Broadway

Crane shots, where a camera is positioned on the end of a long sturdy pole called a jib, is as ubiquitous in sporting events, concerts, award shows and in movies as seagulls at the beach. D. W. Griffith gets credit for having the first crane shot in cinema in 1916's "Intolerance." But that was a camera sitting on an elevated moving platform on rails.

The first use of a crane for filming was May 1929's "Broadway." The combination musical and gangster film, based on the 1926 play of the same name, "Broadway," was one of the first Hollywood films to center its plot around a backstage drama involving a murder. Paul Fejos, who the previous year directed "Lonesome," was selected to handle Universal Pictures first all-talkie musical. The studio executives felt so highly of Fejos' talents they budgeted an astronomical $1 million towards "Broadway's" production.

Much of the expenses went to construct a huge nightclub set as well as a large 50-foot crane to support the camera bolted to its top end. The entire system, costing between $50,000 and $75,000, carried a heavy camera and was mounted onto an iron cart on wheels. The crane, used both inside and outside, gave Fejos the freedom to film elevated shots from the stage to the ceiling of the specially-constructed Paradise Club. Working alongside cinematographer Hal Mohr, cameraman for the 1927 "The Jazz Singer," Fejos maneuvered the apparatus throughout the nightclub set. Cinema had never quite seen such a soaring series of shots like Mohr's. This helped to capture a breathtaking dance number at the conclusion, which was filmed in two-strip Technicolor. After "Broadway's" production finished, the crane remained with Universal long after Fejos left, where it was put to good use.

"Broadway" opens up with a whirlwind of images, sending viewers' eyeballs bouncing all over the place. Universal built a small-scale model of New York City's mid-town centered around Broadway's theater district. A smaller camera crane whips around the miniature skyline before a double exposure of a very fit Green Giant-type of model appears. Once inside the Paradise, the camera continues to dollie throughout the corridors and stage area, transporting the audience inside the nightclub, a la Martin Scorsese's 1990 "Goodfellas." Fejos plants his camera inside the sound-proof container only when the movie's plot begins to unfold. Once inside, "Broadway" zooms in on choreographer Roy Lane (Glenn Tryon of "Lonesome" fame) and his dancer girlfriend, Billie Moore (Merna Kennedy), both whom try to avoid the criminal element of the nightclub's owner and his associates. Merna Kennedy had earlier played opposite Charlie Chaplin in 1928's "The Circus" and ironically, later married the choreographer of a number of early film musicals, Busby Berkeley.

Even though "Broadway" received decent returns, both Universal and Fejos were disappointed by the receipts. Once he wasn't named as director for Universal's upcoming 1930 "All's Quiet on the Western Front," Fejos left the studio to pursue other opportunities in film and followed his passion as an anthropologist. But his imprint on the dazzling crane shot in cinema would forever be imprinted in movies as one of the more reliable sweeping motion shots on the screen.

Naughty, bawdy, gaudy, sporty Forty-Second Street. Wow - this really does take you there! If you want to travel back in time to an age when gangsters' molls and starry-eyed young hopefuls rubbed shoulders with sinister nightclub owners, bootleggers and gold digging showgirls, this is perfect for you.

Universal really pushed the boat out with this. We've got an amazing set, an intricate and well devised story which easily fills the nearly two hour runtime, a full musical score (a real rarity for such early talkies) and amazing cinematography (they invented the crane camera for this). It's not one of those handful of 1929 pictures you watch and think: I can't believe this was made at the dawn of the talkies - in terms of the acting style it does feel like it was made before they'd perfected the technique but it is still a million times better than most 1929 movies. This film isn't just for film buffs interested in cinema history or technique, watched today it's still properly entertaining and enjoyable.

As for the musical numbers - well, don't expect 42nd Street but the songs aren't actually too bad and presented fairly imaginatively cleverly edited into the backstage action. Whereas Warners were lumbered with their unwieldy Vitaphone recording system, Universal borrowed Fox's superior technology for this which allowed naturally sounding dialogue and clever editing to make this sound as good as it looks.

