another changing social norm is the shifting role of gays in film, and a clip from this movie was included in "The Celluloid Closet" to illustrate the change over time. The male dresser in "The Broadway Melody" is a blatant stereotype of the sissy, and the derisive remarks and put downs that he endures from other characters would or should not be tolerated today. However, like the Stepin Fetchit characters that illustrate how African-Americans were once treated on film, the sissy depicted here is a valuable lesson in how minorities were once marginalized and derided in the movies.

However, "The Broadway Melody" is of merit not only for historical and social reasons but also for its entertainment value. While the backstage story has become familiar, the plot retains a certain dated interest and is not boring. Some of the songs are familiar from "Singin' in the Rain," where they were sung and performed as well as they ever will be. But nevertheless, hearing these familiar tunes as they were first performed is fun, even if the voices and sound are lacking all around, and the clumsy dance numbers that are often performed to these songs cry out for Busby Berkeley, although they retain a certain clunky charm. While the film is neither the classic that it should be nor the campy dud that its detractors claim, "The Broadway Melody" is definitely worth a look and makes an excellent double feature with "Singin' in the Rain" as a real example of what was spoofed in that musical classic.

This is NOT a bad film. It's a 1929 musical that won an Oscar for best film as well as nominations for direction (Harry Beaumont) and lead actress, Bessie Love. It was the number ONE hit of 1929. Central to this film is Love's great performance as Hank Mahoney, the older sister in a musical act trying to make it on Broadway. The plot is pretty sophisticated for 1929. Bessie Love is in love with a singer (Charles King) who falls for younger sister, gorgeous Anita Page. Rather than hurt her sister, Page starts running around with a scummy playboy (Kenneth Thomson).

The truth comes out and Love backs off in a heart-breaking scene, giving up King and the act, and clears the way for Page and King. Two great songs: The Broadway Melody and You Were Meant for Me, both nicely done by Charles King. Love and Page are also fun in The Boy Friend song, in which Bessie Love gets to cut loose and dance in a full-fledged number. Another song, The Wedding of the Painted Dolls, is truly bizarre, and possibly the most over produced musical number you'll EVER see! But I like the music.

Yes, yes, you've seen all this before, but remember this is a 1929 talkie. The opening number is wonderful, with Charles King introducing The Broadway Melody. That's James Gleason as the music publisher. And keep your eyes on Rosie (no idea who played her) with her swinging beads. Blanche Payson plays "the big woman" in charge of the dressing room, who has a terrific scene with the gay designer (Drew Demorest). Mary Doran, Eddie Kane, Ray Cooke, and Jed Prouty have roles and that's composer Nacio Herb Brown at the piano. I love this film! I love the music. Bessie Love is SO GOOD in this film, you wonder why her talkie career didn't go better. Anita Page is also good and has a couple of terrific dramatic scenes. Charles King is a good singer but his acting was hammy. The three stars also appeared in Hollywood Revue of 1929. And yes, Bessie Love had been in films since the teens and was already a veteran of 15 years when she made this film. Catch her in Intolerance and The Lost World.

All the negative reviews put me off watching this for years but I thought I'd finally give it a whirl and discovered something instantly engaging and entertaining. It's no GODFATHER but it's certainly not rubbish.

So why are there so many negative reviews? Being so (relatively) well-know makes it an easier target to shoot down. Lesser known and vastly inferior early talkies such as CHARMING SINNERS or FRAMED slip under the radar and escape such vitriol. Being made in 1928 does obviously make it look old-fashioned but that goes with the territory - it's a 1920s musical with 1920s actors, what do expect? I wonder whether its detractors have seen other films from the late twenties other than M and UN CHIEN ANDALOU? This was never meant to be a work of art, it was just fun: entertainment for the masses. Clearly it's not in the same league as the wonderful GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 but it's actually better than GOLD DIGGERS OF 1937!

