On B List of Movie Reviews

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The Broadway Melody (1929)

Rate: 5
Viewed: 9/25

9/25: The Broadway Melody is the second Best Picture winner ever.

The first thirty minutes goes well. Then, the film begins to lose focus as antiquated acting techniques show up from the silent film era. There are heavy doses of homosexual behavior throughout, and I keep forgetting Hank and Queenie are supposed to be sisters.

Whenever musical numbers are shown on the stage, they come off as cheap, two-dimensional, and not well-rehearsed. Eventually, the film looks very dated after The Great Ziegfeld came out seven years later. Its success can only be attributed to becoming the first talking musical which was a novelty at the time.

I give the most credit to Bessie Love for providing The Broadway Melody a pulse. If not for her, it would've fallen apart sooner than later. That's why she was unofficially rewarded with a Best Actress Oscar nomination. On the other hand, Anita Page obviously doesn't have any acting, singing, or dancing ability. Therefore, she retired in 1933 at age 23 because relying on her face wasn't going to be enough.

All in all, it's unfair to trash The Broadway Melody because what everybody was doing with it was too new, paving the way to better musicals.

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