The transition to sound movies means that MGM's decision to do a musical in 1929 called "The Broadway Melody" was beset with lots of problems. First and foremost, the sound was primitive (tinny orchestrations of popular songs and squeaky female voices), the characters were strictly stereotypes of all the backstage musicals you've ever seen, and the plot can be boiled down to one sentence: two sisters try to make it big on Broadway while in love with the same man.
But one can understand that back in '29, this must have seemed a fresh and novel concept, despite all the drawbacks--especially by today's standards of what passes for musical entertainment.
Biggest compensation is the performance of BESSIE LOVE as "Hank", the tough, determined sister who tries to protect her younger sister (ANITA PAGE) from a wealthy playboy who wants Anita as a plaything. In the meantime, Love's boyfriend Eddie (CHARLES KING) is also falling in love with Page. Many strong outbursts occur backstage over the love lives of this trio and, of course, most of the dialog is pretty sappy.
What helps are a couple of big production numbers, most notably "The Wedding of the Painted Doll" (now shown only in B&W with original color footage lost), which has to be the most original of all the Arthur Freed/Herb Nacio Brown songs and is given the full production treatment in the MGM manner. Other songs are mostly throwaways due to the poor sound equipment and the fact that Anita Page is no singer. Her Brooklyn accent and flat delivery of lines doesn't serve her well but she certainly looks pretty and is very photogenic.
This is really a curiosity piece more than anything else, a brave attempt (at the time) to do something different in the movies that now had a voice. It has to be judged for what it was in its time period and if you can enjoy it for whatever values it still retains, that's about all you can do.
Summing up: One visit to this one is enough. Believe it or not, it won Best Picture of 1929--but I can see why Bessie Love won her Best Actress Oscar. She's terrific.
But one can understand that back in '29, this must have seemed a fresh and novel concept, despite all the drawbacks--especially by today's standards of what passes for musical entertainment.
Biggest compensation is the performance of BESSIE LOVE as "Hank", the tough, determined sister who tries to protect her younger sister (ANITA PAGE) from a wealthy playboy who wants Anita as a plaything. In the meantime, Love's boyfriend Eddie (CHARLES KING) is also falling in love with Page. Many strong outbursts occur backstage over the love lives of this trio and, of course, most of the dialog is pretty sappy.
What helps are a couple of big production numbers, most notably "The Wedding of the Painted Doll" (now shown only in B&W with original color footage lost), which has to be the most original of all the Arthur Freed/Herb Nacio Brown songs and is given the full production treatment in the MGM manner. Other songs are mostly throwaways due to the poor sound equipment and the fact that Anita Page is no singer. Her Brooklyn accent and flat delivery of lines doesn't serve her well but she certainly looks pretty and is very photogenic.
This is really a curiosity piece more than anything else, a brave attempt (at the time) to do something different in the movies that now had a voice. It has to be judged for what it was in its time period and if you can enjoy it for whatever values it still retains, that's about all you can do.
Summing up: One visit to this one is enough. Believe it or not, it won Best Picture of 1929--but I can see why Bessie Love won her Best Actress Oscar. She's terrific.