For maximum popular appeal it used a well trodden story - two sisters both in love with the same man so don't expect anything remotely original. What I wasn't expecting but got was such a strong emotional story. Bessie Love's performance at the climax of the film is genuinely heartbreaking. It's a remarkably sensitive and nuanced performance with an intensity you wouldn't normally get in a light comedy - extremely well acted. It's a happy ending, she's laughing but for us the viewer, we're almost crying. Unlike the Busby Berkeley classics from the time of The Depression, this was made in the optimistic and progressive late twenties. It is therefore really quite upsetting to know that the plans and dreams of these characters are probably not going to find their happy ending.

If you like films from the early thirties you will like this. It's a lot better than most 1920s talkies, it's a lot better than a lot of early thirties movies too. If you're familiar with old films you'll find it almost impossible to believe how well made and well acted this "first ever" talkie is considering the cinematic trash (including 69 copy-cat musicals in 1929 alone!) that was to follow. Considering nobody really had a clue how to make a talking picture at the start of the year the result is amazing. It has a sweet endearing charm about it, it's emotionally engaging, it's got a building tension, it's fun and sad - what more could you want? Obviously the filming is a quite static, the story is cliched and the songs are horrible but overall it's thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining.

I had the chance of watching this amazing movie when I bought the DVD version of The Broadway Melody. Although the restoration of the film wasn't that good, it still brought me to a conclusion that the film itself is a landmark achievement in the invention of a new Hollywood genre: the movie musical.

In the strictest sense of the word musical, however, The Broadway Melody is still at tips. It only contains some three songs blurted out of nowhere by the actors, as well as some orchestral music accompanying the movie as musical score. However, this kind of musical, which is still very much understood to be young in 1929's case, is already a rave not only for audiences but also for the critics.

Also, the technical aspects of the film, although are not outstanding enough to win the modern Best Picture, are very much appreciated in 1929's case. If we watch the movie in 1929's style, we can see that indeed it is a great movie. Long shots of dance sequences, great art and set decoration and of course great costumes would fill your eyes, not mentioning the kind of sporadic editing techniques and bright lighting that this movie utilized. This movie, in 1929's opinion, would really win the Best Picture, hands down.

However, what's more interesting with this movie is that, as a contemporary audience watching it, I am so enthralled at the history it had shown me. Remember, this is the transition to sound. It is much amusing to notice the fact that for the first time in my life, I have seen movie title cards (used for denoting various locations in the film) and that it is obvious that the movie utilized the 16-frames-a- minute hand-cranked camera which was common with the silent films of the 1920s, because of the seemingly fast motion (you'd notice it too)that actors made in the movie. Another thing is the static nature of the cameras in this movie. It is explainable since cameras are enclosed in "iceboxes" or camera rooms that are enclosed so as not to be heard by the then all-hearing microphone, that's why, in 2005's opinion, it did not have an imaginative screenplay. However, at this focal points, I can say that history has been shown in this movie and has added a great deal of weight for it to be considered as Academy Award winner for Most Outstanding Production of 1929.

The transition to sound movies means that MGM's decision to do a musical in 1929 called "The Broadway Melody" was beset with lots of problems. First and foremost, the sound was primitive (tinny orchestrations of popular songs and squeaky female voices), the characters were strictly stereotypes of all the backstage musicals you've ever seen, and the plot can be boiled down to one sentence: two sisters try to make it big on Broadway while in love with the same man.

But one can understand that back in '29, this must have seemed a fresh and novel concept, despite all the drawbacks--especially by today's standards of what passes for musical entertainment.

Biggest compensation is the performance of BESSIE LOVE as "Hank", the tough, determined sister who tries to protect her younger sister (ANITA PAGE) from a wealthy playboy who wants Anita as a plaything. In the meantime, Love's boyfriend Eddie (CHARLES KING) is also falling in love with Page. Many strong outbursts occur backstage over the love lives of this trio and, of course, most of the dialog is pretty sappy.

What helps are a couple of big production numbers, most notably "The Wedding of the Painted Doll" (now shown only in B&W with original color footage lost), which has to be the most original of all the Arthur Freed/Herb Nacio Brown songs and is given the full production treatment in the MGM manner. Other songs are mostly throwaways due to the poor sound equipment and the fact that Anita Page is no singer. Her Brooklyn accent and flat delivery of lines doesn't serve her well but she certainly looks pretty and is very photogenic.

