The first winning musical, The Broadway Melody, was MGM’s first musical and also the first talking film to be honored by the Academy. Advertised as “All Talking, All Singing, All Dancing,” it also featured the technological innovation of color. One number, “The Wedding of the Painted Doll,” was presented in two colors.
A backstage musical, it is the tale of two sisters (Bessie Love and Anita Page), who seek fame in the New York theatre, and in the process fall in love with the same song-and-dance man.
My Oscar Book
Oscar Nominations: 3
Picture, produced by Harry Rapf
Director: Harry Beaumont
Actress: Bessie Love
Oscar Awards
Picture
Oscar Context
MGM’s “Broadway Melody” competed for the Best Picture Oscar with four other films: MGM’s other big musical that year, “Hollywood Revue of 1929,” UA’s drama “Alibi,” Fox’s Western “In Old Arizona,” and Paramount’s The Patriot.”