The Broadway Melody of 1929
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bessie Love, Charles KingBrand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Silent, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 110 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-01-08
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product features:
- This is the first musical to win a Best Picture Oscar and often is considered the granddaddy of all MGM musicals. Anita Page and Bessie Love star as two sisters in love with the same man. Year: 1929 Director: Harry Beaumont Starring: Charles King, Anita Page, Bessie Love,Running Time: 128 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSICALS Rating: NR Age: 883929002474 UPC: 883929
Movie Reviews of The Broadway Melody of 1929
Movie Review: fine entertainment with themes that remain so very relevent
Summary: 5 Stars
The Broadway Melody Of 1929 was the first "talkie" to receive an Oscar for Best Picture. The film was distinctly modern for its time although in our times the story would never suffice as a movie plot. Some people say that the thin plot was essentially an excuse for song and dance numbers--and they are right. Bessie Love and Anita Page play the two sisters Hank and Queenie Mahoney respectively; and they do a good job of it. Just one look at Charles King as Eddie Kearns tells you he's the good guy who can't help being human; and Kenneth Thomson gives a great performance as the rich playboy Jacques Warriner (a reference to Jack Warner, I would think). Arthur Freed himself gets a small role as a bystander in the rehearsal room for Francis Zanfield's latest Broadway production; the character of Francis Zanfield clearly refers to the great Flo Ziegfeld--excellent!
When the film starts, we meet sisters Hank and Queenie who arrive in New York to seek fame and fortune on Broadway. They talk it over with Eddie (Charles King), who loves Hank until he gets a glimpse of Queenie now that she's "all grown up." Eddie tries to get the sisters into the latest Broadway show being staged by Francis Zanfield. Things begin to happen both for the better and for the worse as Eddie realizes that he loves Queenie and not Hank anymore. Queenie tries not to interfere with Eddie and Hank; she doesn't want to steal her sister's boyfriend. Queenie dates a rich playboy named Jacques (Kenneth Thomson) so that Hank still has a real chance to be happy with Eddie. However, Jacques' money may not be enough to win Queenie's true love. Queenie winds up having to choose between Eddie and Jacques; and her decision effects Hank's life, too.
The shades of black and white complement the fine acting perfectly; and the superb musical numbers strike you as infectious even today. The movie score boasts the infectiously happy "The Broadway Melody;" "You Were Meant For Me" and "Truthful Parson Brown." These numbers are sung with the great sensitivity you expect from a MGM musical and the musical arrangements reflect forethought, too. There are some intertitles cards so that the audience can easily understand the way the plot is going--you can tell by this that Hollywood hadn't completely disposed of some of silent picture devices when this film was made.
The cinematography is quite good--for it's time. The opening moments feature beautiful aerial views of Manhattan; the lighting is good and the subjects are well framed within the screen. The strength of the choreography shows in the dance numbers as well as the brief fight scene between Eddie and Jacques. In addition, the sound quality is actually pretty good--thanks to people who walked around very quietly while carrying microphones, safely out of the range of the camera.
The DVD offers wonderful extras, too. MGM spoofs its own movie with "The Dogway Melody." The trained dogs act out a story that is remarkably similar to The Broadway Melody of 1929; and it's actually quite entertaining! We get some "Metro Movietone Revues," too, which showcase other talented acts in short movies. Gus Van and Joe Schenk perform in their own musical short as well.
Sure, the plot is somewhat corny, contrived and predictable--but, then again, who cares? The film is excellent for its time; and I love that. The actors show the human sides of the characters they play through good acting; and the musical numbers exceed my expectations for a film from this era. The movie held my attention throughout and the themes of love, humanity and wanting success will remain forever relevant to us both today and in the future. I tip my hat to MGM and these outstanding actors for producing such a treat as The Broadway Melody of 1929! Great job, everyone!
Summary of The Broadway Melody of 1929
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 01/08/2008 Run time: 128 minutes Rating: Nr"100% All Talking! 100% All Singing! 100% All Dancing!" If the math is slightly off, the now-legendary ad campaign for The Broadway Melody can be excused. After all, sound had just come in, and a full-scale musical film was still a novelty. This tuneful 1929 production became a smash hit and won the Best Picture Academy AwardŽ in the second OscarŽ ceremony. The story is a creaky tale of two sisters bringing their act to Broadway, but the fun is in the Roaring Twenties lingo and the showbiz melodrama. This is an era when a gal could become the toast of Broadway by standing, motionless, on a stage pedestal ("Those guys aren't gonna pay 10 bucks to look at your face--this is Broadway!"). The tunes include the standard "You Were Meant for Me"; most of the dramatic weight is handled by the peppy silent star Bessie Love, who was Oscar-nominated. --Robert Horton
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