Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935)
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Broadway Melody of 1936 Movie Review
Broadway Melody of 1936 is a 1935 musical film directed by Roy del Ruth and starring Jack Benny and Eleanor Powell. It’s a fun little sequel of sorts.
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“Go down to the ocean and
pull a wave over your head!“
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Yes, this acts as a sequel to 1929’s ‘The Broadway Melody’, but mostly only in name and in some musical numbers as the plot and characters are entirely different. I would say the two are of similar quality, and not at all as bad as most would say they are nowadays.
The plot is overly comedic and goofy, but it works in the context of the backstage musical. It’s thus too timely, but a good glimpse of this period and this particular industry. Most of the film relied way too heavily on misunderstandings and situational humor, but still it had its charming scenes and an interestingly goofy, childlike sense of humor which I really dug.
The characters are fun and endearing for the most part. Some are forgettable such as Robert Taylor’s character, but Jack Benny as Bert Keeler is a lot of fun. He steals the show comedy-wise and some of his scenes are genuinely very amusing. As for Eleanor Powell, she danced the hell out of her dance numbers and her prowess is not far away from the level of Fred Astaire. That’s how great she was.
Speaking of dance numbers, they are a lot of fun, and also very well executed across the board. However, I could not say the same for the musical numbers. Broadway Rhythm is repeated from the previous movie for the most part as well as Broadway Melody. I liked You Are My Lucky Star quite a bit, but every other song fell flat as they were bland and forgettable. All of the songs hare have the sameness quality to them which hurt the film as a musical.
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Broadway Melody of 1936 has fine dialogue and solid humor overall, though far from great. The pacing is so-so and the direction is very weak. The cinematography is serviceable, but nothing to write home about. It won an Oscar for Best Dance Direction deservedly so, but its nods for writing and best film are so undeserved.
Broadway Melody of 1936 has not so memorable musical numbers, but the dancing is excellent, especially that of terrific Eleanor Powell. Jack Benny plays his character so well and he’s the comedic highlight of the movie. This flick has so-so storytelling, but its humor is endearing as are some of the characters leading to what is a pretty respectable sequel of sorts to the original.
