Editing The Broadway Melody (section)

==Reception and legacy==
===Contemporary===
[[File:Broadway Melody Ad.jpg|thumb|Ad for the film as seen in most magazine publications of the time.]]
''The Broadway Melody'' was a substantial success and made a profit of $1.6 million for MGM.<ref name="Mannix" /> It was the top grossing picture of 1929 and won the [[Academy Award for Best Picture]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Wierzbicki|first=James|title=Film Music: A History|year=2008|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-203-88447-8|page=116}}</ref>

Contemporary reviews from critics were generally positive. ''Variety'' wrote that it "has everything a silent picture should have outside of its dialog. A basic story with some sense to it, action, excellent direction, laughs, a tear, a couple of great performances and plenty of sex."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Silverman |first=Sid |date=February 13, 1929 |title=Broadway Melody |url=https://variety.com/1929/film/reviews/broadway-melody-1200410242/ |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |location=New York |publisher=Variety, Inc. |page=13 |access-date=December 10, 2014 }}</ref> "Has everything", agreed ''[[Film Daily]]''. "Sure-fire moneymaker that will drag 'em in everywhere."<ref>{{cite magazine |date=February 17, 1929 |title=Broadway Melody |magazine=[[Film Daily]] |location=New York |page=10 }}</ref>

"This picture is great. It will revolutionize the talkies", wrote Edwin Schallert for ''[[Motion Picture News]]''. "The direction is an amazing indication of what can be done in the new medium."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Schallert |first=Edwin |date=February 9, 1929 |title=First Report on 'Broadway Melody' |magazine=[[Motion Picture News]] |page=433 }}</ref>

[[Mordaunt Hall]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote a mixed review, calling it "rather cleverly directed" but "somewhat obvious", with sentiment "served out too generously in most of the sequences." Hall called King's performance "vigorous", but of Page, he wrote, "Her acting, especially her voice, does not enhance her personality. Notwithstanding, it must be admitted that there are girls who talk as they are made to for the screen. Miss Page, however, fails to give one an impression of spontaneity, for she recites rather than speaks her lines."<ref name=NYT>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/movies/bestpictures/melody-re.html |title=Review: "The Broadway Melody" |last=Hall |first=Mordaunt |author-link=Mordaunt Hall |date=February 9, 1929 |website=[[The New York Times]] }}</ref>

[[John Mosher (writer)|John Mosher]] of ''[[The New Yorker]]'' wrote, "The stage background allows opportunity for one or two musical interpolations, and no one is more glad than we that the talkies charmingly succeed in a very pleasant ballet. Because of that, we shall try to forget the dialogue of the play, and that James Gleason ever wanted to take any credit for it."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Mosher |first=John |author-link=John Mosher (writer) |date=February 16, 1929 |title=The Current Cinema |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |page=83}}</ref>
[[File:The-Broadway-Melody-Technicolor-Frame.png|thumb|Extant color frame of the lost color sequence 'Wedding of the Painted Doll']]

===Accolades===
The film was nominated for three [[Academy Awards]] at the [[2nd Academy Awards|1930 ceremony]]: [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]] ([[Bessie Love]]), [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]] ([[Harry Beaumont]]), and [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Outstanding Picture]]. No nominations were announced before the 1930 ceremonies. Love and Beaumont are presumed to have been under consideration, and they are listed as such by the [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]].

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! Award
! Category
! Nominee(s)
! Result
! Ref.
|-
| rowspan="3"| [[2nd Academy Awards|Academy Awards]]
| [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Outstanding Picture]]
| [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]]
| {{won}}
| align="center" rowspan="3"| <ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1930 |title=The 2nd Academy Awards (1930) Nominees and Winners |publisher=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] |access-date=March 11, 2024}}</ref>
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Director|Best Director]]
| [[Harry Beaumont]]
| {{nom}}
|-
| [[Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress]]
| [[Bessie Love]]
| {{nom}}
|}

===Retrospective===
Historically, ''The Broadway Melody'' is often considered the first complete example of a Hollywood musical. Contemporary critics now view the movie as cliché-ridden and overly melodramatic, despite the fact that it was considered innovative for its time and contributed to the concept and structure of musical films.<ref>{{cite book|last=Levy|first=Emanuel|title=All about Oscar: The History and Politics of the Academy Awards|year=2003|publisher=Continuum|isbn=978-0-8264-1452-6|page=200}}</ref> It currently holds a rating of 42% at Rotten Tomatoes, based on 31 reviews, with a weighted average of 5.50/10. The site's consensus is that the film "is interesting as an example of an early Hollywood musical, but otherwise, it's essentially bereft of appeal for modern audiences".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/broadway_melody/ |title=The Broadway Melody |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |publisher=[[Fandango Media]] |access-date=January 25, 2025}}</ref>

Assessing the film in 2009, [[James Berardinelli]] wrote, "''The Broadway Melody'' has not stood the test of time in ways that many of its more artistic contemporaries have. Some of its deficiencies can be attributed to ways in which the genre has been re-shaped and improved over the years, but some are the result of the studio's validated belief that viewers would be willing to ignore bad acting and pedestrian directing in order to experience singing, dancing, and talking on the silver screen."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_template.php?identifier=1848 |title=The Broadway Melody |last=Berardinelli |first=James |author-link=James Berardinelli |date=November 1, 2009 |website=Reelviews |publisher=James Berardinelli |access-date=December 10, 2014 }}</ref>