The Broadway Melody of 1929 (1929)

Director: Harry Beaumont
Cast: Anita Page, Bessie Love, J. Emmett Beck, Nacio Herb Brown, James Burrows, Ray Cooke, Drew Demorest, Charles King
Genre: Musical
Other Nominees: Alibi, Hollywood Revue, In Old Arizona, The Patriot

It was unfair for me to have my expectations so very low going into this movie. I guess I expected a low standard of movie making, maybe thinking that back then they did not take making films as seriously as they do today. But those thoughts evaporated after the credits as the opening shot of the film was a spectacular aerial view of New York City and of a bustling 1929 Broadway.

And Broadway is what this movie is all about. It is a place where, as he theme song sings, "a million lights they flicker there, and a million hearts they beat quicker there". After the horrors of World War I a decade before and with a Great Depression looming it appears that people needed an escape from reality. Broadway was an ultimate escape and was booming! Apparently in 1927 there were 268 different performances playing in New York City compared to 50 or so throughout the 1970's.

Amazingly, The Broadway Melody of 1929 was the first academy award winner to have sound. Considering the popularity of Broadway at the time it makes sense that the first winner with sound is a musical that is set there. I cannot imagine how amazing it must have been to sit in a theatre and hear what you are seeing on screen for the first time. The tunes are snappy and tell us all about the grand ol' time that everyone has when working on Broadway. But the story is really about the darker side of the street.

It was a time when acts from all over the country arrived by bus and train loads to find fame and fortune in New York City. This was the story of the Mahoney sisters who arrived to get their names written in lights and "get a flash with Babe Ruth". What surprised me about this film was the air of desperation that permeated the storyline. At one point the sisters rely less on their talent and more on their looks, bemoaning that they "never had to get by on their legs before!"

Things go from bad to worse when the better looking of the sisters then falls in with a seedy millionaire who promises her an apartment on Park Avenue, a Rolls Royce, and diamonds galore in exchange for her sleeping with him. The film never gets too graphic about this but you can read between the lines.

Perhaps the 1920's was not a time for happy endings. The sisters both avoid the major pitfalls that the underworld of Broadway has to offer but the ending is far from happy as both struggle with their disillusionment. I imagine that the real Broadway offered just as much disappointment to thousands upon thousands to young people.

Next Up: All Quiet On The Western Front

Wings (1928)

We are off to a rocky start... and by that I do not mean that I have started with Rocky (1976).

I wanted to start from the first academy award winning movie in 1928 and work my way up through the years. I thought it would give me perspective on how far we have come in 80 years. But apparently we have not come far enough to have the first academy award winning film on DVD!

According to Wikipedia:
Along with Cavalcade, Wings is one of only two Best Picture winners that is not officially available on DVD in Region 1.

Darn it!

You can watch 3 minutes and 15 second of the silent film on youtube. Oh well.. we will just have to start with the 1929 winner (The Broadway Melody of 1929).

I'll be in touch...

The Challenge...

My goal is to watch all 80 oscar winning movies from the first in 1929 to this years winner (Slumdog Millionaire) and post my thoughts as I go along. I plan on rewatching the ones I have already seen, a percentage that is shockingly low.

Here is the list of films:
2008 Slumdog Millionaire
2007 No Country for Old Men
2006 The Departed
2005 Crash
2004 Million Dollar Baby
2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2002 Chicago
2001 A Beautiful Mind
2000 Gladiator
1999 American Beauty
1998 Shakespeare in Love
1997 Titanic
1996 The English Patient
1995 Braveheart
1994 Forrest Gump
1993 Schindler's List
1992 Unforgiven
1991 The Silence of the Lambs
1990 Dances With Wolves
1989 Driving Miss Daisy
1988 Rain Man
1987 The Last Emperor
1986 Platoon
1985 Out of Africa
1984 Amadeus
1983 Terms of Endearment
1982 Gandhi
1981 Chariots of Fire
1980 Ordinary People
1979 Kramer vs. Kramer
1978 The Deer Hunter
1977 Annie Hall
1976 Rocky
1975 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1974 The Godfather: Part II
1973 The Sting
1972 The Godfather
1971 The French Connection
1970 Patton
1969 Midnight Cowboy
1968 Oliver!
1967 In the Heat of the Night
1966 A Man for All Seasons
1965 The Sound of Music
1964 My Fair Lady
1963 Tom Jones
1962 Lawrence of Arabia
1961 West Side Story
1960 The Apartment
1959 Ben-Hur
1958 Gigi
1957 The Bridge on the River Kwai
1956 Around the World in 80 Days
1955 Marty
1954 On the Waterfront
1953 From Here to Eternity
1952 The Greatest Show on Earth
1951 An American in Paris
1950 All About Eve
1949 All the King's Men
1948 Laurence Olivier's Hamlet
1947 Gentleman's Agreement
1946 The Best Years of Our Lives
1945 The Lost Weekend
1944 Going My Way
1943 Casablanca
1942 Mrs. Miniver
1941 How Green Was My Valley
1940 Rebecca
1939 Gone with the Wind
1938 You Can't Take It With You
1937 The Life of Emile Zola
1936 The Great Ziegfeld
1935 Mutiny on the Bounty
1934 It Happened One Night
1933 Cavalcade
1932 Grand Hotel
1931 Cimarron
1930 All Quiet on the Western Front
1929 The Broadway Melody of 1929
1928 Wings