Broadway Melody of 1940 Blu-ray Review

4 Stars Last entry in the musical franchise offers some unforgettable moments.

When you’ve got Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell, Cole Porter, and the mammoth MGM moviemaking machine working together, the results can’t help but be something memorable, and that’s what you get in Norman Taurog’s Broadway Melody of 1940.

Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940)
Released: 09 Feb 1940
Rated: Passed
Runtime: 102 min
Director: Norman Taurog
Genre: Musical
Cast: Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell, George Murphy, Frank Morgan
Writer(s): Leon Gordon (screen play), George Oppenheimer (screen play), Jack McGowan (original story), Dore Schary (original story)
Plot: Johnny Brett and King Shaw are an unsuccessful dance team in New York. A producer discovers Brett as the new partner for Clare Bennett, but Brett, who thinks he is one of the people they lent money to gives him the name of his partner.
IMDB rating: 7.4
MetaScore: N/A

Disc Information
Studio: Warner Brothers
Distributed By: Warner Archive
Video Resolution: 1080P/AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1
Audio: English 2.0 DTS-HDMA
Subtitles: English SDH
Rating: Not Rated
Run Time: 1 Hr. 42 Min.
Package Includes: Blu-ray
Case Type: keep case
Disc Type: BD50 (dual layer)
Region: All
Release Date: 04/13/2021
MSRP: $21.99

The Production: 4/5

The Broadway Melody franchise came to a grand and glorious end with Broadway Melody of 1940, the fourth in the series of backstage musicals featuring the life and loves of Broadway performers who contribute blood, sweat, and tears as they sing and dance their way to stardom on the Great White Way. Norman Taroug’s entry in the series had two particular things going for it that the other three didn’t have: a new Cole Porter score and the addition of Fred Astaire to the cast: the medium’s greatest male tap dancer paired for the first and only time with its greatest lady tapper, Eleanor Powell.

Johnny Brett (Fred Astaire) and King Shaw (George Murphy) are a dance team who have had a singular lack of success in New York. Producer Bob Casey (Frank Morgan) is impressed with Brett’s fancy footwork and imagines him as the new partner for Broadway dancing sensation Clare Bennett (Eleanor Powell), but in the kind of mix-up that can only happen in the movies, King is offered the audition with Clare and is cast as the leading man in her next show. Johnny is heartbroken, not only losing the job but also the chance to court Clare Bennett with whom he’s smitten. But King’s ego gets the best of him during rehearsals, and Johnny finds himself covering for his pal and insinuating himself into the production without actually meaning to.

The screenplay by Leon Gordon and George Oppenheimer was based on a story by Jack McGowan and Dore Schary, a love quadrangle and buddy comedy all rolled into one supplanted by some Cole Porter originals (two of which became standards: “I’ve Got My Eyes on You” and “I Concentrate on You”) and one that was already a standard “Begin the Beguine.” The Norman Taurog-directed, Bobby Connolly-choreographed movie gets off to a lively start with Astaire and Murphy hoofing amiably through “Please Don’t Monkey with Broadway” (which given their talent doesn’t make sense that they haven’t yet been discovered) and Eleanor Powell tapping and tumbling through a nautical number “I Am the Captain.” It’s clear that she and Murphy don’t have much terpsichorean chemistry in their “Between You and Me” number, but the pairing of her with Astaire is dancing dynamite. We’re teased with a quickening tap number in an Italian bistro, but producer Jack Cummings saves his big guns for the finale: “Begin the Beguine” where the two begin with a flamenco tap arrangement to the song, but its finale is the now-famous excerpt shown in That’s Entertainment where the two tap rings around the other for over six minutes reflected in a mirrored floor with thousands of lights in the background and in a tapping display never to be matched. Elsewhere the film bogs down a bit with Murphy’s drunken escapades but is enlivened by Frank Morgan’s running gag with an ermine coat and two weirdly dropped-in sequences that have nothing to do with the plot and bring the film to a standstill but are nonetheless amazing: juggler Trixie Firschke who shows her stuff in producer Ian Hunter’s office and opera comic Charlotte Arren who does her satiric take on “Il Bacio” that might have given Bea Lillie a run for her money.