This is really a curiosity piece more than anything else, a brave attempt (at the time) to do something different in the movies that now had a voice. It has to be judged for what it was in its time period and if you can enjoy it for whatever values it still retains, that's about all you can do.

Summing up: One visit to this one is enough. Believe it or not, it won Best Picture of 1929--but I can see why Bessie Love won her Best Actress Oscar. She's terrific.

OK, it's very simple. If you want to watch and enjoy this film, you have to put yourself back into 1929. If you're not willing to do that, don't waste your time. If you *are* willing to do that, it's a pretty good film. If the sound or picture seems ancient-- well, not in 1929! If the plot seems old hat-- well, not in 1929! You really do have to put yourself mentally into the time-frame of the time. This was really pretty damn good for 1929.

Of course, part of the enjoyment, today, of watching such a film, is indeed the time-warp you get. It really is interesting to see the movie people groping to find their way in the new era of talkies. Some have mentioned the odd silent-movie-style story-boards that open the scenes. Or the way that the players sometimes get out of focus when they get out of range of the camera. There were some other limitations of the time that I found interesting. Very interesting to note all the silence, when the characters are not speaking, especially when they are just emoting. Today, of course, every such scene would have orchestral back-up music, to tell you how to feel, but obviously nobody had thought of that yet. Or the way that they hadn't really invented the modern notion of a Musical, where people burst into song for no reason. In the one scene here where somebody seems to spontaneously burst into a song describing his feelings to someone else... at the end of the song he explains that he wrote it just for her (thus, it wasn't spontaneous after all).

All in all, not a *great* film, but enjoyable. I gave it six stars, plus an extra one for the historic interest. My one real gripe: I did think that the actress who played Queenie was just terrible. Too often she just didn't sound natural, she sounded like she was reading lines.

My wife and I have started from the begging with the Best Picture winners and this was a huge disappointment. After watching Wings this was just a huge let down. The cinematography and script was a huge step back. Watch it just to say you have seen all of the best pictures otherwise - skip it.

Having seen "The Broadway Melody", one has to be taken in as to what an achievement this must have been to 1929 audiences. Here is the very first original musical written for the screen. It balances the interesting storyline with musical numbers which must have seemed to be quite spectacular for 1929, especially the "Wedding Of The Painted Doll" number. The performances in the film are uniformly good, with knockout work by Miss Bessie Love and Miss Anita Page. They bring a believability to their characters which is amazing considering the newness of the sound technology at the time.

Miss Page was always a good actress as well as a beautiful woman, and I find it interesting that in two of the films that I have seen with her, "Our Dancing Daughters" and this one, she has marvelous "drunk" scenes. "The Broadway Melody" opened the floodgates for musical pictures which went unabated until late 1930, when the public had had enough. If you are lucky enough to get the DVD version of this film, you get an additional ninety minutes of extras consisting of some interesting early sound short subjects, including "The Dogway Melody", which is a funny parody of "The Broadway Melody" starring an all-canine cast. So step back in time and put yourself in the audience of the first of the "all-talking, all-singing, all-dancing" entertainments, which just so happened to be the first sound film to win the best picture Oscar. If you enjoy film history as much as I do, you'll love it. Thanks for reading.

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.

I have just watched the Broadway Melody for the second time. I liked the picture very much because it takes one back to a very interesting time in our history. I am fascinated with the period it represents. I liked the dialogue and the music and the dancing and so on. I think that the film is excellent for its time. Many modern viewers will look at the film and think it as poor because of the dated acting and technology. You have to remember it is 1929 not 2004. Central to its appeal for me is the fact the plot is both complicated and simple. The conflicts of affection between the characters is nicely resolved in the end. The simple fact of life is shown in the film. That is to say that all the fame and money in the world is not worth a thing if one is not happy with it.

Most films today depress me very much. I want to be entertained. I don't want to see a bunch of banality. Broadway Melody takes you back to a time when there was true entertainment. I really liked "The Wedding of the Painted Dolls". A lot of precision went into that number.

