Monday, April 3, 2017

A to Z Challenge - B is for Bessie Love

The second day of the A to Z challenge and the B title movie is the first sound film to win Best Picture from 1929 The Broadway Melody.  Staring Bessie Love, as from the blog title would have helped you guessed, and Anita Page as her sister.

The story is simple, two sisters who have a vaudeville act go to New York City. One of the sisters fiancee begins to fall for the other sister, and that sister is becoming a star on her own.  And this of course damages the relationship of the two sisters.  Come to think of it, not that simple after all.

But the film is important for many reasons.  It helped usher in the new era of sound in pictures.  And unlike the Jazz Singer, which was a silent movie with a few scenes that had sound added in, this was a box office successful film that was a movie with sound.  And to be honest, when you think of movies from the 1920's, you generally think of a silent picture, so it is rather neat to see a film with sound from the 20's.  Well, to me at least.


1 comment:

  1. Thankfully the musical became so much better but they still have this film to thank. I am a lover of musicals and Fred Astaire who insisted how the dance should be shown on screen. Bessie Love deserves love as she did have a long career though the teens and 20's were her heyday.

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