Ever the nice guy, Fred Astaire’s Johnny Brett never reveals to pal King Shaw about the audition mix-up even though he finds out about it relatively early in the movie. While he and Eleanor Powell tap and twirl to a photo finish, in this his first film after his long and profitable pairing with Ginger Rogers at RKO, it was likely fortuitous the two expert tappers weren’t paired again since ballroom routines in which Astaire also excelled weren’t really Powell’s cup of tea (surprisingly, she does her solo “I Concentrate on You” en pointe for some of its length before Astaire joins her masqueraded as his incapacitated buddy). George Murphy, a stage and screen hoofer of many years, proves in the finale dance that while his dancing talent is formidable, he didn’t have quite the lightness of foot of his compatriots. Frank Morgan bumbles around in his best tradition while Ian Hunter plays Morgan’s more level-headed producing partner who also directs the shows.

Video: 5/5

3D Rating: NA

The film’s 1.37:1 theatrical aspect ratio is faithfully rendered in this 1080p transfer using the AVC codec. The greyscale is magnificent as blacks are inky and rich and white levels are pristinely clean. Sharpness throughout is outstanding except where photographers Joseph Ruttenberg and Oliver T. Marsh deliberately diffuse the image. There are no traces of age-related scratches, dirt, splices, or reel cues. The movie has been divided into 30 chapters.

Audio: 4.5/5

The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono sound mix offers strong fidelity and a mostly appealing audio quality. There is some attenuated hiss in some of the quieter passages of the movie, but it is rarely a problem, and there is no flutter, crackle, or pops to distract from the enjoyable aural experience.

Special Features: 3/5

Cole Porter in Hollywood (9:43, SD): Peter Fitzgerald’s short documentary on the making of the movie hosted by Ann Miller.

The Big Premiere (10:34, SD): a 1940 Our Gang short featuring the gang chased away from a movie premiere and deciding to stage their own.

The Milky Way (7:58, HD): Oscar-winning animated short

Theatrical Trailer (3:31, SD)

Overall: 4/5

When you’ve got Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell, Cole Porter, and the mammoth MGM moviemaking machine working together, the results can’t help but be something memorable, and that’s what you get in Norman Taurog’s Broadway Melody of 1940. Warner Archive’s new Blu-ray release presents the classic musical in its best-ever light and comes highly recommended!

Matt has been reviewing films and television professionally since 1974 and has been a member of Home Theater Forum’s reviewing staff since 2007, his reviews now numbering close to three thousand. During those years, he has also been a junior and senior high school English teacher earning numerous entries into Who’s Who Among America’s Educators and spent many years treading the community theater boards as an actor in everything from Agatha Christie mysteries to Stephen Sondheim musicals.

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David Weicker

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Got my copy today.

What a wonderful film.

I knew there was a reason that Fred is my absolute favorite star

to quote Patrick Dennis in Auntie Mame
"Our only god was Fred Astaire. He was everything he wanted to be: smooth, suave, debonair, dapper, intelligent, adult, witty, and wise. We saw his pictures over and over, played his records until they were grey and blurred, dressed as much like him as we dared. When any crises came into our young lives, we asked ourselves "what would Fred Astaire do?" and we did likewise."
 

Virgoan

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This gem is one of my favorite musical films. It's notable that Eleanor Powell's voice is her own. In previous films she was dubbed as studio head Louis B. Mayer preferred more cultured, operatic voices from his female singers, Powell had sung on Broadway prior to her film career, so it's nice to hear her in this film. The "Between You and Me" number is a lot of fun in the old Hollywood way - lots of slides and twirls and movements to show off the costumes. This was the only pairing of Fred and Eleanor -- a dream pairing. The score is conducted by Alfred Newman in one of his last independent assignments before taking over the music department at 20th Century-Fox. He would not return to MGM until he scored "How the West Was Won" in 1962-63.
 

Matt Hough

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It's notable that Eleanor Powell's voice is her own. In previous films she was dubbed as studio head Louis B. Mayer preferred more cultured, operatic voices from his female singers, Powell had sung on Broadway prior to her film career, so it's nice to hear her in this film.
Absolutely. Her voice is just fine, and this proves that dubbing her with Marjorie Lane in the prior two Broadway Melody movies and in Born to Dance was completely unnecessary.
 

Mike Frezon

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Peg and I watched this a few nights ago.

