The Broadway Melody (1929)

The Broadway Melody
Directed by Harry Beaumont
Written by Edmund Goulding, Norman Houston and James Gleason
1929/US
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Instant

Queenie Mahoney: Oh, dear, I’m just shaky all over!
Hank Mahoney: Oh, Queenie, will you stop. You’re gettin’ me nervous now. It ain’t gonna be a bit different than it was in Reading, PA and we’re going over just as big!
Queenie Mahoney: Oh… do you think so?
Hank Mahoney: Why, it’s cream in the can, baby.

This was better than I expected, which frankly wasn’t much.

Sisters Queenie (Anita Page) and Hank Mahoney (Bessie Love) have their hearts set on getting in a Broadway show and luck smiles on them.  Only problem is they both love the songwriter/star of the review Eddie Kearns (Charles King).

All the usual misunderstandings ensue before the happy ending.  The plot is but a framework to hang the songs of Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed on.

Is this the worst Academy Award winner ever?  I don’t think so.  It’s got a kind of charm that sucked me in.  We know this is pre-Code because the sisters need to change clothes frequently, displaying their lacy lingerie.

The Broadway Melody won the Best Picture Oscar.  It was nominated in the categories of Best Director and Best Actress (Bessie Love).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pzVm6nm4xM

That’s Nacio Herb Brown on the piano.