The Best Picture of 1928-1929 is…..”The Broadway Melody.” This musical melodrama is the story of two stage-struck sisters vying for the attention of the same man, an entertainer who is appearing in the same Vaudeville play. Although it is a good picture for its time, “Melody” suffers from some the usual shortcomings of many early talking pictures: Overacting and mediocre production values. The continued use of title cards from the silent era is particularly distracting.
The stars of the show, Charles King, Anita Page, and Bessie Love, turned out performances as good as anyone, but probably needed to brush up on their acting skills. This was a common flaw among performers in early talkies, due to lack of familiarity with the new medium.
This Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical also lacks something that many of its later films had in abundance: Memorable show tunes. The songs written by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown lack the MGM polish we came to expect from the Culver City studio giant. But, of course, Louis B. Mayer and company were just getting started. However, despite the aforementioned shortcomings, the film is mostly watchable. “The Broadway Melody of 1929” was a big success at the box office for producer Irving Thalberg and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
The film was nominated for three Oscars at the second annual Academy Awards, winning Best Picture. Two other nominees were for Best Director (Harry Beaumont) and Best Actress (Bessie Love). Three sequels were later released: “Broadway Melody of 1936,” “Broadway Melody of 1938,” and “Broadway Melody of 1940.” They were not sequels in the traditional sense, but all had the same basic premise of show business people putting on a big musical production. Eleanor Powell was in all three, with numerous big names also appearing such as Jack Benny, Judy Garland, and Fred Astaire.
The Broadway Melody (1929)
cinema
My Review
The Best Picture of 1928-1929 is…..”The Broadway Melody.” This musical melodrama is the story of two stage-struck sisters vying for the attention of the same man, an entertainer who is appearing in the same Vaudeville play. Although it is a good picture for its time, “Melody” suffers from some the usual shortcomings of many early talking pictures: Overacting and mediocre production values. The continued use of title cards from the silent era is particularly distracting.
The stars of the show, Charles King, Anita Page, and Bessie Love, turned out performances as good as anyone, but probably needed to brush up on their acting skills. This was a common flaw among performers in early talkies, due to lack of familiarity with the new medium.
This Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical also lacks something that many of its later films had in abundance: Memorable show tunes. The songs written by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown lack the MGM polish we came to expect from the Culver City studio giant. But, of course, Louis B. Mayer and company were just getting started. However, despite the aforementioned shortcomings, the film is mostly watchable. “The Broadway Melody of 1929” was a big success at the box office for producer Irving Thalberg and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
The film was nominated for three Oscars at the second annual Academy Awards, winning Best Picture. Two other nominees were for Best Director (Harry Beaumont) and Best Actress (Bessie Love). Three sequels were later released: “Broadway Melody of 1936,” “Broadway Melody of 1938,” and “Broadway Melody of 1940.” They were not sequels in the traditional sense, but all had the same basic premise of show business people putting on a big musical production. Eleanor Powell was in all three, with numerous big names also appearing such as Jack Benny, Judy Garland, and Fred Astaire.