Seeing The Broadway Melody for the first time for historical interest and to see whether it really was down there as one of the worst Best Picture winners, it wasn't as bad as I'd heard it cited to be. It is a long way from perfect, the editing is sloppy which hinders the choreography(which sometimes was dull, small-scale and stagy), much of the supporting cast overact(Jed Prouty is especially annoying) and Anita Page's- as charmingly photogenic as she is- acting doesn't seem very natural at all. However, while not Best Picture worthy it is not one of the worst films ever made, not by a long shot. The costumes are just lovely and the sets are good as well. The dialogue is snappy(the orchestra is trying to drown me out line is very funny), the story while slow at times does have a simple nostalgic fun and charm to it and Page is very photogenic as said already. Charles King has a beautiful voice, he isn't the best of actors either but he's charming and not annoying. The choreography wasn't hugely impressive, but it does have some good moments, choreographically the best number by a landslide is Wedding of a Painted Doll. The Broadway Melody is competently directed, but Best Director worthy, not so sure. The best aspects of The Broadway Melody are the songs and the performance of Bessie Love, the only assets that come across as truly outstanding. The songs are marvellous, The Broadway Melody and You Were Meant for Me are classics. And Love is just terrific as Queenie, she does so much with the character and was more than deserving of her Oscar nomination. In conclusion, not a great film but better than it's made out to be. 6.5/10 Bethany Cox

Keeping in mind that the film is 80 years old and was made just when sound was new its interesting to see considering that it won best picture the year it came out. You can still feel the studios adjusting to the new medium since at several scene breaks they still use title cards, the sound is often uneven, the acting techniques antiquated and the plot older than the hills. With all that taken under advisement the picture is still worth viewing to see for the archetypes that it established and of course being a pre-code it has a racier content than would have been allowed even five years later. Famed songwriter Nacio Herb Brown, Singin in the Rain, Good Morning etc., is featured in the cast next to his future wife, albeit briefly, Anita Page. More of an fascinating artifact than a truly great film it's still worth watching at least once.

I guess there was a time when this wasn't a tired old plot, but it was long before the filming of this awful picture. I'm sure the Academy Voters of the time, who voted it Best Picture, were mesmerized by the freshness of the idea of a musical motion picture with the recent advent of sound in the industry, but this film features highlights such as lousy performances, uninspired songs, unprofessional singing, a juvenile script, incompetent editing and it is also boring. It's not even good enough to be forgettable. This is truly a film that has nothing going for except that inconsistent little golden trophy.

The film had great music, dancing and acting. I particularly enjoyed the Wedding of the Painted Doll number which was vibrant and fun; I loved how they had the dancers rise up through the stage floor. Some of the songs were later used in the 1952 musical Singin' in the Rain (one of my all-time favourites) so it was interesting to see them in their original context and get some of the references used in that film.

Charles King had a lovely singing voice, adding a beautiful performance of the hit song "You Were Meant For Me". Anita Page, known at the time as "the girl with the most beautiful face in Hollywood" shone as Queenie. Her acting lacked a bit of naturality, however it's important to note in the post-silent era they were still hired more on their looks than their vocal skills.

Sadly, the storyline seemed to lose focus and become disjointed; I had not developed enough of a relationship with the characters to care about the love triangle (which was solved too conveniently). It seemed to me the major focus was on the sound, being a fairly new addition to films of that era, and the scriptwriting fell on the wayside as a result. The title makes it sound like a musical of non-stop excitement whereas the storyline was quite dull, making it seem to go on for longer than 100 minutes. For the time, however, it must have been such a marvel to see talking and singing on screen that the audiences of 1929 wouldn't have been too bothered about the plot.

I can't be too harsh of course, it was 1929 after all and many aspects of film (especially audio) were in their infancy. It's worth seeing, even if just for the Wedding of the Painted Doll and to see how far films have come over the decades since.

I considered "The Broadway Melody" to be a very boring movie, the worst movie to be honored with Best Picture. This may well have to do with watching a movie made 70 years ago, realizing that today's movies are a totally different animal than they were in our grandparents (or great -grandparents) day. The acting lacks imagination and passion, WITH the exception of Bessie Love's crying/laughing scene in the last half of the film. Outside of that very impressive bit of acting which I considered to be downright amazing and outstanding, this is one forgettable piece of cinematic history.

