Watch Broadway Melody of 1938 For Free

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

I don't know exactly why, but I didn't have high hopes for this film, but I quite wrong. A very good mid-1930s musical! Let's start out with the negatives. Chief among them was the casting of -- or perhaps I should blame it on the director on the performance of -- Buddy Ebsen. I'll admit to not being a particular fan of Ebsen's, and perhaps that's quite a bit to do with his sting on "THe Beverly Hillbillies" in the 1960s, but I am really not impressed here. It seems to me that what they (or he) wanted to do with his character was to make a White Stepin Fetchit, except that Lincoln Perry was more talented. I really see NOTHING entertaining about Ebsen's acting here, and his dancing is not much more than satisfactory. My other criticism is the sneezing routine; what a waste of celluloid.Aside from those 2 issues, there's quite a bit of good stuff here, starting with an otherwise fine cast. Robert Taylor is very good as the trying-to-be a Broadway producer. Eleanor Powell always impresses me with her dancing, although this is not her finest performance. Judy Garland is really good here as a teenage girl on her way to stardom, and this is the film where she performs her memorable love letter to Clark Gable ("You Made Me Love You"); what a fine vocalist she was even at this young age (15). It's great to see Sophie Tucker, particularly where she does a somewhat short version of "Some Of These Days"; she also plays a wonderfully sympathetic character here. George Murphy shows just how good a dancer he was, and that was darned good...although sometimes he had to look down, while Fred Astaire never would have. Robert Benchley is here, but adds little. Billy Gilbert is very funny in his constant apoplecty.In terms of a plot...well it's a hodge podge of horse racing, a Broadway play, love and jealousy, and dreams of stardom. Yes, a hodge podge, but it somehow all comes together without seeming to silly.While this is not one of the later great musicals put out by MGM, bu mid-1930s standards, it's very good and well worth watching.

"Broadway melody 38" is the second fantastic "melody" film after "Broadway melody 36". One of the reasons " Melody 36" was so great was due to the wonderful Eleanor Powell. Her talented dancing magic and her lovely beauty just lights up the screen. Eleanor is back in "Melody 38" for more of that. Eleanor is also wonderful in "Born to dance", "Rosalie", "Lady be good", and "Broadway melody 40''. The wonderful Judy Garland joins this film too. She lights up the screen with her beautiful singing. Sophie Tucker, another great old time actress is here as the owner of a boarding house for performers trying to get work. Judy is staying there, and Eleanor comes over there too. Also, the guy from "Melody 36" as the "expert" snoorer is back this time as an "expert" sneezer, which would've been OK if they left it alone with him just being the snorer in "Melody 36". It's just for that reason I rate this film a 9 and a half instead of 10, but I decided to round it off to a 10 since so much of this film is wonderful. I liked Buddy Ebson and George Murphy in the opera singing barber shop ("Singing barbar of Seville"). The singing barber and his partner Billy Gilbert were a good couple of characters added to the film starting with them gambling together on the races with the horse "Fast asleep", and Billy saying "you better hope for your sake that that horse doesn't get sleepy in the race". Then, when Buddy and George found that they needed their money and the money Billy put down for something else and couldn't bet on the race, Billy and his partner chase them down, "Ah-haa!, so that's where are yoouu!!". I liked Billy's way of not being able to quite phrase things correctly, such as "and don't give me the cross doub。 of $800 and kept avoiding me, but I would be angry. And $800 then was similar to like $8000 today), she then gets them all to make peace and bet together in another race with the horse "Fast asleep". That horse was a former horse of Eleanor's (she had to sell him due to the depression). She is now trying to buy him back, with the help of Robert Taylor and George trying to come up with the money for her to do so, including at a bidding auction. Robert doesn't want Eleanor to know that he wants to buy her horse back, which makes sense due to Robert not wanting to remain too desperate since he has a crush on her. Robert gives George the money, George asks "where shall I tell her I got it?' Robert: "tell her anything, tell her it was bank night" George: "I get it, tell her anything except that it came from you" Robert: "That's right". I can relate to him loving Eleanor. There's more of her wonderful dancing in this film, this time to "I'm feeling like a million" and "Follow in my footsteps". Eleanor shows more of her amazing dance talent, all of her great kicks, twirls, and other fabulous dance moves. Eleanor could sing beautifully too, as she sings " Yours and mine". Then Judy Garland's wonderful " Everybody sing" in the waiting room. Judy sings great, then the stuffy, quirky waiting room assistant joining in the song ("sing a song of sixpence "), then some fat guy joining in with a very deep, bass voice. " Everybody sing" was one of two pieces of Judy's famous songs in this film. The other's the famous "Dear Mr. Gable, you made me love you", with Judy sitting at her dresser looking at a scrapbook of Clark Gable. And Judy singing it with her very talented voice and with so much passion. It was one of her many wonderful memorable pieces of cinematic gold in the years between the late 1930s and 1950 with Judy at MGM. Between her, Eleanor, and numerous others in the film, "Broadway melody 38" is another wonderful golden age treasure.

