The Broadway Melody Movie Review

Hollywood still manages to regurgitate The Broadway Melody every year. The story is timeless and, when they make it today, painfully simple.

Two sisters (Anita Page and Bessie Love) are vaudeville performers trying to break into Broadway -- and when they get their chance, love gets in the way. Soon enough a love quadrangle has formed, as class struggles and a variety of misunderstandings rear their heads.

The staid plot and threadbare song and dance routines are bouyed by two outstanding performances by Page and Love. A number of supporting performances in the film are also worthwhile. The film -- one of the first musicals ever -- was a massive hit in its day, and Warner Brothers would make three sequels of the film over the next 11 years, each following a nearly identical plot line. (Out of ideas, they're all called The Broadway Melody of 19XX, whatever year it happened to be.)

Today it's mainly a curiosity for film buffs who want to see how musicals erupted in the early days of the talkie.