Oscar Winners - The Broadway Melody

MGM, 1929
Starring Bessie Love, Anita Page, Charles King, and Kenneth Thomson
Directed by Harry Beaumont
Music by Nacio Herb Brown; Lyrics by Arthur Freed

For the next three weeks, we'll be looking at the musicals that took home Best Picture at the Academy Awards in honor of the Oscars ceremony on February 24th. We kick off the series with none other than the very first film musical. Most people consider The Jazz Singer to be the first movie musical, but it was really a silent movie with a few sound and song sequences. That title belongs to this blockbuster smash, the biggest hit of 1929 and one of the most influential films of the early talkie era. Does it still wow them in the aisles today, or should it be sent packing? Let's head to Tin Pan Alley in New York to find out...

The Story: Queenie (Page) and Harriet "Hank" Mahoney (Love) are a small-time vaudeville sister act that's determined to make it on Broadway. Queenie is young and not terribly talented, but is also sweet-natured and quite lovely. While Hank is quite pretty herself, she's really the more talented and sensible (and short-tempered) of the duo and handles all their business affairs. Hank's fiancee Eddie (King) is a songwriter who claims they're virtually guaranteed a spot in impresario Francis Zanfield's (Eddie Kane) big Broadway revue. Turns out Eddie's not as influential as he thinks. Flo, one of the more obnoxious chorus girls (Mary Doran), sabotages the piano for their act, and the only reason Zanfield ends up taking them is because of Queenie's looks.

Meanwhile, Eddie admits he's fallen in love with Queenie, who knows how much her older sister loves him. She ends up going out with Jock Warriner (Thomson), a wealthy playboy. Things aren't going well with the show, either. The girls are cut from the big "Broadway Melody" number Eddie wrote for them, and Flo keeps baiting Hank into fighting her. Queenie insists that she knows what she's doing, but Hank knows better...and she's the one who finally sends Eddie to prove how much he truly loves her sister.

The Song and Dance: For all the melodrama, it's Bessie Love as Hank who really owns this film (and deserved her Oscar nomination). There apparently was a silent version, but silence could never do Hank justice. Only speech could truly show the vulnerability under the tough exterior. Of the remaining cast, Doran's not bad as her rival; their ongoing cat fights prompts some of the film's best lines. King's mostly stiff, but he does have a good moment after he's thrown out of the apartment Warriner bought for Queenie and realizes he's a better composer than fighter.

To give the movie some credit, it moves pretty quickly for a film of its time. Directed Harry Beaumont tried to give the movie more mobility than had been previously possible with the heavy sound equipment, including a mobile "coffin on wheels" camera for the scene where Queenie is chatting with Jock at her party.

Favorite Number: The hit ballad "You Were Meant for Me" is sweet, simple, and direct, just Eddie telling a reluctant Queenie how he really feels about her. The girls finally get a duo number that isn't sabotaged with the adorable "The Boy Friend" towards the end. The orchestra at Queenie's birthday party does fairly well with the low-key "Truthful Parson Brown" (the only song not written by Brown and Freed; it's from Willard Robinson). "The Wedding of the Painted Doll" may not have anything whatsoever to do with the rest of the story, but it does have some incredibly limber acrobatic work.

Trivia: Speaking of "The Wedding of the Painted Doll," that sequence was originally filmed in early 2-strip Technicolor. The color print has since been lost, and the sequence now only exists in black and white.

"Wedding" was also the first time a movie musical number made use of pre-recorded playback. Producer Irving Thalburg wanted to reshoot the number in color, but the color cameras were expensive. Instead of hiring the orchestra again, they just played the recording they made the first time. With very few exceptions, that's how most movie musicals have done it ever since.

Love had one of the most remarkable careers in Hollywood history. She started in silent films like the original The Lost World in the early 20's, and was still going in England in the early 1980's.

What I Don't Like: If there was ever a movie made for its time and place, this one was it. While its success gave credibility to sound movies and movie musicals, all most modern audiences (and critics) see is a load of overwrought soap opera with incredibly stiff and badly-choreographed musical numbers. Half the dancers don't know what they're doing, especially in the title number. And what's with the poor girl tapping on her toes there? It just looks painful. "The Love Boat" literally does not move at all. Tableaus - showgirls in living "pictures" - may have looked amazing on the stage, but they weren't made for movies (where things are supposed to, you know, move).

Most of the actors are nowhere near Love's level. Page was still a teenager when she made this movie, and her inexperience shows. She sings "The Boy Friend" with Love, then wanders off to the side to let Love and the dancers do their thing. Granted, this works with the plot when Zanfield hires them because of Queenie's looks rather than any natural talent, but it doesn't make the movie easier to watch. Jed Prouty, as Queenie and Hank's stuttering uncle and manager, is just annoying.

The Big Finale: I like this one because of Love and my interest in 20th century history, but it hasn't dated well, to say the least. Unless you're also a fan of the Roaring 20's or the early talkie era, or you must see every Oscar movie, you can probably take a pass on this one.

Home Media: I have the original 2-disc Special Edition from 2006, but most people who are interested will probably be fine with last year's re-release on the Warner Archives; as one of the few surviving films of its era and an Oscar-winner, it can also be found on many streaming platforms.

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