In the 1930s, there were many, many musicals that followed pretty much the same pattern. In fact, Hollywood did little to disguise this and followed the same formula again and again. In the case of Broadway MELODY OF 1938 (oddly, made in 1937) and a dozen other films it was as follows: A nice but poor girl (Eleanor Powell) wants to be discovered as a new singing/dancing sensation. Through grit and the power of niceness, she is able to ultimately be discovered by a big-name producer (Robert Taylor) who promises to build an entire multi-million dollar show for a no-name (I'm sure this happens all the time). But, in a case of "not-niceness", the evil diva or rich lady puts a stop to this dream and it looks like our little sweetheart will have to give up her dreams. However, in the end, as if out of nowhere, the show MUST have this little trooper and she pulls off the performance of a lifetime and she instantly rises to international stardom! Unfortunately, because of this formula, Broadway MELODY OF 1938 suffers greatly. After all, if you've already seen several similar films, you know exactly what you're in for with the film. Heck, I think most writers could have written this film even after a severe head injury--it was that "by the numbers" so to speak.So at the outset the film has a poor and recycled plot. However, when it comes to singing and dancing the film does a lot better--though it is NOT a particular standout either.Eleanor Powell, as always, was an absolutely amazing tap dancer--possibly the best there ever was (and definitely the best female tapper on film). While her singing voice was only adequate, her dancing was tops. George Murphy (sort of like a poor man's Fred Astaire) was also fine in the role as the male singing/dancing lead. However, for comic relief, Buddy Edsen was included as well and while he could dance, his ungraceful and gangly style was very odd when they had him dancing with Powell and Murphy.They also had some interesting support from Sophie Tucker and Judy Garland. Ms. Tucker, sadly, was well past her prime when she made this and only a few other Hollywood films. She had been a huge star on stage, but unfortunately, here she is given a rather obnoxious role and you can't tell just how great she was in her heyday. However, in great contrast, Judy Garland is only 15 here and on top of her game. Of all the performers in the film, her singing talent easily outshines the others. Unfortunately, while given some good songs in the film, her most famous song from the film was the rather saccharine and annoying ode to Clark Gable. It made me cringe and just seemed like a cheap ploy by MGM to plug one of its stars (Gable).So, what you've got overall is a very formulaic film with some decent but not particularly memorable songs. Fortunately, Robert Taylor does NOT sing or dance, so at least this is a plus. While the total package is adequate, unless you are a huge musicals fan, I'd just recommend you see a better example of the genre.By the way, now that I think about it, wouldn't have been neat to have seen Buddy Ebsen dancing in a film with Jimmy Cagney? Both could definitely tap, but both had little grace and made up for it by intensity. Seeing these two completely non-subtle dancers on the same stage might have been interesting.