Surprisingly, for a film of its vintage, this got shown as a Saturday matinée on local TV, which is how I first got to watch it in the late 1980s. THE Broadway MELODY, of course, has a lot to answer for: it was not only the first Talkie to win the Best Picture Oscar but the very first Musical – featuring songs by composer Nacio Herb Brown and lyricist Arthur Freed that would be much re-used including the title tune and "Singin' In The Rain" (which, of course, spawned the acknowledged all-time best musical in 1952 produced by Freed himself) – and, similarly, the first of many to revolve around a 'putting-on-a-show' scenario (which would reach its apex in Warners' 42ND STREET [1933]). The musical sequences in this case culminate in the show-stopping "The Wedding Of The Painted Doll", which set the template for elaborate routines later immortalized by choreographer Busby Berkeley. In retrospect, the film's Oscar triumph had a lot to do with its novelty factor since two other competing titles I have watched – the gangster picture ALIBI (1929) and the Western IN OLD ARIZONA (1928) – are clearly superior. Still, though technically it leaves a lot to be desired (the main culprit being Beaumont's bafflingly Oscar-nominated[!] static direction) and bears an equally creaky plot (two small-town sisters attempting to make it big on Broadway both love the same man), THE Broadway MELODY holds plenty of interest even after all these years, particularly as a time-capsule of late 1920s New York (and theater) life. Unfortunately, after a bright first half (the story by Edmund Goulding was co-scripted by James Gleason – who also appears, uncredited, as himself!), the film bogs down into talky (and repetitive) melodrama: nevertheless, the two female leads (Anita Page and Oscar-nominated Bessie Love) are both appealing and quite good. The same, however, cannot be said of their male counterpart (Charles King) or, for that matter, the heavily stereotyped supporting characters and bit parts: the girls' stuttering manager uncle, the millionaire playboy constantly drooling over Page, the gay costume designer…though I personally found the impresario's legion of 'yes men' (including a drunkard dubbed "Unconscious") rather amusing. In conclusion, MGM would follow this up with 4 more Broadway MELODY movies over a 15-year period, of which I have only watched one earlier this year.

Bonus Shorts:

GUS VAN AND JOE SCHENCK: THE PENNANT WINNING BATTERY OF SONGLAND (N/A, 1929) **; THE DOGWAY MELODY (Zion Myers and Jules White, 1930) **; METRO MOVIETONE REVUE #1 (Nick Grinde, 1929) *1/2; METRO MOVIETONE REVUE #2 (Nick Grinde, 1929) *1/2; METRO MOVIETONE REVUE #3 (Nick Grinde, 1930) *1/2; METRO MOVIETONE REVUE #4 (Nick Grinde, 1930) *1/2; A MOVIETONE DIVERTISSEMENT (N/A, 1928) *1/2

Accompanying THE Broadway MELODY (1929) on Warners' DVD is a cluster of even more primitive Talkie musical shorts and one canine(!) spoof. The former are simply a ragbag collection of song'n'dance routines – annoyingly shot with a camera firmly fixed in the stalls – by stars of the day no one remembers anymore; the same can be said of the host(s) who introduce the numbers: two feature the rather effeminate Harry Rose and two more the baby-faced and would-be wisecracking Jack Pepper, with both getting in on the action at some point (the latter's shtick even incorporates some weird vocal inflections!). It is useless to catalogue any highlights because there are none – which explains my ultra-low ratings for the lot. For the record, A MOVIETONE DIVERTISSMENT, which preceded the others, would be re-issued as METRO MOVIETONE REVUE #7; this and the Gus Van/Joe Schenck (one of the two has a deep voice, making for a fair Al Jolson-type crooner) short are, er, the shortest because they get down to business and do away with the redundant intros entirely. As for THE DOGWAY MELODY, it is downright eccentric: apparently, there were a number of these comedies featuring canines in human attire, and this one obviously sums up the plot of that first musical (a Best Picture Oscar winner, no less) in about 15 minutes. While the idea may be amusing at first, it wears thin very quickly…and, somehow, I could not help wondering what the dogs had to go through in order to act in such an unnatural manner!

