The Oscar Project Part II - The Broadway Melody

In 1930 the winner for Best Production at the Academy Awards was "The Broadway Melody." It was the first musical and the first "talkie" to win the award. The movie is about a love triangle between two sisters trying to make it on Broadway and a Broadway singer. It all takes place during the production of a Broadway review to accommodate the many songs and dance numbers that take place throughout the film. The original movie featured a technicolor sequence that has since been lost, the remaining version of the film is all black and white. In fact it appears that the film the DVD was created off of was not in the best condition. It felt like I was watching an old movie on a reel to reel projector, instead of on my flat screen TV.

The film itself is full of enough melodrama to choke a donkey. The movie is considered one of the weakest winners in the history of the awards. However, the time period it was awarded in is also considered the weakest in American cinema up until that point due to the change from silent movies to movies with sound. Still, just because the movie has sound does not mean that everyone has to act so dramatically. The plot is weak and the acting matches is.

I happen to love Broadway and the theatre so I do know a little about Broadway productions and singing. The singing was weak and the larger productions weren't solid enough to be shown on the big screen and I doubt would have cut it on Broadway. The songs featured in the movie do not hold up. Most of them have been forgotten and would not be recognized by anyone under the age of 50.

The film taught me a valuable lesson, that not all of the Oscar winners will be fun to watch. This film gets 1.5 out of 5 stars. The project is still on, up next is "All Quiet on the Western Front."