# The Broadway Melody
**The Broadway Melody** is a 1929 American backstage musical from [Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer](https://www.edgepedia.org/metro-goldwyn-mayer), directed by Harry Beaumont from a screen story by Edmund Goulding, about two vaudeville sisters who come to New York to make it on Broadway. It was MGM's first all-talking picture and its first musical, and it became the second film, and the first sound film, to win the [Academy Award for Best Picture](https://www.edgepedia.org/academy-award-for-best-picture).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3068-THE-BROADWAY-MELODY)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Premiere and release | Opened 1 February 1929 at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Los Angeles; New York opening 8 February 1929; general release 6 June 1929[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3068-THE-BROADWAY-MELODY) |
| Principal cast | Bessie Love as Harriet "Hank" Mahoney, Anita Page as Queenie Mahoney, Charles King as Eddie Kearns[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3068-THE-BROADWAY-MELODY) |
| Songs | "Broadway Melody," "The Wedding of the Painted Doll," "Love Boat," "Boy Friend," and "You Were Meant for Me," by Nacio Herb Brown (music) and Arthur Freed (lyrics)[2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/B/BroadwayMelody1929.html) |
| Versions | Sound version 9,372 feet in 10 reels; a silent version of 5,943 feet in seven reels was issued for theaters not yet wired for sound[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3068-THE-BROADWAY-MELODY) • [2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/B/BroadwayMelody1929.html) |
| Academy Awards | Won Outstanding Picture at the 2nd Academy Awards; Bessie Love nominated for Actress and Harry Beaumont for Directing[3](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1930) |
| Box office | Production budget of $379,000; worldwide box office reported at 11.5 times the production budget[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Broadway-Melody-The-%281929%29) |
| Rights status | Entered the United States public domain in 2025[5](https://apnews.com/article/e71ca89b7a430e68e66a7c6ce45a98eb) |
## Spoilers
### Story and songs
The plot follows Eddie Kearns, a smalltime vaudeville hoofer whose songs win the attention of the Broadway producer Zanfield, a name consciously echoing the impresario Florenz Ziegfeld.[8](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3068-THE-BROADWAYMELODY?cp=1&cxt=Filmography2&pos=0&sid=4120ccad-5a64-4d76-8b8a-5ffbc387afc5&sr=2.8106923) • [9](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/genre-born-early-musicals) Eddie hopes to have his hometown girlfriend Harriet "Hank" Mahoney cast in the revue; Hank and her sister Queenie, performing as the Mahoney Sisters, arrive in New York short of money and take an apartment in the same 46th Street theatrical hotel where Eddie lives.[8](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3068-THE-BROADWAYMELODY?cp=1&cxt=Filmography2&pos=0&sid=4120ccad-5a64-4d76-8b8a-5ffbc387afc5&sr=2.8106923) Eddie then transfers his affections to Queenie, who tries to do right by her sister by dating the high-society man Jock Warriner.[10](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/broadway_melody) The character "Jacques 'Jock' Warriner" may have been a veiled reference to Warner Bros. production chief [Jack L. Warner](https://www.edgepedia.org/jack-l-warner).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3068-THE-BROADWAY-MELODY)
The film opens with aerial shots of New York City over the tune "Give My Regards to Broadway" by [George M. Cohan](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-m-cohan), and intertitle cards naming the next scene's location appear throughout, in the style of a theatrical program.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3068-THE-BROADWAY-MELODY) • [2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/B/BroadwayMelody1929.html) The action begins in a [Tin Pan Alley](https://www.edgepedia.org/tin-pan-alley) music publishing house where composers plug songs to singers and publishers.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3068-THE-BROADWAY-MELODY) [Nacio Herb Brown](https://www.edgepedia.org/nacio-herb-brown), who appears on screen as the pianist at the publisher's offices, wrote the music, with lyrics by Arthur Freed, who appears as a bystander in the rehearsal room.[2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/B/BroadwayMelody1929.html)
Two of the songs, "Broadway Melody" and "You Were Meant for Me," were used in several later musical films, among them MGM's 1952 *Singin' in the Rain*, produced by Freed.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3068-THE-BROADWAY-MELODY) Film and theater music historians consider "You Were Meant for Me" an early example of a song written to further the plot of the story.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3068-THE-BROADWAY-MELODY)
## Production
Production began on 19 October 1928, according to an announcement in the 8 December 1928 *Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World*.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3068-THE-BROADWAY-MELODY) The film was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. under parent company Loew's Inc., with Harry Rapf as producer, and was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corp.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3068-THE-BROADWAY-MELODY) • [2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/B/BroadwayMelody1929.html) Sarah Y. Mason wrote the continuity, Norman Houston and James Gleason the dialogue, and Earl Baldwin the intertitles; John Arnold was the cinematographer, [Cedric Gibbons](https://www.edgepedia.org/cedric-gibbons) the art director, Sam S. Zimbalist the film editor of the sound version, and Douglas Shearer the recording engineer.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3068-THE-BROADWAY-MELODY) • [2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/B/BroadwayMelody1929.html)
**An experiment for the studio.** Because it was MGM's first all-talking film, producer [Irving Thalberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/irving-thalberg) told his staff the picture was an experiment: "we don't know whether the audience will accept a musical on film."[6](https://www.tcm.com/articles/66966/the-broadway-melody-1929) Early sound filming constrained the camera, which had to be placed in a soundproof booth to keep the motor noise off the track, where silent-era cameras had moved freely.[6](https://www.tcm.com/articles/66966/the-broadway-melody-1929) By the end of principal photography the filmmakers were syncing to prerecorded music, a practice still in wide use.[7](https://www.aeworks.org/post/the-broadway-melody)
## Sound and color techniques
MGM advertised the film as its "All Talking All Singing All Dancing" picture.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3068-THE-BROADWAY-MELODY) The *Variety* review praised sound techniques that let a character's conversation be heard as they moved across a dance floor, and tap dancing from a chorus line in rehearsal heard behind the dialogue; it also noted that individual performers stood out in long stage shots because they were dressed in black and white.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3068-THE-BROADWAY-MELODY)
