Broadway Serenade

Director: Robert Z. Leonard Robert Z. Leonard

Overview

Jeanette MacDonald and Lew Ayres make strange bedfellows in the overproduced MGM musical Broadway Serenade. She plays aspiring singer Mary Hale, and he plays her husband, struggling songwriter James Geoffrey Seymour. The couple's vaudeville act breaks up when Mary is hired for a big-time Broadway revue. As she rises to the top of the show-business heap, Seymour hits the skids, having lost his inspiration. On the verge of divorcing Seymour to marry a wealthy producer, Mary finally realizes that her life will be incomplete without her husband by her side. Saving the film from drowning in a sea of cliches are Jeanette MacDonald's musical renditions, not to mention the comedy relief of Frank Morgan and veteran vaudevillian Al Shean.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/08/2012
UPC:	0883316450277
Original Release:	1939
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Archives
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:54:00
Sales rank:	49,559

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Jeanette MacDonald	Mary Hale
Lew Ayres	James Geoffrey 'Jimmy' Seymour
Frank Morgan	Cornelius Collier, Jr.
Wally Vernon	Joey, the Jinx
Rita Johnson	Judy Tyrrell
Virginia Grey	Pearl
William Gargan	Bill Foster
Katherine Alexander	Harriet Ingalls
Al Shean	Herman
Esther Dale	Mrs. Olsen
Franklin Pangborn	Gene
E. Alyn Warren	Everett
Paul Hurst	Reynolds
Frank Orth	Mr. Fellowes
Esther Howard	Mrs. Fellowes
Leon Belasco	Squeaker
Kitty McHugh	Kitty, the Maid
Kenneth Stevens	Singer
Ian Hunter	Larry Bryant

Technical Credits

Robert Z. Leonard

Producer,Director

Menu

Disc #1 -- Broadway Serenade
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Editorial Reviews

Broadway Serenade is a bit of a mess of a musical, but it has a number of things worth seeing. First is star Jeanette MacDonald, in the midst of her Nelson Eddy period but clearly happen to be given a movie that frees her from the MacDonald-Eddy formula. She's a bit looser here, a bit easier to get to know, and in altogether superb voice; her "Un Bel Di" is delicious. Undoubtedly, she would have preferred a part that had more meat on it, a script that was not so trite and contrived, but she still makes the most of the situation and carries the film quite nicely. There's also some fine supporting work from Al Shean and Frank Morgan, and some sets and costumes that are to die for. There's also the bizarre climactic concerto sequence, a fascinating train wreck of a production number that is all wrong but which one still can't tear one's eyes away from. Staged by Busby Berkeley, it's pretentious nonsense, but nonetheless striking for that. As indicated, the screenplay is poor, pretty much from beginning to end, and Robert Z. Leonard's so-so direction does nothing to compensate for this. Lew Ayres is weak in the male lead, and there's no chemistry between him and MacDonald. And although individual numbers are quite winning, the score's "hodgepodge" nature prevents it from seeming like a cohesive whole. Watch it for MacDonald and that final number.

All Movie Guide - Craig Butler