The delivery of that dialogue however varies depending on which actor's delivering it. That wonderful Sicilian, Paul Porcasi does his usual dodgy geezer act which is always entertaining. The rest of the cast however don't seem as comfortable with the microphone. It's a shame this was a Universal picture otherwise it might have had more competent actors: co-lead Merna Kennedy sounds terrified most of the time and her co-star Glenn Tryon seems to be doing a third-rate Al Jolson tribute act. But even though the acting is "of variable quality" it doesn't deter whatsoever from the enjoyment of this almost fabulous film.

If you liked THE BROADWAY MELODY you'll like this too. The acting isn't as good as and although there's some spectacular camerawork here, the direction of the cast isn't nearly as good either but what it has got is an even more evocative and embroiling atmosphere of the heady jazz age of flappers, floosies and felons.

This musical was directed by Paul Fejos at Universal Studios in 1929. There were so many musical films made in 1929 with the title "Broadway" in them, thus you might ask - why is this one unique? For one its director was a Hungarian bacteriologist by trade who dabbled in film and is famous in particular for two late 20's films - 1928's "Lonesome" and this film, "Broadway". Fejos made a crane the actual star of the picture. It was a custom built contraption that allowed the camera to sweep about the nightclub in which most of the movie was set. Most early sound films were very static by necessity, and Fejos wanted his musical to have some of the fluid motion of the late silent era restored. However, during these sweeping scenes, Fejos had to use silent film and then dub over it with recorded sound. This gives these parts of the film a surreal and disembodied quality.

The film is like "Faust" meets "Lights of New York" in that the film opens with a metallic-painted giant stalking about Broadway at night, filling his glass with ale, and gesturing for the residents of Broadway to join him in his debauchery. The film then moves to a nightclub where the story is largely unremarkable. It's basically just another gangster film set in a nightclub punctuated with two-strip Technicolor musical numbers. "Hitting the Ceiling" is the best and most remembered of these moments. My main complaint about this film is that Evelyn Brent looks so bored during most of it. She could and did turn in good performances in the early talkie era, so I'm not sure why with all of the intrigue that is lurking about the Paradise Club her reaction seems to be that it's just in a day's work.

The film was shot both silent and in sound, and has never been on VHS or DVD. The silent version I saw had Technicolor, and the sound version I saw was in black and white. I don't think that a talking version with color still exists. Some people have attempted to dub the speech of the talkie version into the silent version to get the maximum effect of the music and the color, but what I've seen hasn't worked too well. The film's director, Paul Fejos, decided to leave the film industry shortly after "Broadway" was complete due to his dislike of the people running Universal. Instead he embarked on a career in anthropology, where he became a leader in his field. An unusual end to the film career of a man who made very unusual films.

BROADWAY (Universal, 1929), directed by Paul Fejos, is a Carl Laemmle Jr. Super Production, and it shows. Taken from the hit play by George Abbott and Philip Dunning, BROADWAY came at the time when movies were equipped with new sound technology, putting the silent films to rest. Of the many early talkies from 1929, BROADWAY proved to be one of the finer productions produced due to the Hungarian director's futuristic visuals and offbeat camera angles that make this musical/drama appear more modern than some of the other talkies primitive styles. With a handful of "Broadway" titles used for its early musicals, there are those that were backstage themes. BROADWAY is categorized as a "night club" story with production numbers and murder story combined. Headed by unfamiliar marque names to contemporary viewers, Glenn Tryon, playing the hoofer/singer, gets feature billing supported by actresses known for their silent screen performances as Evelyn Brent, on loan from Paramount, and Merna Kennedy, best known as Charlie Chaplin's co-star in his silent comedy classic, THE CIRCUS (United Artists, 1928).

