Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows FanStore News Showtimes

The Broadway Melody

Play trailer Poster for The Broadway Melody Released Feb 1, 1929 1h 50m Musical Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
42% Tomatometer 31 Reviews 21% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
Vaudeville sisters "Hank" (Bessie Love) and Queenie Mahoney (Anita Page) take their act to the Broadway stage in New York when Eddie (Charles King), a professional song-and-dance man appearing in a new show, invites his girlfriend Hank to join him. Soon after, Eddie transfers his affections to Queenie, who attempts to do right by her sister by dating another man -- high society member Jock Warriner (Kenneth Thompson). The showbiz melodrama is quickly overshadowed by the romantic subplot.
Watch on Fandango at Home Buy Now

Where to Watch

The Broadway Melody

The Broadway Melody

What to Know

Critics Consensus

The Broadway Melody is interesting as an example of an early Hollywood musical, but otherwise, it's essentially bereft of appeal for modern audiences.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View All (31) Critics Reviews
SMH Staff Sydney Morning Herald If all the songs and ballets were taken out of The Broadway Melody it would still remain an absorbing spoken drama. On the other hand, If the dramatic element were taken away, the film would still be appealing as a spectacular revue. Feb 5, 2020 Full Review Irene Thirer New York Daily News Zowie! What a picture! Humor, drama, romance, action, thrill! And how! Feb 17, 2015 Full Review Mordaunt Hall New York Times Although the audible devices worked exceedingly well in most instances, it is questionable whether it would not have been wiser to leave some of the voices to the imagination. Jan 6, 2014 Full Review Robert F. Sisk Baltimore Sun See The Broadway Melody. Your informant has a sneaking idea that it will mark some sort of an epoch in picture making. Its very delving into the musical comedy field and the success of its effort make such a supposition reasonable. May 14, 2024 Full Review Christopher Lloyd The Film Yap Though derided by some as a hopelessly outdated relic, the first musical Oscar winner for Best Picture remains a surprisingly gritty and daring romantic triangle story. Rated: 4/5 Nov 27, 2023 Full Review Pare Lorentz Judge [It's] filled with those stupendous sets which the movies produce from time to time just to show Ziegfeld that he is still in the amateur class but the dialogue, story, and music all sound very, very familiar. Broadway Melody is off-key most of the time. Oct 30, 2023 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (180) audience reviews
ChrisCSH H Broadway Melody is completely outdated for this day and age but for the time it was incredibly realistic and as the first talking Oscar winner for best picture and also first talking musical for the time, it was incredibly ambitious and revolutionary for the time along with not only musical numbers, but also a love triangle, which is quite entertaining. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 09/08/24 Full Review Louisa E I didn't understand the plot of this movie. The story seems to progress with no reasoning behind it. People have weird and toxic relationships. Nothing seems realistic or genuine. The men are all creeps. Why Queenie would go with Ed astounds me. There were no stand-out actors for me. Bessie Love was ok when angry, but I didn't buy the sad scenes. I liked the opening with the various suites of music. They are showing off this new technology well. However, this movie's so-called professional musicians are terrible and amateur. The only performances I liked were the quartet at the dance and the Wedding of the Painted Doll number, which was a good audio-visual spectacular. The costumes were great, and the set design for the theatre was cool. I can't believe it won! It has the lowest score on IMDB for all the Oscar Best Picture winners. I'm not surprised. I'm okay with Bessie Love's nomination and even the directorial nomination, but I think there were no winners here. 6/10. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 05/09/23 Full Review Audience Member The first sound film to win an Academy Award it was also the first musical to use a Technicolor sequence, which sparked the trend of color being used. While it was the top grossing picture of 1929 and it is the first complete example of the Hollywodo musical, it is cliche ridden and overly melodramatic. It's an interesting example of an early Hollywood musical but otherwise is void of appeal. It has not stood the test of time in ways that many of its more artistic contemporaries have. Some deficiencies can be attributed to the way the genre has been re-shaped and improved. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review david f This is kind of a slight film but it's worth watching for its significance in the history of Hollywood. One of the first talkies ever made, and the first musical film of many, it features a couple of songs that later reached cinematic perfection in "Singin in the Rain" and it's absolutely fascinating to see these early takes on "Broadway Melody", "Wedding of The Painted Doll", and "You Were Meant For Me" in black and white. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review william d MGM still had a lot to learn about making musicals - and sound movies generally for that matter. Still, if you're interested in early cinema and it's development you might find this worthwhile. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Fast forward through the usual awful dancing and music and actually you get one of the better Oscar best picture winners from the early days. There is at least an interesting love triangle and a bit of personality to the film. Not the best film but not as dreadful as some. Why is that girl called Hank though? And why does everyone find her bang average sister to be so much hotter than her? Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Broadway Melody

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

The Hollywood Revue 43% 18% The Hollywood Revue Watchlist Dancing Lady 80% 70% Dancing Lady Watchlist The Great Ziegfeld 72% 50% The Great Ziegfeld Watchlist The Rogue Song 79% 14% The Rogue Song Watchlist Maytime 100% 88% Maytime Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis Vaudeville sisters "Hank" (Bessie Love) and Queenie Mahoney (Anita Page) take their act to the Broadway stage in New York when Eddie (Charles King), a professional song-and-dance man appearing in a new show, invites his girlfriend Hank to join him. Soon after, Eddie transfers his affections to Queenie, who attempts to do right by her sister by dating another man -- high society member Jock Warriner (Kenneth Thompson). The showbiz melodrama is quickly overshadowed by the romantic subplot.
Director
Harry Beaumont
Distributor
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Production Co
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Genre
Musical
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Feb 1, 1929, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 1, 2012
Runtime
1h 50m
Most Popular at Home Now