The Broadway Melody (1929)
Genre: Music
Duration: 110 minuten
Country:
United States
Directed by: Harry Beaumont
Stars: Charles King, Anita Page and Bessie Love
IMDb score:
5,5 (9.252)
Releasedate: 8 February 1929
The Broadway Melody plot
"All talking. All singing. All dancing."
Sisters Hank and Queenie Mahoney travel to Broadway, where their friend Eddie Kerns needs them for a show. Eddie was in love with Hank, but when he meets Queenie he falls in love with her. However, she has a thing for Jock Warriner, a member of New York's high society.
Actors and actresses
Eddie Kearns
Queenie Mahoney
Hank Mahoney
Chorus Dancer (uncredited)
Babe Hatrick (uncredited)
Pianist (uncredited)
Singer (uncredited)
Quartet Guitarist and Singer (uncredited)
Bellhop (uncredited)
Turpe - Costumer (uncredited)
Reviews & comments
mrklm
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- 12829 messages
- 10699 votes
"The Broadway Melody" is of great historical value. It was the first sound film to win the Oscar for best picture and it is the blueprint for what would become an American art form: the musical. If you compare this movie to "42nd Street" and "Gold Diggers of 1933" you will see that "The Broadway Melody" was technically quite primitive and that the movie industry had made enormous progress in sound engineering in 4 years.
The camera is quite static, dancers jump in and out of the frame somewhat randomly, the choreography is more reminiscent of vaudeville than dance and 18-year-old Anita Page struggles with her dialogue. The music is great though, as evidenced by the fact that the title track, "You Were Meant For Me" and "The Wedding Of The Painted Doll" are still evergreens. However, the story about two sisters trying to break through on Broadway and the love triangle that threatens to ruin their relationship and their ambitions is quite well written, with quite sharp dialogues. And the pastor's gymnastic moves in "The Wedding Of The Painted Doll" fascinated me enough to rewatch a few times.
A must for every musical lover, this film whose shortcomings mainly stem from the primitive technical possibilities, but whose strengths are sufficient for me to recommend this film.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Bartjeking
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- 12 messages
- 1448 votes
First of all, I'm glad to read that I'm not the only one with a compulsive urge to watch all the Oscar winners. This is the low point of the list so far; watched with pain and difficulty. Another 2.5 because of the limitations that this period simply imposed on making Films. But if I take the predecessor (Wings/Sunrise) and the successor (All Quiet on the Western Front) for comparison, then this is a very meager intention. I really enjoyed those films; but this seemed like a farce, performed by the amateur theater of the local KBO association in a random village in Brabant.
But there can be a check 
Translated from Dutch · View original
Film Pegasus (moderator films)
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- 31486 messages
- 5624 votes
This is not the first musical, but it helped shape the blueprint in Hollywood in the 1930s. The first sound film to win the Oscar for Best Picture. But only Wings had won that prize before, so it wasn't a matter of years. The film was acclaimed at the time, but still hasn't quite stood the test of time. What we see here has been done much better in all areas since then. Script, acting and songs are rather thin. Bessie Love (who received an Oscar nomination for this) is fun to watch and a bright spot in the film.
The Broadway Melody is more of a film that you see to check off the list of Oscar winners. But even musical enthusiasts don't have much use for this.
Translated from Dutch · View originalPre- and sequels
Broadway Melody of 1940
1940
Broadway Melody of 1938
1937
Broadway Melody of 1936
1935
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