1929--The Broadway Melody, Harry Beaumont

1929--The Broadway Melody, Harry Beaumont

 Nominated: Alibi, The Hollywood Review of 1929, In Old Arizona, The Patriot

 Should have won: The Broadway Melody 

 Be sure to see: The Cocoanuts, The Skeleton Dance 

 "Those men aren't going to pay ten bucks to look at your face, this is Broadway,"--Eddie Earnest 

"Yeah, Broadsway,"--Hank Mahoney 

     The featurette for 1952's Singin' in the Rain, one of the greatest movies ever made, explains the story came from a pitch where the writers were to devise a script that is a musical, and somewhere in it the song “Singin' in the Rain” had to be performed. That was it. I'd say the writers were influenced greatly by 1929's The Broadway Melody, too. Both movies dealt with show business, but also there were three songs that are performed in both movies, “Holiday Today”, “Broadway Melody,” and a man sings “You were meant for me” to a woman just as Don Lockwood will serenade Kathy Selden. 

     Hank and Queenie Mahoney are sisters new to New York from Reading, Pennsylvania, with dreams of being a Broadway act. Their Uncle Eddie is in show business and wants them to join his show. The three of them do a miniscule song and dance to “The Broadway Melody” in the apartment, then Eddie lands them an audition for Zanfield’s review. After the audition, Zanfield is only interested in Queenie. But she is only interested if her sister comes along. I suppose along with Singin' in the Rain, White Christmas and A League of Their Own borrows from this movie's theme, too.

      There is an accident and one of the girls in the show can't perform so Zanfield has Queenie fill in. Hank isn't in the spotlight but that isn't to say Queenie is a rising star. Neither looked to have the divine star quality to draw a crowd. I was under the impression from watching it that the reason Queenie is getting the attention is because of how attractive she was. It certainly wasn't for any star quality. However, I was baffled by it because Hank is pretty good looking herself. A romance is added to the mix which gives the act a hiatus, so I think this movie takes a different approach to others about making it big. Instead of being found and taking off towards fame and fortune, these sisters find it in their best interests to step away. 

I like musicals a lot but this one threw me. In the traditional sense this movie really is not a musical but about a musical. Perhaps it seemed like a good idea because it was the end of the roaring twenties (right on the cusp of the depression) and glamor and good feelings were the buzz. That is a guess, I'm not positive.

Looking back at the first six Oscar winners, I notice three are war movies, one a rougher western, and one has one of the best casts ever assembled. The other is The Broadway Melody which seems oddly out of place.