This remake of the very first musical film to win the Academy Award is a shell of its original source, and not even close to the Fred Astaire/Eleanor Powell/George Murphy musical epic that came out the same year this did. George Murphy is a rising New York cabaret hoofer who promises old girfriend Joan Blondell a job, along with her younger sister Lana Turner. The two young ladies, who run a dancing school for cloying toddlers (think of those overly photographed tots from the previous year's "Babes in Arms"), show up, and it becomes apparent who the favorite will be for the producers watching Blondell and Turner sing and dance. With Blondell forced to step into the background (and work as a cigarette girl!), Murphy and Turner become a popular team, and their working together turns to romance which threatens to leave Blondell out in the cold.
The three leads add some class to this shell of what the original film had been, with much of the meat taken out because of code restrictions. While the original "Broadway Melody of 1929" might be creaky, it features some rather risque references to situations and character types behind the scenes of a Broadway musical, cut out here because of the desire not to offend the Hays code administrators. The highlight is a lavish production number, "My Wonderful One Let's Dance", that makes this "B" picture look more like an "A" with sets and costumes straight out of MGM's biggest musicals of the time. So this is more A- or B+ than strictly "B", but it really isn't worthy of showing off the acting chops of Turner and only utilizes Blondell in ways that accentuate her big heart yet make her the romantic loser. She seems out of place in the MGM glamour, needing the grittiness of Warner Brothers to make her oh so real woman stand out. Gone too are those great wisecracks or observations of the things going on around her, so it seems like a step down for her after a decade of realism at Warners. Murphy basically plays the same character he did in the "Broadway Melody" films he had done, so there's really nothing new in his performance. Turner would have to be paired with Clark Gable and a few other more dashing leading men to really bring out her spark, but that was only just a matter of time.
The three leads add some class to this shell of what the original film had been, with much of the meat taken out because of code restrictions. While the original "Broadway Melody of 1929" might be creaky, it features some rather risque references to situations and character types behind the scenes of a Broadway musical, cut out here because of the desire not to offend the Hays code administrators. The highlight is a lavish production number, "My Wonderful One Let's Dance", that makes this "B" picture look more like an "A" with sets and costumes straight out of MGM's biggest musicals of the time. So this is more A- or B+ than strictly "B", but it really isn't worthy of showing off the acting chops of Turner and only utilizes Blondell in ways that accentuate her big heart yet make her the romantic loser. She seems out of place in the MGM glamour, needing the grittiness of Warner Brothers to make her oh so real woman stand out. Gone too are those great wisecracks or observations of the things going on around her, so it seems like a step down for her after a decade of realism at Warners. Murphy basically plays the same character he did in the "Broadway Melody" films he had done, so there's really nothing new in his performance. Turner would have to be paired with Clark Gable and a few other more dashing leading men to really bring out her spark, but that was only just a matter of time.