Broadway Melody

George 2022-01-21 08:02:14

The story describes that Queenie and Hank, both singers, came to New York to enter the world after a successful performance in their hometown. The two of them joined the Broadway song and dance troupe, and the sisters fell in love with the song and dance troupe manager Eddie at the same time, and developed a romantic relationship.
This is the first large-scale musical and dance film produced by MGM and the first audio film to win the Oscar for Best Picture (2nd). The main attraction of the film is its historical value. In addition, the songs are still beautiful, the performances are full of enthusiasm, and the dialogue is childish and interesting, with a kind of childishness of early movies. The film uses sound and picture counterpoint for the first time, bringing a broader creative space for film art. Some of the singing and dancing scenes are shot in black and white, and some are shot in color. It was remade in 1940 as "Two Girls on Broadway" (Two Girls on Broadway). In addition, sequels of "Broadway Melody" were released in 1936, 1938 and 1940.
In terms of music, the performances of Nasio Herbbran and Arthur Fried, who were responsible for composing lyrics and music, were above the standard, and the episode "You Belong to Me" was very popular. The singing and dancing scenes of "The Wedding of Painted Dolls" were shot partially in black and white and partially in color, which is refreshing. Because of the success of this film, Arthur Fried was the producer of many musicals in the future. With the success of this film, Owen Tilberg, the chief producer of MGM, opened the era of the kingdom of MGM's musicals.
For many years, critics have believed that if the best film of the past is scored, then the second best film "Broadway Song and Dance" is the film with the lowest score.
At that time, sound films had just come out, and MGM wanted to give full play to the characteristics of sound in the film, and was actively preparing for the production of a new type of song and dance film with the theme of "stage love history". Producer Owen Talberg asked two lyrics writers to write a song and dance performance of a pair of sisters making love to each other, asking for "100% talking and 100% singing" in the film. So this "Broadway Song and Dance" was born.
The film cost 350,000 U.S. dollars and took 30 days to complete, and it became a sensation after it was released. The film’s story is simple and the plot is old-fashioned, but some of the songs and dances in the film have been widely circulated, such as the theme song "Broadway Melody" and "Boyfriend", "You and I Are Together" and a ballet show have all been selected as Hollywood song and dance. Collection. Judging from the standards of modern musical films, this movie might be considered low-level, but it was already excellent in the popular love triangle dramas at the time. Moreover, the scenes of the film are gorgeous, the song and dance design is novel, and the use of sound is relatively successful. These technical successes have enriched this mediocre film a lot, and even MGM has made several sequels in the future, such as "Broadway Melody in 1936", "Broadway Melody in 1938", etc. .

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Extended Reading

The Broadway Melody quotes

  • Queenie Mahoney: Oh, Eddie, don't be such a crab!

  • Eddie Kearns: Why do you let a guy like that hang around you?

    Queenie Mahoney: Say, will you lay off him! I'm sick of hearing you crab all the time!

    Eddie Kearns: I'll give him a sock in the nose!

    Queenie Mahoney: You and how many others?