BROADWAY gets its stunning visual opening with a studio set air view of New York City's Broadway district of glittering lights before a huge, half-naked man walks through the streets superimposed under the title cards, pouring a drink into his glass and sprinkling it over Broadway. Next scene resumes its camera tracking through the Broadway district of theaters, movie houses and hotels before settling into the Paradise Night Club managed by Nick Verdis (Paul Porcasi). Roy Lane (Glenn Tryon) and Billie Moore (Merna Kennedy) are introduced as a dance team for the club. Steve Crandall (Robert Ellis), a bootlegger, assisted by Dolph (Arthur Housman), have a run-on in the cabaret office with gangster, James "Scar" Edwards (Leslie Fenton) who has been robbed of a truckload of liquor by Steve's gang, leading Crandall to shoot and kill Scar in the back. Scar and Dolph carry Scar, passing as an unconscious drunk, outside the club as witnessed by Roy and Billie, onto the back of a parked truck where they cover the body with a blanket. Unknown to Crandall, Scar happens to be married to Pearl (Evelyn Brent), one of the chorus girls in the show. When she learns of his death, she vows vengeance on his murder. During the course of the story, Dan McCorn (Thomas Jackson), having discovered the body a few blocks away, and having his suspicions, enters the scene with investigations. Others in the cast are: Otis Harlan (Andrew "Porky" Thompson); George Davis (Joe, the Waiter); Marion Lord (Lil Rice); and Gus Arnheim and his Orchestra. Though some sources list character actor, Fritz Feld, to appear as Mose Levitt, his name is not in either of the cast or visible in the final print. Thomas Jackson stands out as the detective with his overly familiar slow-speaking tone sleuth.

The songs by Con Conrad, Archie Gottler and Sidney Mitchell include: "Hitting the Ceiling" (sung by Glenn Tryon), "Hot Footin' It," (featuring Glenn Tryon dressed as a child); "Which Came First? The Chicken or the Egg" (performed by Tryon dressed as a school teacher); Tap Dance Number; "Sing a Little Love Song" (sung by Tryon and Merna Kennedy); "Broadway" and "Hitting the Ceiling" (reprise/Technicolor finale). The production numbers are as impressive as the film's visual opening, especially with its Art-Decco sets. They are not as stunning as some of the latter musicals of the 1940s, 1950s and beyond, but often start with Glenn Tryon walking down a long and wide pathway introducing his songs as the camera captures him many feet above the stage and looking down at him. The first song opening occurs 20 minutes into the start of the film. With the songs interlude not performed in its entirely, often interrupted by cutaways and dialogue by other actors, it is evident that the plot element comes as its main factor.

Glenn Tryon, who physical appearance makes one think of either a teenage Frankie Darro or cowboy actor, Guinn Williams, gives a good account of his portrayed character. Virtually forgotten, and having performed on stage and the silent screen in the twenties appearing in both short and feature films, BROADWAY should have paved the way for greater success, but didn't. Eventually Tryon became director before returning to acting in the 1940s, mostly in minor roles before disappearing from view. BROADWAY was later adapted for the screen again by Universal in 1942 starring George Raft, Pat O'Brien and Janet Blair, with new songs and updated story, but without those visuals and art-decco sets that have made the 1929 original so memorable.

Fortunately a film survivor, this 105 minute production was placed on DVD. To date, BROADWAY has never been shown on cable television, which is a shame because the film as a whole remains as impressive today as it must have been in 1929. (***)

"Broadway" (1929) contains some instances of dizzying, stupendous camerawork; most of the film, however, is shot in a more prosaic manner. The sets are impressive, but the story playing out inside them is mostly trite. The two main leads lack charisma; some secondary roles (the cop, the crook) are better, and then there is Evelyn Brent. Brent had already starred in one of the very few all-talkies made in 1928 (!), "Intereference", so unlike most of the other cast members, she was not new to all this. And she has more star presence than anyone else. She is the perfect embodiment (and what a thick body it is!) of female vengeance, and her climactic scene with the crook single-handedly earns this film an extra half-star. The final sequence is in color, but in current prints, at least, it looks terrible: someone needs to remaster this. **1/2 out of 4.