The Broadway Melody
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| The Broadway Melody | |
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 original film poster |
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| Directed by | Harry Beaumont |
| Produced by | Irving Thalberg Lawrence Weingarten |
| Written by | Edmund Goulding (story) Norman Houston James Gleason |
| Starring | Charles King Anita Page Bessie Love |
| Music by | Nacio Herb Brown George M. Cohan Willard Robison |
| Cinematography | John Arnold |
| Editing by | Sam S. Zimbalist William LeVanway |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | February 1, 1929 |
| Running time | 110 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $379,000 (estimated) |
| Followed by | Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935) |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Broadway Melody(1929) is an early musical motion picture, released on 1 February 1929. The film was one of the first musicals to feature a Technicolor sequence which resulted in color being used in a flurry of musicals that would hit the screens in 1929-1930. The film was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was the first musical motion picture released by the studio, and the first all-talking musical.
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[edit] Plot
The plot involves the romances of musical comedy stars. Anita Page and Bessie Love play sisters on Broadway both wooing the same man, played by Charles King. Love was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role. The film was written by Norman Houston and James Gleason from a story by Edmund Goulding and directed by Harry Beaumont. Original music for the film was written by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown. The George M. Cohan classic "Give My Regards To Broadway" was also given its talkie debut in the film.
[edit] Production
A silent film version was also released, for there were still many motion picture theaters without sound equipment at the time. The film featured one of its musical sequences in Technicolor: "The Wedding of the Painted Doll." Color would soon come to be associated with musicals and scores of features were released in 1929 and 1930 that either featured color sequences or were filmed entirely in color.
[edit] Public Reaction
The film was quite successful at the time, and is often considered the first complete example of the Hollywood musical. It was the top grossing picture of 1929, and won the Academy Award for Best Picture for that year.
The movie was so popular, that a sequel was made in 1930 which was called Chasing Rainbows. This movie also starred Charlie King and Bessie Love and included several Technicolor sequences. The film was the only musical released by MGM in 1930 to be a success at the box-office.
[edit] Preservation
The film survives complete except for the Technicolor sequence which is lost. Only a black and white copy of this sequence survives.
[edit] Sequels
Three more movies were later made by MGM with similar titles, Broadway Melody of 1936, Broadway Melody of 1938 and Broadway Melody of 1940, were released by MGM. Although not sequels in the traditional sense, they all had the same basic premise of a group of people putting on a show (the films also had recurring cast members playing different roles, most notably dancer Eleanor Powell who appeared in all three). The original movie was also remade in 1940 as Two Girls on Broadway. Another Broadway Melody film was planned for 1942 (starring Gene Kelly and Eleanor Powell) but production was cancelled at the last minute. Broadway Rhythm, a 1944 musical by MGM, was originally to have been titled Broadway Melody of 1944.
[edit] External links
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1927–28: Wings, Sunrise | 1928–29: The Broadway Melody | 1929–30: All Quiet on the Western Front | 1930–31: Cimarron | 1931–32: Grand Hotel | 1932–33: Cavalcade | 1934: It Happened One Night | 1935: Mutiny on the Bounty | 1936: The Great Ziegfeld | 1937: The Life of Emile Zola | 1938: You Can't Take It with You | 1939: Gone with the Wind | 1940: Rebecca |
