Broadway Melody of 1938

Released Aug 20, 1937

1h 50m

Musical

Comedy

List

100%

6 Reviews

Tomatometer

62%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

Wealthy Caroline Whipple backs a musical revue by handsome young Steve Raleigh (Robert Taylor). By coincidence, when Mrs. Whipple decides to sell Stargazer, her underachieving racehorse, Sally Lee (Eleanor Powell), who raised the horse, turns out to be a talented dancer in search of work. Frustrated by Steve's attraction to Sally and plans to star her in the show, Mrs. Whipple pulls her support, leaving Steve, Sally and dancer Sonny Ledford dependent on Stargazer's performance.

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acsdoug D

I could watch Eleanor Powell dance all day. However, unless you're a fan of old movie musicals like me you might want to just skip ahead to the final ten minutes and check out the finale. It's definitely the best part of the movie.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/16/24

Full Review

Audience Member

What we have here is one of those none-too-inspired screenplays which the players are forced to pep up by shouting their lines at the top of their voices! Alas! Only Billy Gilbert can get away with this sort of stratagem. The others just seem ridiculous. However, never mind the silly story (this is one of the very few musicals with a horse-racing background), the movie's chief assets are its song and dance numbers, including a box-car dance with Eleanor Powell, George Murphy and Buddy Ebsen, two songs by Judy Garland (including the justly famous, "You Made Me Love You"), and. topping them all, a very lively and vastly amusing romp in the rain by Powell and Murphy. The movie was choreographed by the vastly under-rated Dave Gould and attractively photographed in black-and-white by William Daniels (although I understand Ray June worked on the film too).

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

Full Review

steve d

About as much plot as the others.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The best movie song ever sung: Dear Mr. Gable (You Made Me Love You)!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The third "Broadway Melody" film has a strange blend of plot elements. George Murphy and Buddy Ebsen are a pair of itinerant vaudevillians who get a job taking care of a champion thoroughbred for Rayond Walburn. When the horse is injured during it's first race, it's former owner Eleanor Powell shows up trying to make sure it's well looked after. She follows the horse back to New York and decides that she could maybe get a job in a Broadway show. Luckily she meets Robert Taylor on the train, who has a new show being produced by Walburn, and Taylor decides she should star in his show. Sophie Tucker shows up as a retired Broadway performer who runs a boarding house for entertainers and is trying to get her daughter Judy Garland into show biz. Billy Gilbert is on hand as an Italian barber who helps Powell buy her horse back so she can enter it n the big race. After lots of plot machinations, Taylor puts on his big show with essentially everyone in the film's cast in it. It's great to see Garland 2 years before "The Wizard of Oz", as well as Buddy Ebsen in his comedic dancer phase. Among other odd threads in the flick, a man gives a long comedic speech about all the various types of sneezes.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/01/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The least interesting of the MGM "Broadway Melody" series, notable only for Garland's "Dear Mr. Gable - You Made Me Love You" sequence and a gargantuan finale.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

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Roy Del Ruth

Director

Robert Taylor

Steve Raleigh

Eleanor Powell

Sally Lee

Judy Garland

Betty Clayton

George Murphy

Sonny Ledford

Binnie Barnes

Caroline Whipple

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Walter Goodman

New York Times

Escapist, sure, but 1938 was a year worth escaping from.

Jan 10, 2018

Full Review

Michael E. Grost

Classic Film and Television

Inventive musical numbers redeem film.

Dec 29, 2017

Full Review

Steve Crum

Video-Reviewmaster.com

Stunning Elanor Powell dances, great music highlight all time tops MGM musical.

Rated: 5/5

Mar 14, 2009

Full Review

Sean Axmaker

Seanax.com

It's ridiculous and tremendous fun, a veritable evening of entertainment with song and dance and comedy acts and a story that exists only to transition from one act to another.

Apr 6, 2008

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 3/5

Nov 5, 2004

Full Review

Ken Hanke

Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

Great musical numbers, but a lame plot and George Murphy work against it.

Rated: 4/5

Mar 1, 2004

Full Review

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Synopsis

Wealthy Caroline Whipple backs a musical revue by handsome young Steve Raleigh (Robert Taylor). By coincidence, when Mrs. Whipple decides to sell Stargazer, her underachieving racehorse, Sally Lee (Eleanor Powell), who raised the horse, turns out to be a talented dancer in search of work. Frustrated by Steve's attraction to Sally and plans to star her in the show, Mrs. Whipple pulls her support, leaving Steve, Sally and dancer Sonny Ledford dependent on Stargazer's performance.

Director: Roy Del Ruth
Producer: Irving Thalberg
Screenwriter: Jack McGowan
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Production Co: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Genre: Musical, Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 20, 1937, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2008
Runtime: 1h 50m

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