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Staring: Bessie Love, Anita Page, Charles King, Jed Prouty, Kenneth Thomson
Director: Harry Beaumont
Average Customer Rating:

List Price: ~~$19.98~~
Our Price: $3.97

Product Details
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Warner Brothers
EAN: 9780790748344
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Full Screen, Silent, Subtitled, NTSC
ISBN: 0790748347
Label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2005-02-01
Running Time: 110
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1929-06-06

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Editorial Review
Description
DVD Features:
Featurette
Theatrical Trailer

Customer Reviews

the original is worse than a lot of imitations?, 2010-02-22
The Ziegfeld Follies are subject of this musical
which seems to be the first talkie of this kind.
I've seen countless broadway stories the echo this one
with better acting, singing and music.
This one seems to get a rating as the first one.
No one has heard of the score writer or the stars after this
movie? Everybody comes to New York to make it on broadway.
Some of the singing and dancing here are just bad,

Watch It From A Historical Perspective, 2010-07-14
About forty-five minutes into this movie, I basically lost interest. The main problem with this film is that it is so dated that it is almost unbearable to watch. It is just one of those movies that just didn't age well with time. If anything, this movie is worth watching ONLY for the historical perspective, being that it is the first Hollywood movie musical and the first talky picture to have won an academy award. Otherwise, the plot leaves very little to be desired, the acting is far too melodramatic even for the standards of the time, and the music is, well, not catchy. The only thing I particularly liked about Broadway Melody is that it is just SO 1920's, a time when women were naturally curvy and naturally beautiful and the fashion was just so cute and adorable. At the end of the day though, this movie is just not worth watching for anything more than just the historical background.

the prototype for the MGM musical, 2008-05-09
Sure, it's dated and schlocky and a real relic... but it's also the prototype for the MGM musical, in that it was a "story musical", with the numbers arising from situations in the narrative. Of course, it helps that the narrative is a backstage musical, where two sisters (Anita Page and Bessie Love), fresh from the country, come to New York City to make it on Broadway. Along the way, they encounter heartache and betrayal and tests on their sisterhood, but that way happens to be paved with numbers like "The Wedding of the Painted Doll", "You Were Meant for Me" and "The Broadway Melody". This was the big one for MGM: the all-singing, all-dancing, all-talkie musical which wowed 'em at the box office, and wound up with the Academy Award as Best Picture. To think this is a good movie by any stretch of the imagination takes more imagination than most people would care to give, but it is entertaining, and paved the way for "The Broadway Melody of 1936", "The Broadway Melody of 1938", "The Broadway Melody of 1940" and, finally, "Two Girls on Broadway" (1940), the remake that cast Lana Turner and Joan Blondell as stand-ins for Anita Page and Bessie Love. Though klunkier than any of the others, "The Broadway Melody" has an authentic show biz atmosphere which is certainly nostalgic. And the klunkiness of the numbers must be seen to be believed: the parodies in "Singin' in the Rain" are far more polished than anything in the original.

2006 DVD print different from 1989 VHS print, 2007-08-08
I give this DVD edition 5 stars, not for the extras, but because any surviving 1929-30 musical film to make it to DVD deserves 5 stars--and any company responsible should be encouraged. I found the Metro Movietones selected for inclusion to be extremely odd and below average compared to others that exist. This includes "Dogway Melody." If Warner Home Video had only chosen SONGWRITERS' REVUE (1929) to the exclusion of all else, viewers would be treated to a 35-year old Jack Benny introducing songwriting teams of the day playing and singing their own material--this includes Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed themselves, with Freed singing "Wedding of the Painted Doll." This would have been the perfect extra for this DVD edition. Warner also might have considered lifting song numbers from HOLLYWOOD REVUE OF 1929 for inclusion, particularly the first film production number of "Singin' in the Rain." However, I personally will never settle for anything less than a complete edition of the latter on DVD. HOLLYWOOD REVUE OF 1929 remains the only one of the star-studded studio revues in which all reels survive. It is also the only one in which all reels survive in beautiful condition--in this case 13 reels. Other studio revues boasted color sequences. MGM's HOLLYWOOD REVUE is the only one in which all it's color sequences survive with their color intact---not black and white copies. Anyone wishing details on these all-star revues may contact me. I have gathered quite a lot of information.

Back to BROADWAY MELODY. I wonder how many have noticed that the print used for the DVD is different from the one used for the VHS edition, and possibly edited. This is really quite clear. I had noted another Amazon.com reviewer's comment on the graininess of the DVD release before I purchased and viewed mine only two days ago. This is true. The only other major difference that I noticed was in the very beginning, during the opening credits. In the VHS edition, the strains of "The Broadway Melody" are heard over the entire opening credits. The credits dissolve as George M. Cohan's "Give My Regards to Broadway" begins, and that accompanies the shots of the city. In the DVD edition, only the latter part of the "The Broadway Melody" music is used, and is replaced by the Cohan song before the credits are half over. During the overhead shots of the city the sound of an automobile horn has been dubbed in. This is nowhere to be heard in the VHS version. Between the DVD and VHS editions, I suppose the jury is still out on which is the better print.

VERY OLD BUT VERY GOOD, 2007-03-30
CONSIDERING WHEN THIS MUSICAL WAS MADE, IT IS A GREAT FORERUNNER TO THE LATER BROADWAY MELODY FILMS. IT IS FAR SUPERIOR TO THE REMAKE WITH LANA TURNER AND JOAN BLONDELL. IN MY OPINION BROADWAY MELODY OF 1936 WAS THE BEST BROADWAY MELODY MADE. YOU CAN'T REALLY TAKE ANYTHING AWAY FROM BROADWAY MELODY OF 1929, IN AS MUCH AS IT PRESENTED ITSELF WITH A LOT OF VIGOR, GOOD CAST AND MUSIC WHICH FOR ITS DAY SURELY HAD MOVIE GOERS WONDERING WHEN OTHER MUSICALS WERE COMING. IF YOU ARE A MOVIE MUSICAL BUFF BE SURE TO INCLUDE BROADWAY MELODY OF 1929 IN YOUR COLLECTION.

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