"The Broadway Melody" (1929)

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

The Broadway Melody, also known as The Broadway Melody of 1929, is an American pre-Code musical film and the first sound film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture. It was one of the first 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. Today the Technicolor sequence is lost; only a black and white copy survives in available versions. The film was the first musical released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was Hollywood's first all-talking musical.

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.

Genre': Drama, Musical, Romance
Release dates: February 1, 1929 (Grauman's Chinese Theatre), February 8, 1929 (NYC), June 12, 1929 (US)

Directed by: Harry Beaumont
Produced by: Irving Thalberg, Lawrence Weingarten
Written by: Sarah Y. Mason (continuity), Norman Houston, James Gleason (dialogue)
Story by: Edmund Goulding
Music by: Nacio Herb Brown, Willard Robison
Lyrics by: Arthur Freed, Willard Robison
Cinematography: John Arnold
Edited by: Sam S. Zimbalist, William LeVanway (silent version)

Cast: Charles King, Anita Page, Bessie Love, Jed Prouty, Kenneth Thomson, Edward Dillon, Mary Doran

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