The Broadway Melody: Movie Review + Analysis, The 2nd Academy Awards
With the 1st Academy Awards coming to a close, Hollywood looked towards what was next. The question of which film would take home the Best Picture award at the 2nd Academy Award was on everyone’s mind.
That film would be the Hollywood musical, The Broadway Melody, which premiered on June 12, 1929. While the film is a proud technical achievement, it is the first Best Picture winner to be a “talkie”, it also does not stand the test of time. Our movie review of The Broadway Melody is not favorable towards the Harry Beaumont production.
The 2nd Best Picture Winner
The film features Bessie Love and Anita Page as the Mahoney Sisters. Queenie (Page) and Hank (Love) are a vaudeville sister act trying to make it big on Broadway. Hank’s fiancé Eddie Kearns, portrayed by Charles King, is an up and coming star as well who helps the Mahoney Sisters.
Queenie eventually becomes the star of the two sisters after she gains attention for her Broadway looks. In the end, Eddie and Queenie realize that they are in love with each other and decide to get married with Hank’s blessing.
While the film is meant to be lighthearted and full of love, it is cluttered with sexism, poor story structure and technical miscues that are cringe worthy to say the least. The appeal of the film starts with the fact that it was one of the first sound films, or “talkies”.
MGM rushed the film into production in order to show audiences and critics that sound films were the future. As admirable as that is, the film fails ultimately because of the amount of technical miscues. There is sound missing or it is poorly mixed in the final cut of the film. This makes for a poor viewing experience.
The other significant role that The Broadway Melody played in the Hollywood industry was that it was one of the first musical films. Musicals were one of the biggest forms of entertainment at that time. It makes sense that the biggest hit of 1929 would be a musical.
Looking back now though, the significance of that doesn’t hold enough water. We have experienced many great musical films since and The Broadway Melody barely comes to mind as one to mention. The lack of sophisticated choreography and sets take you out of the fantastical elements of Hollywood musicals.
Along with Freed’s later allegations, the film’s biggest criticism falls on the writing and its lack of modernity. We were not prepared for the amount of sexism and misogyny in The Broadway Melody.
Queenie is the jewel of all the men’s eyes in the film, but only because of her looks and not her talent. She is fought over by Eddie and Jock Worriner, a character based on Jack Warner, a rival of MGM Studios. The men essentially force themselves on to her and insinuate that she would not have the success she could have if she wasn’t with them. It’s uncomfortable to watch, especially after the amount of progress (which isn’t much) that Hollywood has made since then.
The cinematography and the way the camera interacts within the story is basic to say the least. The film is shot mostly in a static frame with no coverage of scenes. This leaves a few long takes that is aesthetically unpleasant to look at.
During the few musical numbers, the performers can fall off the screen with no camera movement to keep them in frame. The lack of detail in each scene and poor framing hurts the film. It can seem amateurish at best with how poor it is technically.
Overall, The Broadway Melody is a film that does not stand the test of time. The significance of it being an early talkie and musical film is important, but that doesn’t make it a great film. The Best Picture award that it was given is due to the fact that the industry had nothing to base standards of talkies off of yet. There are bigger leaps that future Best Picture winners make that stand above The Broadway Melody.
Where to watch The Broadway melody?
You can watch The Broadway Melody on Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video to rent or buy.
Who wrote the song “Broadway melody?”
The music of the film was written by Nacio Herb Brown, with lyrics written by Arthur Freed. Freed also produced and featured some of the music from The Broadway Melody in the 1952 film Singin’ In The Rain. However, Freed doesn’t get all the praise because of allegations against him for child abuse. While Hollywood has tried to shy away from some of the dark parts of their history, we won’t on this platform.