The Broadway Melody (1929) on Netflix
Passed19291h 40mDramaMusicalRomance
Vaudeville sisters Hank and Queenie Mahoney arrive in New York for a revue number arranged by their friend Eddie Kearns. Eddie, engaged to Hank, falls for Queenie, and Jock Warriner courts her.
- Netflix2.9/5
- IMDb5.5/109,212 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes42%
Trailer
Plot summary
The Mahoney Sisters, Hank and Queenie, leave vaudeville for New York, where their friend Eddie Kearns has a spot for them in a revue by producer Francis Zanfield. Hank, the older sister, trusts her business sense and her talent, while Queenie is admired for her beauty. Uncle Jed offers a thirty-week traveling show, and Hank puts off an answer. Eddie, engaged to Hank, meets Queenie again after knowing her only as a child, and he is taken with her at once. At the rehearsal, a dancer in Zanfield's company hides a bag inside the piano, which starts a fight with Hank. Zanfield has no interest in their act but sees a place for Queenie, who asks that Hank be hired as well for one wage and talks him into crediting Hank's business sense.
Cast
- Betty Arthuras Chorus Dancer
- J. Emmett Beckas Babe Hatrick
- Nacio Herb Brownas Pianist
- James Burrowsas Singer (uncredited)
- Eddie Bushas Quartet Guitarist and Singer
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Broadway Melody (1929)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- It took over three hours to film Bessie Love's brief ukulele-playing scene in The Broadway Melody; earlier takes used a full orchestra playing off-camera, while later takes had the actors sing and dance to prerecorded music.
- The Broadway Melody's production learned to record sound through trial and error because it was one of the earliest sound musicals: after the rushes were viewed, sets were modified to improve recording quality and scenes were re-shot, lengthening the actors' days and the overall shooting schedule.
- The complete color footage of the "Wedding of the Painted Doll" number is lost; the survivor is a 16-second 35mm Technicolor fragment, found in 2012 at Haghefilm Conservation B.V. in Amsterdam and kept at the George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York.
- The "Wedding of the Painted Doll" number was filmed in early two-color Technicolor using red and green filters, and the film helped launch a wave of 1929-1930 features that used color sequences or were shot entirely in color, among them Gold Diggers of Broadway and Sally.
- The Broadway Melody holds two firsts: it was the first musical released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was Hollywood's first all-talking musical.
- A silent version of The Broadway Melody was produced as well, because many motion picture theaters still had no sound equipment at the time.
