Lord Byron of Broadway

I've seen this film twice and I think it's really one of the most underrated early musicals. Yes, it has its flaws: there's some typical early-talkie clunkiness in the direction, and Charles Kaley as the leading man is good-looking and a competent actor but hardly the irresistibly charismatic woman-magnet and energetic go-getter the script tells us Roy Erskine is. (Imagine this script as an early-1930's Warners product with James Cagney in the lead and you've got a good idea of what this story could have been.) But the story has real bite and pathos, its picture of the music business as exploitative and cutthroat rings as true now as it did then, and next to Rouben Mamoulian's masterpiece "Applause" this is probably the darkest backstage musical ever made. Even the ending, which in other hands could have been unbearably sentimental and sappy, is handled with the same realistic toughness as the rest of the film. Worthy of note is the appearance of a Columbia record label on screen (the label Charles Kaley actually recorded for; I have a 78 of him singing "Hello, Bluebird," a song Judy Garland revived in her last film, "I Could Go On Singing") instead of a made-up record company, and the two beautifully preserved two-strip Technicolor dance numbers (including an Albertina Rasch ballet that features Busby Berkeley-style overhead shots a year before Berkeley himself ever made a film) that show off what a gorgeous process two-strip Technicolor really was, with a harmonious, painterly color scheme that often is more pleasing than the often overripe colors of the early three-strip process which replaced it.

"The Lady in the Shoe" number, filmed in primitive color and sung charmingly by Ethelind Terry, is quite stunning for a 1930s film.

This film is full of very talented actors and actresses, who I've never seen before, and don't know their names. I think 1930 is getting pretty close to the start of talkies, but the sound is fine in this one. Its full of good songs and good performers, instrumental and vocal, men and women. Dancing extraordinaire! Busby Berkely type routines on stage with Circles of high kicking young ladies. This captures the feeling and the passion of the music of this day. Charles Kaley, (Roy Erskine) is one of the main singers and actors. He is superb in both respects. The ladies opposite him are perfect to a "T" also. Flappers galore. Where are they now? If you would like to be taken back to the 20's in fine style, catch this short film. Dave Danzl

If the name of Ukulele Ike makes you smile with informed warmth, you may want to give a quick flip past "Lord Byron of Broadway" when TCM replays it in thirty years or so. If you're obsessive-compulsive enough to wait out scene after scene of tepid love talk for two-strip Technicolor Albertina Rasch dance routines, or lesser-known Nacio Herb Brown songs trilled by operetta-singing stiffs, you may even sit thru a good portion of it. But whatever you bring to it, be warned that you cannot possibly like this picture.

Even to the 1929 audience, "Lord Byron" must have been a bland plate of turkey indeed. The color dance numbers aren't too bad to look at - Mme. Rasch owed a debt to Busby The Great, or maybe vice versa - but listening to the draggy, chirpy musical settings is painful even if you love the music of the 20s. And if the name of lead actor and grade-B recording star Charles Kaley means anything at all to you, you've watched entirely too much Joe Franklin. Or perhaps you ARE Joe Franklin.

Strictly for nostalgia nerds, this, and even for them, it's not all that rewarding.

Don't let some ol' sourpusses diminish the charm of this admittedly antique musical. For those who find early sound musicals innately fascinating, this one is a key film, particularly for the two-strip Technicolor sequences. And the music is very, very evocative of the era. I'm glad we have such early films available on TCM, since they don't deserve obscurity, whatever their dated qualities. There >is< definitely something to like about this film, which is unfortunately at the mercy of sometimes ignorant and unforgiving 21st century sensibilities. Look beyond the hokey acting and let the authentic feel and sound of the late '20s cast a unique spell. It's still worth a visit.