NEW REGENT

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 759, 4 September 1929, Page 17

NEW REGENT

LAST DAYS OF “BROADWAY | MELODY” ‘ The Broadway Melody,” Metro- I Goldwyn-Mayer’s spectacular alltalking, all-smging, all-dancing mo- I tion picture now drawing to the close | of its season at the New Regent I Theatre, stands out as the first mo- i tion picture presenting, as an integral part of the story, a series of new dance songs. “You Were Meant for Me,” “Broadway Melody,” and the other song hits of the new picture were created specially for the production by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed, the melody-making companions who were responsible for the entire musical score of the photoplay. The music for “The Broadway Melody” was composed with the principals and the story well in mind all the time. In essence the new talking film becomes a combination of musical comedy spectacle and rhythm with a “straight” dramatic story of New York backstage life. The production may thus be termed the first original musical comedy composed for the screen, while at the same time it promises to create an entirely new vogue in film fare. “The Idle Rich,” which will be the new attraction on Saturday, as anew Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer talkie feature, is William de Mille s third all-dialogue picture. The noted director’s first sound picture was “The Doctor’s Secret.” His next was a picturisation of his own dramatic sketch, “The Man Higher Up,” in which the late Theodore Roberts starred on the stage. In the present film, which is taken from the famous stage comedy hit, “White Collars,” de Mille lias included many novel sound effects and technical advances. Sounds which have never before issued from the screen have been crowded with lavish hand into this one. They include all the familiar noises of a busy, average home, a tea-kettle boiling, a door-bell ringing, a cat purring, coffee perking, and an old-fashioned phonograph, ; wheezing out an old-fashioned tune.