And now it's time for yet another Oscar Film Journal entry, here at Enuffa.com!
We're time-traveling back to the 1930s again, for what I guess could be considered the first pseudo-sequel to earn a Best Picture nomination, Broadway Melody of 1936. Narratively unrelated to the original 1929 Broadway Melody, and actually released in September of 1935 (not sure why it was called 1936 then), this follow-up is another song and dance vehicle held together by a shoestring plot.
Gossip columnist Bert Keeler (Jack Benny) is ordered by his editor to find an eye-catching story and he stumbles onto a juicy piece about Broadway producer Bob Gordon (Robert Taylor) and wealthy socialite Lillian Brent (June Knight), who's agreed to finance Gordon's latest play. Gordon's high school sweetheart Irene Foster (Eleanor Powell) arrives in town hoping to land a part in the show, but Bob at first doesn't even recognize her and later tells her to go back to Albany and avoid getting mixed up in the Broadway racket. Gordon and Keeler develop a heated feud over Keeler's gossip articles (complete with multiple physical altercations), so Keeler tries to sabotage the play by talking Bob into signing a French dancer (who in actuality doesn't exist). When Irene catches wind of this plot she decides to take up the persona of the Frenchwoman to get Bob's attention. It's a very complicated case, lotta ins, lotta outs, lotta what-have-yous....
Like a lot of 1930s screwball comedies, Broadway Melody of 1936 contains many tropes and plot contrivances that would fit right at home in a sitcom, and there are moments that feel akin to a Marx Brothers film (For example every time Bob storms angrily into Bert's office all the paper around him goes flying). Jack Benny and his sidekick Sid Silvers have a lot of fun scheming and bantering, while the Eleanor Powell character falls in with a brother and sister duo played by Buddy and Vilma Ebsen for some amusing moments.
But the real hook at the time was the production numbers, and unlike in the original film they're handled quite well in this one. Talkies had come a long way since the late 1920s, and movie cameras once again had some freedom to move about the set while sound was being recorded. Thus the dance sequences here are much more polished and engaging than in the 1929 film. Case in point a pair of scenes involving Eleanor Powell, who shows off stunning tap skills, both in a daydream sequence as Irene, and later as Irene pretending to be the French actress. Powell was quite impressive on the boards.
As with the original Broadway Melody I found this film an odd inclusion for Oscar contention, and just as they did in 1929 I think the Marx Brothers released a superior and overall more deserving film in 1935. But this one at least had some strong comedic value and much more immersive musical sequences. There's plenty of charm on display even if the story holding it all together is pretty silly and gets neatly wrapped up in the final two minutes.
I give Broadway Melody of 1936 *** out of ****.
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