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Movies / On DVD / The Broadway Melody
The Broadway Melody

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The Broadway Melody (1928)

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Reviews Counted:15

Fresh:6

Rotten:9

Average Rating:5.5/10

Consensus: The Broadway Melody is interesting as an example of an early Hollywood musical, but otherwise, it's essentially bereft of appeal for modern audiences.

Runtime: 1 hr 51 mins

Genre: Musical & Performing Arts

Synopsis: Two sisters come to the big city to try their luck on Broadway. The elder sibling has a fiance waiting for her there, but when he sees the younger one, whom he remembers only as a little girl, he... Two sisters come to the big city to try their luck on Broadway. The elder sibling has a fiance waiting for her there, but when he sees the younger one, whom he remembers only as a little girl, he instantly falls for her. She returns his affections but hides her feelings to spare her sister. Will the aspiring stars manage to find success in spite of the romantic confusion? [More]

Starring: Bessie Love, Anita Page, Charles King, Jed Prouty

Starring: Bessie Love, Anita Page, Charles King, Jed Prouty, Kenneth Thomson, Edward Dillon, Mary Doran

Director: Harry Beaumont

Director: Harry Beaumont
Producer: Lawrence Weingarten

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Sep 19, 2000

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for The Broadway Melody

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1 - 15 (sorted by date)
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A tedious musical comedy embedded in a routine story like a fly in celluloid.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment Comment
02/17/09
TIME Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The first musical and sound film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture creaks from old age.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
03/11/08
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Excellent bits of sound workmanship are that of camera and mike following Page and the heavy along the dance floor to pick up their conversation as they glide.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
03/01/07
Sid Silverman
Sid Silverman
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

First musical to win Academy Award reeks of mothballs, but is undeniably the basis of perhaps a hundred others.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
12/12/06
TV Guide's Movie Guide
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Mediocre performances and poorly-constructed musical numbers are the low points in this modestly interesting all-talking, all-singing production.

Full Review Source: Oscar Guy | comment Comment
10/05/06
Wesley Lovell
Wesley Lovell
Oscar Guy

...cinematic evolution long ago froze The Broadway Melody in Precambrian amber. But while the movie is hopelessly dated now, it was the bee's knees in its day.

Full Review Source: DVDJournal.com | comment Comment
04/07/06
Mark Bourne
Mark Bourne
DVDJournal.com

The first musical to win the Oscar, Broadway Melody is a weak song-and-dance picture, but at the time the movie was so popular that it launched a whole series

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
06/26/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

It is abundantly clear that they had not yet figured out how to stage or shoot musical numbers for the screen.

Full Review Source: Goatdog's Movies | comment Comment
06/14/05
Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Goatdog's Movies

Its function as genre blueprint makes for quite the curiosity. More importantly, it also stands up quite well as a solid evening’s entertainment.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
02/27/05
David Cornelius
David Cornelius
eFilmCritic.com

mainly a curiosity for film buffs who want to see how musicals erupted in the early days of the talkie

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
02/19/05
Christopher Null
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com

The Broadway Melody won the Academy Award for the best picture of 1929, but I am at a total loss to explain how or why.

Full Review Source: Not Coming to a Theater Near You | comment Comment
02/07/05
Matt Bailey
Matt Bailey
Not Coming to a Theater Near You

Interesting only as an early sound curio.

comment Comment
02/12/04
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

It’s dated, sexist (get a load of the ending!!!), and technically quite inept.

Full Review Source: Matt's Movie Reviews | comment Comment
07/02/03
Matt Easterbrook
Matt Easterbrook
Matt's Movie Reviews

The staging is wooden, the story insipid, and the dialogue sequences mostly painful, but the film's integration of song, dance, and story was a clear narrative advance over the music pictures being released by Warner Brothers and Fox.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
01/01/00
Dave Kehr
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The Broadway Melody's snarky, wiseacre humor and effervescent charm save it from being completely dated, though the dance production numbers -- pure padding, all -- may try your patience.

Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | comment Comment
01/01/00
MaryAnn Johanson
MaryAnn Johanson
Flick Filosopher
 
 
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