The Broadway Melody

The Broadway Melody (1929) boasts two distinctions: first, it won the Oscar for Best Picture, but--more importantly--it launched that hardy genre known as the Hollywood musical. Hailed, somewhat cryptically, as the first "All Talking! All Singing! All Dancing!" movie, the somewhat lackluster storyline follows a love triangle between a semi-cad Broadway tune-ster (Charles King), his fiancee (the tough-as-nails Bessie Love), and her younger bombshell sister (Anita Page), the latter pair being a sister act trying to land work on the Great White Way (there's even a mogul named Zanfield, whose "Zanfield Dolly Girls" are a thinly-disguised fictionalization of the legendary Ziegfeld Follies Girls). But it's the songs and dancing that are the main attraction here and while the show tunes aren't Singin' in the Rain-quality and the hoofers won't be mistaken for Fred and Ginger, The Broadway Melody has its share of decent numbers, including the title track, "You Were Meant For Me," and "The Wedding of the Painted Doll." Boasting a solid DVD transfer, extras here include an hour-plus of "Movietone Revue" musical acts and the wonderful all-canine parody "The Dogway Melody." Recommended. (R. Pitman)