Google Ads
Login | Sign Up

The Broadway Melody Overview:

The Broadway Melody (1929) was a Musical - Romance Film directed by Harry Beaumont and produced by Irving Thalberg, Lawrence Weingarten and Harry Rapf.

Academy Awards 1928/29 --- Ceremony Number 2 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best ActressBessie LoveNominated
Best DirectorHarry BeaumontNominated
Best PictureMetro-Goldwyn-MayerWon
See More Oscar Winners

The Broadway Melody BlogHub Articles:

“The Broadway Melody” (1929): The Musical that Paved the Way for the Rest

By Jessica Pickens on May 5, 2019 From Classic Movie Hub Blog

“All singing! All dancing!” Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer touted its first full-length musical sound film with these lines that now are immortalized in Hollywood history. The Broadway Melody (1929) was not only Hollywood’s first full-length talking musical, but also the first sound film and movi... Read full article

Musical Monday: The Broadway Melody (1929)

on Jun 4, 2018 From Comet Over Hollywood

It’s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals. In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 500. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals. This week’s musical: “The Broadway Melo... Read full article

The Broadway Melody (of 1929)

By Emily on Sep 14, 2013 From The Vintage Cameo

The Broadway Melody is a curious little film, and certainly a testament to the mythos of the Academy, and the weight that a term like “Oscar-winner” is expected to imply. It was the first sound movie to win that now-coveted Best Picture award, but in revisiting it, viewers may find it a ... Read full article

The Broadway Melody (1)

By RBuccicone on Feb 27, 2013 From MacGuffin Movies

The Broadway Melody (1929) Looking again to a movie that earned Hollywood’s top award but fails to shine against most flicks given that prestige, I bring you The Broadway Melody. Taking one of the early Oscars for Best Picture, the musical contended with a handful of movies that for the most p... Read full article

Awkward Early Talkie Theatre: "The Broadway Melody"

By David on Oct 1, 2012 From The Man on the Flying Trapeze

Star-struck sisters coming to New York, struggling songwriter, backstage drama, misguided love -- it's all there, and more, in the 1929 film "The Broadway Melody." It's like a cliche incubator. It also has those awkward little touches we love in early talkies -- hammy acting, stilted silences and a ... Read full article

See More The Broadway Melody Articles

The Broadway Melody Quotes:

Eddie Kearns: Those men aren't going to pay ten bucks to look at your face; this is Broadway!
Hank Mahoney: Yeah, "Broad's way!"
Hank Mahoney: [after a cat-fight with a chorus girl] Next time I'll give you a facial instead of a scalp treatment!
Chorus Girl: I'll fix you, ya little peanut!
See More Quotes from The Broadway Melody
The Broadway Melody Facts
The first musical to win an Academy Award for Best Picture.
The first all-talking musical feature. Also the first musical to spawn sequels (Broadway Melody films would appear every few years until 1940).
Followed by Broadway Melody of 1936, Broadway Melody of 1938 and Broadway Melody of 1940. Another film in the series was planned, "Broadway Melody of 1943" starring Eleanor Powell and Gene Kelly. However, that project was abandoned, and a dance number filmed by Eleanor Powell was edited into Thousands Cheer.
The Broadway Melody was the first sound film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture.
The number "Wedding of the Painted Doll" was filmed in two-color Technicolor, but survived only in black and white. The original choreography was rejected and had to be filmed again. Rather than have a live orchestra perform the music again, the new choreography was filmed during a playback of the music, making this to be the first film sequence filmed during a playback of pre-recorded music.
See More Facts about The Broadway Melody >>