The film contained a three-minute "natural color first act finale": the production number "The Wedding of the Painted Doll," shot in two-strip [Technicolor](https://www.edgepedia.org/technicolor) through a proscenium arch to replicate the look of a stage show.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3068-THE-BROADWAY-MELODY) According to modern sources, the song in that number was the first to be lipsynched after principal photography, a re-shooting devised after negative feedback from a preview audience.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3068-THE-BROADWAY-MELODY) The Technicolor footage has since been lost, and only a black-and-white version is available.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3068-THE-BROADWAY-MELODY)
## Academy Awards and reception
At the 2nd Academy Awards, held 3 April 1930 and honoring films released from August 1928 through July 1929, *The Broadway Melody* won Outstanding Picture for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, defeating *Alibi*, *In Old Arizona*, *Hollywood Revue*, and *The Patriot*; Bessie Love was nominated for Actress and Harry Beaumont for Directing.[3](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1930) It was the second film, and the first sound film, to win the Best Picture award.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3068-THE-BROADWAY-MELODY)
Contemporary notices were mixed. Mordaunt Hall of *The New York Times* was unenthusiastic about some of the voices, while the *Variety* reviewer wrote that the film's replication of a stage production, combined with close-ups of the performers, might prove a "potent threat to the stage producers."[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3068-THE-BROADWAY-MELODY) Later film historians have praised the film for an energy many early talkies lacked, crediting its fast pace, witty dialogue, and unusually crisp delivery of the actors.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3068-THE-BROADWAY-MELODY) Modern aggregate scores reflect the split: a Metacritic Metascore of 66 based on nine critic reviews against a user score of 3.4, and a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer of 42 percent from 31 reviews.[11](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-broadway-melody/) • [10](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/broadway_melody)
## Legacy
The film's success gave rise to dozens of backstage musicals with similar stories.[12](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Radio-Programming/Radio-Programming/Popular-Music-Annotated-Index-1950-1959-Vol-1.pdf) It was popular enough to spin off three sequels with different characters; [Eleanor Powell](https://www.edgepedia.org/eleanor-powell), the actress later associated with the series, appeared in the 1936, 1938, and 1940 entries but not in the original.[13](https://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/broadway-melody-the) The backstage plot that Goulding's story supplied became a template musicals borrowed for the next twenty years.[14](https://film.one/film/the-broadway-melody?region=AU) The film also introduced the MGM musical's formula of lively production numbers, entertaining dialogue, and the durable backstage story.[15](https://bampfa.org/event/broadway-melody)
Despite the Oscar, the film is often ranked among the least highly regarded Best Picture winners, and it entered the United States public domain in 2025.[5](https://apnews.com/article/e71ca89b7a430e68e66a7c6ce45a98eb) Its songs lived on at MGM: *Singin' in the Rain* (1952), often considered among the greatest movie musicals, drew on songs Freed had written at the start of his career, including two from this film.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3068-THE-BROADWAY-MELODY) • [16](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/where-begin-mgm-musicals)
## References
1. [The Broadway Melody (1929), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3068-THE-BROADWAY-MELODY)
2. [The Broadway Melody (1929), Progressive Silent Film List, Silent Era](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/B/BroadwayMelody1929.html)
3. [The 2nd Academy Awards (1930), Oscars.org](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1930)
4. [The Broadway Melody (1929) - Box Office and Financial Information, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Broadway-Melody-The-%281929%29)
5. [Popeye and Tintin enter the public domain in 2025, Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/e71ca89b7a430e68e66a7c6ce45a98eb)
6. [The Broadway Melody (1929), Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/articles/66966/the-broadway-melody-1929)
7. [And the Winner Is... The Broadway Melody, AEWorks](https://www.aeworks.org/post/the-broadway-melody)
8. [The Broadway Melody (1929), AFI Catalog (synopsis page)](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3068-THE-BROADWAYMELODY?cp=1&cxt=Filmography2&pos=0&sid=4120ccad-5a64-4d76-8b8a-5ffbc387afc5&sr=2.8106923)
9. [A genre is born: how moviegoers first fell in love with the musical, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/genre-born-early-musicals)
10. [The Broadway Melody (1929), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/broadway_melody)
11. [The Broadway Melody Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-broadway-melody/)
12. [Words by Sidney D. Mitchell, Popular Music Annotated Index (Radio Programming)](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Radio-Programming/Radio-Programming/Popular-Music-Annotated-Index-1950-1959-Vol-1.pdf)
13. [Broadway Melody, The (1929), Reelviews Movie Reviews](https://www.reelviews.net/reelviews/broadway-melody-the)
14. [The Broadway Melody (1929) review, Fi1m](https://film.one/film/the-broadway-melody?region=AU)
15. [The Broadway Melody, BAMPFA](https://bampfa.org/event/broadway-melody)
16. [Where to begin with MGM musicals, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/where-begin-mgm-musicals)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Musical and music films (individual works) › Musical films of the 1930s to 1960s*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license