"The Broadway Melody" is nearly impossible to review now, because it feels like every comment should be qualified by reminding everyone that this was one of the first all-sound pictures to come out of Hollywood. As a result, it's a hopelessly clunky, pretty dull movie, but it was likely a sensation at the time, garnering the second Academy Award for Best Picture in that institution's history.

We've seen the plot a thousand times, but only because it was in this movie first. Two sisters head to New York to make it on the Great White Way -- one is hypnotized by the glamour and immorality of show biz while the other sits dutifully by and tries to keep her sister on the straight and narrow. Bessie Love and Anita Page play the sisters, and while Page's performance is a disaster, Love's is quite good, and could stand on its own even without the qualification that it was one of the first sound performances committed to celluloid. People at the time obviously thought she was pretty good too, because she received a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her performance.

It's clear that the technicians didn't have a clue what to do with the new medium. Director Harry Beaumont (who was inexplicably a nominee in that year's Oscar race for best director) throws up his hands and simply plants his camera in the middle of the set for every scene, not even moving it to track an actor across the room. The result is disconcerting, as there are times when the actors are bundled over into the corner of the frame while a big empty set dominates the rest -- it's not unlike watching a widescreen movie in a badly done pan and scan version.

The acting and I suppose even directing could be forgiven because of the newness of the technology, but I don't know why the damn film couldn't have been better edited, or why the dance numbers couldn't have been better rehearsed (at one point, you actually see one of the dancers almost fall over). You don't need sound to pull off a choreographed dance number on screen.

Absolutely the only enjoyment I received in watching this film came from its historical significance, and from seeing the original that would spawn an entire genre of "putting on a show" musical spectacles -- "The Broadway Melody" is the kind of movie that other movies like "Singin' in the Rain" are spoofing.

A lover of cinema and cinema history will probably want to see this for some of the same reasons I did, but I can't promise he/she will enjoy it much, not to mention everybody else.

Grade: D

A song & dance sister act strives for happiness and fame on the Great White Way.

Hailed as Hollywood's first true musical, THE Broadway MELODY shows its age, but ought to be judged by its own era, not ours. When it premiered in 1929, the movie industry was still releasing its last silent films. To see a hundred-minute movie full of music & talk, with a storyline that made sense, some good acting and genuinely hummable tunes - this was all tremendously exciting. That the film won the Academy Award for Best Picture of the year is hardly surprising. From this source the mighty American Movie Musical would spring.

Some of the acting is a bit awkward, illustrating the rough transition from silents to talkies - the Microphone was a Monster that would completely devour some actors - but most of the performances are adequate. Of special note is Miss Bessie Love. Pert & pretty, as well as a most engaging actress, she dominates the proceedings as the tough, realistic half of the sibling duo. Able to show joy or despair with equal conviction, she amply demonstrates her mastery of the new medium. Her Academy Award nomination was well earned.

As her younger sister, Anita Page is lovely to look at. Her ease with the microphone would increase with her next few acting assignments. Broadway singing star Charles King plays the composer/performer loved by both young ladies and he is quite agreeable in this role. Mr. King had the distinction of being America's first male musical movie star, aside from Jolson, but his film career would be very short, covering only six pictures from 1928 to 1930.

The team of Arthur Freed & Nacio Herb Brown supplied the tunes, including the classics 'The Broadway Melody,' 'You Were Meant For Me' & 'The Wedding of the Painted Doll,' which is unfortunately missing its original Technicolor hues. Mr. Brown can be spotted as a piano player in the film, while movie mavens should recognize James Gleason as a music publisher in the opening sequence and Jed Prouty as the girl's stuttering agent - both uncredited.

A pair of sisters from the vaudeville circuit try to make it big time on Broadway, but matters of the heart complicate the attempt.

This was the first sound film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. Now, maybe it got that award because sound was new and you have people singing and dancing... but wow, this film has not held up over the last 80 years. The plot is weak, the actors not notable and the songs just not very good at all.

Is this the worst Best Picture winner ever? Probably not, but it has to be in the running, probably in the top five (or bottom five). For what it's worth, though, no films in 1929 are all that memorable today... maybe Ernst Lubitsch's "Patriot", but even that's a stretch and far from his best work.