The Dogway Melody

Dogway Melody, The (1930)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A mildly entertaining entry in MGM's Dogville series is a spoof of their THE Broadway MELODY from 1929. This time out, naturally, we have dogs spoofing that movie and for the most part the story here stays pretty close to that of the film its spoofing. This Dogville series is going to be love it or hate it but I'm somewhere in the middle as I find most of the films to be incredibly bad but at the same time they're so darn surreal and at times creepy that you can't help but watch them from start to finish in some sort of morbid fascination. I actually found this to be one of the better episodes especially if you've seen the film that they're spoofing. The spoof of Anita Page is pretty spot on and also quite funny. The highlight of the film would have to be when Al J. Olsen comes on stage to sing "Mammy". Of course, the film features a black dog just to fit in with the real actors most famous way of singing. Like most of the others, making this a two-reeler is somewhat pushing it as I'm sure the film would have moved and worked better at an eight or nine minute running time but if you're a fan of the series you'll want to check this one. If you've never seen a film from the series then you might as well start here.

An MGM DOGVILLE Comedy Short Subject.

A couple of song & dance mutts try to make a hit on Dogway.

One in a series of Dogville shorts, THE DOGWAY MELODY is a hilarious spoof of MGM's Academy Award winning hit THE BROADWAY MELODY (1929), with costumed canines performing all the parts. The characters played by Charles King & Anita Page in the original film are given a doggie interpretation, as are two of Arthur Freed & Nacio Herb Brown's best tunes (‘The Broadway Melody' & ‘'You Were Meant For Me.') Highlight: A Ziegfeld-style revue complete with tableau, leggy chorines and a Jolson impersonator.

Often overlooked or neglected today, the one and two-reel short subjects were useful to the Studios as important training grounds for new or burgeoning talents, both in front & behind the camera. The dynamics for creating a successful short subject was completely different from that of a feature length film, something akin to writing a topnotch short story rather than a novel. Economical to produce in terms of both budget & schedule and capable of portraying a wide range of material, short subjects were the perfect complement to the Studios' feature films.

I accidentally discovered this after it came on following a film I was watching on TCM. It's an all dog cast performing a spoof of The Broadway Melody, and it's one of the most absolutely insane things I have ever seen.

The dogs are all adorable, and one of them sounds like he was voiced by Bert Lahr! There's funny parody sequences of "Mammy" from The Jazz Singer (performed by "Al J. Olsen") and "Singin' in the Rain".

Don't miss this one. 3/5

This is the last thing I watched on The Broadway Melody DVD. It was co-directed by one Jules White, yes, later the producer and director of The Three Stooges shorts at Columbia, and it spoofs not only the movie it's based on but also the "Mammy" sequence from The Jazz Singer (performed by "Al J. Olsen"!) and the "Singin' in the Rain" sequence from The Hollywood Revue of 1929. Oh, and there's also a blackout sketch about a father and his best friend awaiting the birth of the wife's baby that ended the way you've probably predicted if the premise I just told was any clue. Oh, and the way those dogs either dance, play instruments, or just walk on hind legs are good for some laughs. So, yes, I highly enjoyed The Dogway Melody though I did think it probably could have ended sooner after the revue segment ended...

Dog lovers will find a lot of amusement in this short subject satirizing the MGM movie "Broadway Melody." All sorts of pups are attired in costumes and hats to give a strangely weird look to their appearance which is oddly human.

The sketch actually follows the plot of the original movie and how it's done is absolutely amazing.

Still, I had the feeling when it was all over that it was a highly contrived sort of thing with some nice staging and background effects. However, I have to admit it's an oddity and comes across as more of a curio for fans able to appreciate the early shorts designed to entertain audiences between showings of the feature films.