Broadway Melody of 1936 may be a misnomer since it was actually released in 1935. The film is the second film in the Broadway Melody series. The first Broadway Melody or Broadway Melody of 1929 is the first talkie to win the Best Picture Oscar. I mention this because Broadway Melody of 1936 opens with Harry Stockwell as himself singing an excerpt of Broadway Melody.
Broadway Melody of 1936 stars Jack Benny as Bert Keeler, Eleanor Powell as Irene Foster, Robert Taylor as Robert Gordon, Una Merkel as Kitty Corbett, Sid Silvers as Snoop Blue, and June Knight as Lillian Brent. Buddy Ebsen and his sister Vilma Ebsen also had substantial roles as well. Buddy and Vilma had their own vaudeville act together and while Buddy had a long career in film and television, this was Vilma's only movie role.
Bert Keeler is a tabloid type reporter who opens the movie dishing the dirt on Broadway stars. However, he really isn't dishing dirt but is running down the list of stars who are expecting. His boss is not really happy about his radio news brief and tells him that he needs to find some dirt or else. After this altercation, his assistant Snoop Blue witnesses, Robert Gordon speaking with Lillian Brent. Brent is a rich widow, and Keeler deduces that she and Gordon are speaking, because she will be financing his newest production and that she wants the lead in return.
The following day opens with a scene in Gordon's office. Irene Foster attempts to see Gordon without an appointment. She is a hometown friend of his from Albany and is hoping to surprise him. His secretary Kitty tries to help but tells her it may be difficult without and appointment. About this time Keeler also shows up looking for an appointment and Kitty asks that he wait as Gordon is not in at the moment. Gordon eventually comes in and blows off Keeler and does not recognize Irene.
After this scene the heart of the story takes place. Keeler continues to try and get the scoop on Gordon and prints gossip column after gossip column. With each article Gordon's anger grows. Irene continues to try and get Gordon to see her and her talent, but he eventually decides to send her back to Albany. His secretary sees what he doesn't and hatches a plot to get her noticed. Unfortunately, she portrays herself as a fictional person that columnist Keeler had created to get to Gordon.
All of this comes to a head in the final scene, where Irene is finally noticed by Gordon as she sings and dances in the final performance.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I do not like musicals. I fucking hate them. However, the musicals of 1935 are not the same as the ones that came after them. Well, maybe that is not the case, because this is the only one I have seen from the 30's, so the sample size is not large. It appears to me that this era musical has a lot more dancing than anything else. Although that may have more to do with the stars than the movie. Eleanor Powell is known as one of the greatest tap dancers of all time as well as a world class dancer in general. This musical was more about the dancing than the singing in my opinion. The dance must have been good because it won an Oscar for dance direction. A category that no longer exists, but gives credence to my comment. I couldn't tell you why one dancer is better than the other, so I am not qualified to judge, but she did seem impressive to me.
Despite this being a musical I must say I liked it. Una Merkel and Sid Silvers are the main reason. Both of them were stellar in their supporting roles. Both of them also added that little bit of comedy that is much needed from time to time. I should also not that Sid Silvers also has a writing credit on this film. Until I did a bit of research on him, I knew very little about him, but he was also a prolific movie writer as well as an actor.
Merkel, who played Kitty Corbett is the perfect example of the saying that the secretary runs the office not the boss. She has a good deal of control of Gordon even if he doesn't realize it. She clearly sees that Irene has talent and can be great, well before her boss does. Yet she is also the one who unwittingly lets out secrets because of her friendship with Snoop. Despite her entreaties that Snoop not tell Keeler anything somehow, someway, the information always slips out. The dialogue between Kitty and Snoop is fantastic. It is most evident during the scene where Snoop takes her out to eat and he brings her to a cafe to have donuts and coffee. This was easily my favorite scene in the movie.
The other thing that I really liked about this movie has to do with how far we have come with special effects and so on. At least three times Keeler gets punched out by Gordon. Each time Gordon storms into newspapers press room and weaves between the desks to get to Keelers office. He leaves behind a wake of paper that are disturbed by his quickly passing. It is clear that the paper is being thrown by people to give the illusion that his body movement is upsetting the reams of paper. This is not the best of it though. The punches are so fake it is laughable, and the person being punched has a very unnatural reaction as well. It is almost as if they were shot out of a cannon. Being hit by Mike Tyson would not have that effect.
These things did not hinder my enjoyment of the movie though. In fact, it made me like it all the more. Mainly because it shows creativity. Throwing the papers to give the illusion of someone moving very quickly is genius in my opinion. They didn't have the aid of computers back then, so they had to make do. I find it amazing how they overcame these things back then. I often wonder if James Cameron could make a picture without the aid of a computer.
One other character that needs mention is that of the snoring expert. He first appears in the scene where Keeler and Irene are waiting for Gordon to arrive at his office. He has a long discussion with Keeler about the different types of snoring and the names he has come up with them. He appears several times in the movie and the basic premise is he wants to get into one of Gordon's productions. My reason for mentioning him is that I don't know why he is there. He is quirky for sure, but there is really no reason for him to be in the movie. I thought his first scene was pretty funny, but his return appearances not so funny and bordering on annoying.
All in all I enjoyed this movie though it isn't going on my top ten list anytime soon. It made my watch list by virtue of its Best Picture nomination, which it did not win. That honor went to Mutiny on the Bounty. The other nominees for 1935 were
- Alice Adams
- David Copperfield
- Captain Blood
- The Informers
- Les Miserables
- The Lives of a Bengal Lancer
- A Midsummer Night's Dream
- Naughty Marietta
- Ruggles of Red Gap
- Top Hat
No comments:
Post a Comment