Broadway

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 now exists in two versions - the 88 minute visual silent with Hungarian subtitles and the 105 minute soundtrack only of the talking version (inflated for production numbers).

I was most impressed with the cinematography (Hal Mohr) in the scenes that could be filmed silently with soundtrack added later. The tracking and crane shots are amazing for any period, but especially for an early talkie; about an hour into the silent print, a morning after shot reveals the enormous night club set being cleaned by custodians with an almost surrealistically mobile camera. In contrast the scenes including dialogue are filmed rather conventionally with a non-moving camera.

The night club set is a stunner - looks like it took up an entire sound stage - kudos to Art Director Charles D. Hall. There are only a handful of other sets, mostly small backstage interiors.

The plot is very simplistic. I won't reveal any details as I don't want to provide spoilers. However, I can reveal this. There are two parallel plot lines - one involving a hoofer and his romance with one of the chorus girls, and the other a reel one murder involving management and bootlegging that relies on feelings of guilt and paranoia to bring the guilty party to heel.

Glenn Tryon is a lousy singer, but Evelyn Brent's superb performance as Pearl carries the film.

As a piece of cinematic history, it's a treasure to find. Now if the talking version pictorial elements surface, we'll be able to really compare the two.

"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.

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" is a very unusual film. While it is a very early talky and is dated in some ways, in others it's amazingly advanced...especially with the truly spectacular camera-work. For the artistry alone, it's well worth seeing!

The opening credits are shocking and very interesting...and you know you're in for a special film. Using a model of Broadway, a man dressed up like a demon roams the streets and the titles then appear over it! For a model scene, it was very, very well done. Also well done are scenes using cranes, amazing dissolves and a roving camera- - something rarely seen even in films of the 30s! Also amazing are the costumes....especially the one with the skyscraper hats!

As for the story, a mobster named Crandall owns the theater in which the film is set. He's involved in bootlegging and early on in the picture, he murders his competition. As he and his sidekick are dragging the body outside, Billie and Roy see them...and are told the guy was drunk and they are 'helping him'. This story is unquestioned...but when Scar is found dead nearby, Roy realizes what has happened. As for Billie, she obviously has feelings for Crandall, and he's been heaping his attention on her, and she lies for the guy when asked about this later. So what's going to become of Billie and Roy? And, what of the murder? Will it go unpunished?

This film is unusual because although you see lots of costumes and dancers, it's not a musical until the very end--which is, incidentally, in Two-color Technicolor...and it's very degraded (looking mostly black and orangy-red). The copy I saw on YouTube sure could stand restoration.

As far as the overall film goes, it was BRILLIANT for 1929....and still holds up pretty well today.