Fred was in prime form (when wasn't he?). To see the ENTIRE Begin the Beguine segment (rather than the truncated clip which appears on That's Entertainment) was such a treat. And most of the other dance routines were quite wonderful too. As is often the case with M-G-M musicals, the story itself is second-rate when compared to the individual performances contained within.

But I cannot contain myself when it comes to the Begin the Beguine tap routine by Astaire & Powell. The synchronicity is beyond compare.

I have to confess that shortly after watching this, Peg and I had yet another viewing of La La Land. It's not "fair" to watch Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone game their way through their dance routines after watching the likes of Astaire and Powell. But we came to the understanding early on that Gosling and Stone weren't "supposed" to be up to the level of the dance greats which have appeared on screen over the history of film. But enough about La La Land.

I'll be taking this disc off the shelf on a regular basis.
 

roxy1927

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Finally got to buy this and was very impressed. Huge improvement over DVD. In fact I don't even remember it looking this good at the Regency. Costume details are much more in evidence and the inky blacks stand out. Not perfect. A bit too soft and grainy at other times. I don't believe anybody has mentioned her version of I Concentrate On You but Lena Horne's is one of the very best.
The singer in the film is all wrong for the number and the staging is not much better. A disappointing introduction to one of the great entries in the American songbook. Still the song is a pleasure to hear even in these circumstances..
 
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lark144

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Finally got to buy this and was very impressed. Huge improvement over DVD. In fact I don't even remember it looking this good at the Regency. Costume details are much more in evidence and the inky blacks stand out. Not perfect. A bit too soft and grainy at other times. I don't believe anybody has mentioned her version of I Concentrate On You but Lena Horne's is one of the very best.
The singer in the film is all wrong for the number and the staging is not much better. A disappointing introduction to one of the great entries in the American songbook. Still the song is a pleasure to hear even in these circumstances..
It looked great at the Regency. But this looks even better. One of the joys of my early film going experiences was in discovering this film. I remember enthusing to Frank Rowley, the manager and booker of the Regency, about it, and being Frank Rowley, he just smiled.
 

roxy1927

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I've written this before and it must be said again Frank Rowley presented when he moved to I believe it was the Gramercy one of the most beautiful if not the most beautiful black and white print I've ever seen. It was of Swing Time. The images were so sharp and the shades of white silver gray and black were gorgeous. I am mystified why the Criterion is so disappointing and people complain about a hair like it got caught on the projector's lens and the projectionist didn't notice. One of my favorites and I will not buy it hoping that a better restoration comes along. I wish Mr. Rawley were still around so I could ask him about it. Though not a very expressive man, a bit impassive, but you could always talk to him.
 

usrunnr

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"opera comic Charlotte Arren who does her satiric take on “Il Bacio” "

I've never laughed so hard. So unexpected. Every tiny little bit of it. Had to replay several times, and laughed out loud every single time. What else has she done, anybody?
 

roxy1927

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I don't think this will be the one to change your mind about them. But I wish I got it for that price.
 

Robert Crawford

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I don't think this will be the one to change your mind about them. But I wish I got it for that price.
I doubt any musical can change my mind as it's just not my favorite film genre. That said, I'm not a novice to watching them as I've watched my share of musicals in my lifetime. I appreciate the genre a lot more than I did when I was much younger which is why I have 200 of them in my disc collection.
 

PODER

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Musicals aren't my thing, but based on what was written in this thread, I just purchased this Blu-ray from Amazon for $13.49 plus tax.
It's worth checking Amazon regularly for their WBAC offerings. I just bought both this and EACH DAWN I DAY at the low price Robert Crawford quotes. While we wait to see if anything like the "4 for $44" sales return, this may be as good a price as we can find.
 

roxy1927

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I doubt any musical can change my mind as it's just not my favorite film genre. That said, I'm not a novice to watching them as I've watched my share of musicals in my lifetime. I appreciate the genre a lot more than I did when I was much younger which is why I have 200 of them in my disc collection.

If you get a chance to watch it please let us know your thoughts.
 

Robert Crawford

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It's worth checking Amazon regularly for their WBAC offerings. I just bought both this and EACH DAWN I DAY at the low price Robert Crawford quotes. While we wait to see if anything like the "4 for $44" sales return, this may be as good a price as we can find.
Yup, I got Annie Get Your Gun and Baby Doll at similar pricing.
 
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