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The Broadway
Melody
(1929)

This early sound film, directed by Harry Beaumont, stars Charles King, Bessie Love and Anita Page, with Eddie Kane, J. Emmett Beck, Jed Prouty, Kenneth Thomson, Edward Dillon and Mary Doran.

Warner Archive Collection
2023 Blu-ray Disc edition

The Broadway Melody (1929), black & white, 101 minutes, not rated, with Gus Van and Joe Schenck (1928), black & white, 5 minutes, not rated, Metro Movietone Revue, No. 1 (1929), black & white, 14 minutes, not rated, Metro Movietone Revue, No. 2 (1929), black & white, 17 minutes, not rated, Metro Movietone Revue, No. 3 (1930), black & white, 14 minutes, not rated, Metro Movietone Revue, No. 4 (1930), black & white, 19 minutes, not rated, A Movietone Divertissement [Metro Movietone Revue, No. 7] (1930), black & white, 8 minutes, not rated, and The Dogway Melody (1930), black & white, 16 minutes, not rated.

Warner Home Video, 810134941564, UPC 8-10134-94156-4.
One single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 Blu-ray Disc (BD-R BDMV); 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in pillarboxed 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels) 24 fps progressive scan image encoded in SDR AVC format at 36.4 Mbps average video bit rate; DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono sound encoded at 1.8 Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, optional English language SDH subtitles; 32 chapter stops; standard BD keepcase; $21.99.
Release date: 25 July 2023.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 8 / audio: 7 / additional content: 7 / overall: 8.

This BD-R edition has been mastered from 35mm print elements that have been digitally stabilized to remove frame jitters, and digitally cleaned to remove print flaws such as dust, speckling, timing marks and other flaws. The picture quality is noticeably improved over Warner’s 2005 DVD edition noted below and is worth the cost to upgrade your old copy. The film has 11 separate chapter stops to find the musical numbers quickly. We note that some intertitles are on artwork cards that are different from the black background intertitles seen in the 2005 DVD edition.

The film is accompanied by its original Movietone synchronized sound film soundtrack, which has been digitally processed to reduce the amount of audio hiss.

Supplemental material includes an early Movietone short with Van and Schenck; five music and comedy revue shorts; a Dogville parody from 1930; and a couple of sound film trailers. All of these features are presented in standard resolution.

This is our recommended home video edition of the film.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 Blu-ray Disc (BD-R) edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 Blu-ray Disc (BD-R) edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Warner Archive Collection
2018 DVD edition

The Broadway Melody (1929), black & white, 100 minutes, not rated, with Gus Van and Joe Schenck (1928), black & white, 5 minutes, not rated, Metro Movietone Revue, No. 1 (1929), black & white, 14 minutes, not rated, Metro Movietone Revue, No. 2 (1929), black & white, 17 minutes, not rated, Metro Movietone Revue, No. 3 (1930), black & white, 14 minutes, not rated, Metro Movietone Revue, No. 4 (1930), black & white, 19 minutes, not rated, A Movietone Divertissement [Metro Movietone Revue, No. 7] (1930), black & white, 8 minutes, not rated, and The Dogway Melody (1930), black & white, 16 minutes, not rated.

Warner Home Video,
no catalog number, UPC 8-88574-77146-1.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD-R disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at ? Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to ? fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at ? Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; closed captions; chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $17.99.
Release date: 6 November 2018.
Country of origin: USA

This DVD-R edition has been mastered from 35mm print elements.

The film is accompanied by its original Movietone synchronized sound film soundtrack.

Supplemental material includes an early Movietone short with Van and Schenck; five music and comedy revue shorts; a Dogville parody from 1930; and a couple of sound film trailers.

This is our recommended DVD home video edition of the film.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Warner Archive Collection
2005 DVD edition

Warner Home Video,
65286, UPC 0-12569-52862-8, ISBN 0-7907-4834-7.
One single-sided, dual-layered, Region 1 NTSC DVD disc; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at 5.5 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); Dolby Digital (AC3) 2.0 mono sound encoded at 192 Kbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, optional English, French and Spanish language subtitles; closed captions; 27 chapter stops; standard DVD keepcase; $19.95.
Release date: 2005.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 7 / audio: 7 / additional content: 7 / overall: 7.

This DVD edition has been mastered from 35mm print elements with light dust and speckling, mild frame jitters and other insignificant print flaws.

The film is accompanied by its original Movietone soundtrack that has a persistent, light hiss that is characteristic of the optical sound technology of the time.

Supplemental material includes an early Movietone short with Van and Schenck; five music and comedy revue shorts; a Dogville parody from 1930; and a couple of sound film trailers.

This edition is now out-of-print and has been replaced by the DVD-R edition noted above.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.