"Broadway Melody of 1938" (MGM, 1937), directed by Roy Del Ruth, the third installment to MGM's "Broadway Melody" yearly titled series, following 1929 and 1936, is an ultra lavish edition (minus Technicolor) with a galaxy of stars, and being most noted today mainly for young Judy Garland, in her MGM feature debut, singing to the portrait of movie actor, Clark Gable, than anything else in the entire production. It would had been more interesting in making Garland the central focus to the story as a teen-aged daughter of a legendary Broadway star (Sophie Tucker) of long ago wanting to keep the family tradition going after her mother retires, and the struggles and hardships that come with it. Instead, this edition of "Broadway Melody" includes enough subplots to make this a two hour plus special, and possibly was, but due to some noticeable sudden cuts and abridged scenes with quick blackouts, it finally made it to a 112 minute cut. Even Judy Garland's singing voice to the song, "Yours and Mine" is heard during the last half of the opening credits, and not seen as part of an audition as such, in the plot.For the storyline, Caroline Whipple (Binnie Barnes), a former chorus girl now married to a middle-aged millionaire, Herman (Raymond Walburn), is fond of Steve Reilly (Robert Taylor), and she agrees to back a show for which he has written the score. Caroline maintains a large racing stable. Among her horses is Star Gazer, favored to win a big race at Baltimore. Sally Lee (Eleanor Powell), an ambitious dancer, loves Star Gazer because her father raised him. Hearing that Caroline intends to auction off the horse in New York, Sally stows away in a box car and hopes to go along with him. On the train she meets Steve Raleigh (Robert Taylor), who's traveling with the Whipples in their private car. After Sally helps him complete a score he is writing, he becomes impressed with her singing and dancing, and decides to star her in his upcoming show. While in New York, Steve arranges Sally to live in a boarding house for out-of-work actors run by Alice Clayton (Sophie Tucker), a former Broadway headliner hoping to get her daughter, Betty (Judy Garland) into show business. But before the grand finale featuring Star Gazer in a horse race, and then, the Broadway show, the subplot takes center stage on partners Sonny Ledford (George Murphy) and Peter Polt (Buddy Ebsen) who become trainer and jockey to Sally's horse, both dodging an Italian barber (Billy Gilbert) and his opera singing nephew (Charles Igor Gorin), because they owe him money they played on the horses, which won; plus character actor performers adding some comedy, including Robert Wildhack, who previously demonstrated the art of snoring in "Broadway Melody of 1936," now demonstrating his art of sneezing, which predates the comedy acts of future MGM comic, Red Skelton; Helen Troy as Emma Snipe, the "answer to everything" secretary, and a lot funnier than the sneezer; plus the legendary Robert Benchley in a supporting role as a critic.The musical program includes: "The Toreador Song" from Bizet's CARMEN (sung by Charles Igor Gorin); "Follow in My Footsteps" (sung by George Murphy, Buddy Ebsen and Eleanor Powell); "Yours and Mine" (sung by Eleanor Powell); "Everybody Sing!" (sung by Judy Garland, with Sophie Tucker who sings a portion of "Happy Days Are Here Again", Barnett Parker, and others); "Some of These Days" (sung by Sophie Tucker); "I'm Feeling Like a Million" (sung and danced by George Murphy and Eleanor Powell); "Dear Mr. Gable (You Made Me Love You)" (sung by Judy Garland); "Your Broadway and My Broadway" (sung by Sophie Tucker/danced by Eleanor Powell), and "Broadway Melody" (closing with cast). A cut song, "Got a Pair of New Shoes," which Garland would sing in her latter film, "Thoroughbreds Don't Cry" (MGM, 1937), can be heard briefly sung by chorus during the finale."Broadway Melody of 1938" is pure New Yorkish, with the opening and closing credits focusing on the legendary Broadway theaters, Radio City Music Hall, the Metropolitan Opera House and the streets of Broadway in the after sundown hours. The talented dancing by Eleanor Powell highlight the story, although having her tap-dancing in a box-car and later along with George Murphy on the New York streets in front of the Plaza Hotel around the water pond where they are the only one's around, with the orchestral score playing on cue, may seem foolish by today's standards. These "fantasy" numbers set against realism, along with Garland's memorable "Dear Mr. Gable" number, which takes place in her bedroom after everyone is asleep, all might have worked better as production numbers within the Broadway show, but this has become the normal style of film entertainment, especially by MGM standards, looking more like a dance musical from the 1940s and '50s. Remember Gene Kelly on the streets dancing and singing in the rain in 1952? And speaking of dancers, Buddy Ebsen should not go unnoticed, especially during his brief dancing segment opposite pert Judy Garland in the Broadway finale.In spite of some of its shortcomings, "Broadway Melody of 1938" will not disappoint any avid lover of movie musicals from the golden age of Hollywood, especially seeing some future film stars on the rise, particularly the young Judy Garland, one year before success found her with "The Wizard of Oz" (1939).Aside from "Broadway Melody of 1938" being readily available for viewing on both video cassette and cable's Turner Classic Movies, there was also a motion picture soundtrack on record released in 1983, compliments of Motion Picture Tracks International, which not only includes the entire score in stereo, but an outtake song of "I'm Feeling Like a Million," sung by Judy Garland on piano. One can only hope that someday, musical and/or storyline outtakes from the film will resurface in parts on video or DVD. Next and final installment, "Broadway Melody of 1940" (1940). (***)