[4] The Broadway Melody was written by Norman Houston and James Gleason from a story by Edmund Goulding and directed by Harry Beaumont.

Original music was written by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown, including the popular hit "You Were Meant for Me".

The George M. Cohan classic "Give My Regards to Broadway" is used under the opening establishing shots of New York City, its film debut.

Eddie Kearns sings "The Broadway Melody" and tells some chorus girls that he has brought the Mahoney Sisters vaudeville act to New York to perform it with him in the latest revue being produced by Francis Zanfield.

During a dress rehearsal for the revue, Zanfield says the pacing is too slow for "The Broadway Melody" and cuts Hank and Queenie from the number.

After Hank leaves with her new partner and Uncle Jed, Queenie laments that she couldn't help her sister find the happiness she deserves.

[10] A silent version of the film was produced,[citation needed] as there were still many motion picture theaters without sound equipment at the time.

[12] The film featured a musical sequence for "The Wedding of the Painted Doll" that was presented in early two-color Technicolor (red and green filters).

A basic story with some sense to it, action, excellent direction, laughs, a tear, a couple of great performances and plenty of sex.

"[16] Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times wrote a mixed review, calling it "rather cleverly directed" but "somewhat obvious", with sentiment "served out too generously in most of the sequences."

Hall called King's performance "vigorous," but of Page, he wrote, "Her acting, especially her voice, does not enhance her personality.

"[17] John Mosher of The New Yorker wrote, "The stage background allows opportunity for one or two musical interpolations, and no one is more glad than we that the talkies charmingly succeed in a very pleasant ballet.

"[18] The film was nominated for three Academy Awards at the 1930 ceremony: Best Actress (Bessie Love), Best Director (Harry Beaumont), and Outstanding Picture.

Contemporary critics now view the movie as cliché-ridden and overly melodramatic, despite the fact that it was considered innovative for its time and contributed to the concept and structure of musical films.

The site's consensus is that the film "is interesting as an example of an early Hollywood musical, but otherwise, it's essentially bereft of appeal for modern audiences".

[21] Assessing the film in 2009, James Berardinelli wrote, "The Broadway Melody has not stood the test of time in ways that many of its more artistic contemporaries have.

Some of its deficiencies can be attributed to ways in which the genre has been re-shaped and improved over the years, but some are the result of the studio's validated belief that viewers would be willing to ignore bad acting and pedestrian directing in order to experience singing, dancing, and talking on the silver screen.

Although not direct sequels in the traditional sense, they all had the same basic premise of a group of people putting on a show (the films also had recurring cast members playing different roles, most notably dancer Eleanor Powell who appeared in all three).