The Broadway Melody (1929)
Directed by Harry Beaumont
As an overlong, overdramatic, and often nonsensical morality play, The Broadway Melody is an unmitigated success. Harry Beaumont’s glimpse into the lives of chorus girls under the employ of thinly-disguised industry giants like “Jacques Warriner” and “Zanfield” (obvious digs at Jack Warner and Florenz Ziegfeld) has brief moments of racy pre-code shine, but these few and far-between moments of subversion are quickly undone by demeaning moralization. If it were entertaining moralization (like the kind you get when you find a Chick tract lying on the ground), that might be something. Instead, it’s bland, perfunctory, and increasingly boring. Apparently, though, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in all their wisdom, thought differently and awarded The Broadway Melody their second ever “Outstanding Picture” award. Somewhere, Jacques Warriner and Zanfield are rolling in their graves.
In Old Arizona (1928)
Directed by Irving Cummings and Raoul Walsh
It may be the first talking western and based on an O. Henry story, but that can’t save In Old Arizona from being a boring affair with little to offer other than a particularly brutal ironic twist ending. Its characters (who are all supposed to be decent people) are self-centered and conniving, making them a highly unlikable bunch. If that’s not enough to turn you off, In Old Arizona also boasts some good old-fashioned racial insensitivity and misogynistic tendencies, which did nothing to interfere with its five Academy Award nominations, including “Outstanding Picture.” You know your film is in trouble when the most interesting thing about it is that your director and would-be lead lost an eye during production. The story goes that director and star Raoul Walsh (who co-directed with Irving Cummings) had a jackrabbit jump through the windshield of his car while on location, causing a crash that cost him his right eye. The part was then given to Warner Baxter, who won an Oscar for his performance. How’s that for irony?
The Hollywood Revue (1929)
Directed by Charles Reisner
MGM and Irving Thalberg’s expensive star-studded showcase falls artistically flat, to say the least. As a snapshot of the entertainment industry in the late 1920s, I suppose The Hollywood Revue has its place, but that doesn’t excuse its stiff production and lackluster presentation. Sure, there’s an interesting color sequence (a major rarity for 1929), but the entirety of the program is filmed as if we’re sitting in the back of the room. Even the acts that show promise (Laurel and Hardy, Buster Keaton, and a very young Joan Crawford, among others) are stifled by stationary cameras and a complete lack of pizazz. While I understand the attempt, two hours is a long time to subject an audience to something that isn’t much more than an ordinary variety show, even by 1929 standards.
James is a writer, skateboarder, record collector, wrestling nerd, and tabletop gamer living with his family in Asheville, North Carolina. He is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association, the North Carolina Film Critics Association, and contributes to The Daily Orca, Razorcake Magazine, Mountain Xpress, and Asheville Movies.