| The Broadway Melody | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Harry Beaumont |
| Written by | Sarah Y. Mason (continuity) Norman Houston (dialogue) James Gleason (dialogue) uncredited: Earl Baldwin (titles) |
| Story by | Edmund Goulding |
| Produced by | Irving Thalberg Lawrence Weingarten |
| Starring | Charles King Anita Page Bessie Love |
| Cinematography | John Arnold |
| Edited by | Sam S. Zimbalist uncredited: William LeVanway (silent version) |
| Music by | (see article) |
| Color process | Black and White (with a Technicolor sequence) |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 100 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $379,000[3] |
| Box office | $4.4 million[3] |
The Broadway Melody, also known as The Broadway Melody of 1929, is a 1929 American pre-Code musical film and the first sound film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. It was one of the early musicals to feature a Technicolor sequence, which sparked the trend of color being used in a flurry of musicals that would hit the screens in 1929–1930.[4]
The Broadway Melody was written by Norman Houston and James Gleason from a story by Edmund Goulding and directed by Harry Beaumont. Original music was written by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown, including the popular hit "You Were Meant for Me". The George M. Cohan classic "Give My Regards to Broadway" is used under the opening establishing shots of New York City, its film debut. Bessie Love was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance. Today, the Technicolor sequence survives only in black and white. The film was the first musical released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was Hollywood's first all-talking musical.
Due to being a film published in 1929, it will enter the public domain on January 1, 2025.
- ^ Hess, Earl J.; Dabholkar, Pratibha A. (2009). Singin' in the Rain: The Making of an American Masterpiece. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. pp. 6–7. ISBN 978-0-7006-1656-5.
- ^ The Broadway Melody at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
- ^ a b The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles, California: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
- ^ Richard W. Haines, list of first two-strip Technicolor (starting in 1928), in Technicolor Movies: The History of Dye Transfer Printing (Jefferson NC: McFarland, 2010), 15. ISBN 0786480750, 9780786480753