Broadway (1929 film)
Encyclopedia
Broadway is a 1929 film directed by Pál Fejös from the play of the same name
Broadway (play)
Broadway is the title of a Broadway play produced by Jed Harris and written and directed by George Abbott and Philip Dunning. It was Abbott's first big hit on his way to becoming "the most famous play doctor of all time" after he "rejiggered" Dunning's play...

 by George Abbott
George Abbott
George Francis Abbott was an American theater producer and director, playwright, screenwriter, and film director and producer whose career spanned more than nine decades.-Early years:...

 and Philip Dunning. It stars Glenn Tryon
Glenn Tryon
Glenn Tryon was an American film actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He appeared in 67 films between 1923 and 1951.He was born in Julietta, Idaho and died in Orlando, Florida.-Selected filmography:...

, Evelyn Brent
Evelyn Brent
Evelyn Brent was an American film and stage actress.-Early life:Born Mary Elizabeth Riggs in Tampa, Florida and known as Betty, she was a child of 10 when her mother Eleanor died, leaving her father Arthur to raise her alone...

, Paul Porcasi
Paul Porcasi
Paul Porcasi was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 142 films between 1917 and 1945.He was born in Palermo, Sicily and died in Hollywood, California.-Selected filmography:* Broadway...

, Robert Ellis
Robert Ellis (actor)
Robert Ellis was an American film actor, screenwriter and film director. He appeared in 166 films between 1913 and 1934...

, Merna Kennedy
Merna Kennedy
Merna Kennedy was an American actress of the late silent era.-Short career:Kennedy was best-known during her brief career for her role opposite Charlie Chaplin in the silent film The Circus .Kennedy was brought to the attention of Chaplin by her friend Lita Grey, who became Chaplin's second wife...

 and Thomas E. Jackson.

This was Universal's first talking picture with Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...

 sequences.

Plot

Roy Lane and Billie Moore, entertainers at the Paradise Nightclub, are in love and are rehearsing an act together. Late to work one evening, Billie is saved from dismissal by Nick Verdis, the club proprietor, through the intervention of Steve Crandall, a bootlegger, who desires a liaison with the girl. "Scar" Edwards, robbed of a truckload of contraband liquor by Steve's gang, arrives at the club for a showdown with Steve and is shot in the back. Steve gives Billie a bracelet to forget that she has seen him helping a "drunk" from the club. Though Roy is arrested by Dan McCorn, he is later released on Billie's testimony. Nick is murdered by Steve. Billie witnesses the killing, but keeps quiet about the dirty business until she finds out Steve's next target is Roy. Billie is determined to tell her story to the police before Roy winds up dead, but Steve isn't about to let that happen and kidnaps her. Steve, in his car, is fired at from a taxi, and overheard by Pearl, he confesses to killing Edwards. Pearl confronts Steve in Nick's office and kills him; and McCorn, finding Steve's body, insists that he committed suicide, exonerating Pearl and leaving Roy and Billie to the success of their act.

Cast

  • Glenn Tryon
    Glenn Tryon
    Glenn Tryon was an American film actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He appeared in 67 films between 1923 and 1951.He was born in Julietta, Idaho and died in Orlando, Florida.-Selected filmography:...

     - Roy Lane
  • Evelyn Brent
    Evelyn Brent
    Evelyn Brent was an American film and stage actress.-Early life:Born Mary Elizabeth Riggs in Tampa, Florida and known as Betty, she was a child of 10 when her mother Eleanor died, leaving her father Arthur to raise her alone...

     - Pearl
  • Merna Kennedy
    Merna Kennedy
    Merna Kennedy was an American actress of the late silent era.-Short career:Kennedy was best-known during her brief career for her role opposite Charlie Chaplin in the silent film The Circus .Kennedy was brought to the attention of Chaplin by her friend Lita Grey, who became Chaplin's second wife...

     - Billie Moore
  • Thomas E. Jackson - Dan McCorn
  • Robert Ellis
    Robert Ellis (actor)
    Robert Ellis was an American film actor, screenwriter and film director. He appeared in 166 films between 1913 and 1934...

     - Steve Crandall
  • Otis Harlan
    Otis Harlan
    -Biography:Harlan was born in Zanesville, Ohio in 1865. He married Nellie Harvey and had a daughter named Marion. Harlan was the uncle of silent actor Kenneth Harlan.-Career:...

     - 'Porky' Thompson
  • Paul Porcasi
    Paul Porcasi
    Paul Porcasi was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 142 films between 1917 and 1945.He was born in Palermo, Sicily and died in Hollywood, California.-Selected filmography:* Broadway...

     - Nick Verdis
  • Marion Lord - Lil Rice
  • Fritz Feld
    Fritz Feld
    Fritz Feld was a film character actor actor who appeared in over 140 films, both silent and sound. His trademark was to slap his mouth with the palm of his hand to create a pop sound.-Biography:...

     - Mose Levett
  • Leslie Fenton
    Leslie Fenton
    Leslie Fenton was an English-born American actor and film director. He appeared in 62 films between 1923 and 1945....

     - 'Scar' Edwards
  • Arthur Housman
    Arthur Housman
    Arthur Housman was an American actor in films during the Golden Age of Hollywood.-Career:Initially as a leading man, Housman later became known as Hollywood's most familiar comic drunkard in films of the 1930s, usually playing cameo parts in features but with better opportunities in short films...

     - Dolph
  • George Davis - Joe
  • Betty Francisco
    Betty Francisco
    Betty Francisco was an American silent-film actress, appearing mainly in dramatic/romantic films...

    - Mazie
  • Edythe Flynn - Ruby
  • Florence Dudley - Ann

Preservation

Today the silent version and talking version survive, but the surviving talking version is incomplete, color sequence at the end still survives in color and talking.

Production

Director Fejos designed the camera crane specifically for use on this movie, allowing unusually fluid movement and access to nearly every conceivable angle. It could travel at 600 feet per minute and enlivened the visual style of this film and others that followed.
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