Broadway Serenade (1939) User Reviews (14)

filmed in sepia, if you can believe it

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 10 July 2013]

From 1939, Broadway Serenade is an odd movie, containing all kinds of music. Lew Ayres is a composer/pianist who apparently wrote or ripped off None but the Lonely Heart, I couldn't decide; the Macdonald-less Jeanette is his lovely singer wife. During his audition of a new song for a big Broadway producer (Frank Morgan) and his investor (Ian Hunter), it's Jeanette who gets the job and Hunter's heart. She has to go on the road with the show; she comes back a star, and her husband, hearing rumors of a romance with Hunter and not doing too well himself, rejects her, though the rumors aren't true. He becomes drunk and disorderly while her star ascends.

I guess the big, lirico-spinto/dramatic soprano arias were the popular ones, because in movies where she sang opera, Jeanette MacDonald was always doing something like Tosca or Madama Butterfly, which she does here - so totally out of her vocal type, which was way too light for that sort of music. Her repertoire was operetta and roles like those in the French repertoire: Delibes, Gounod, or Bellini and Donizetti. She had a nice middle voice and beautiful, lyrical pianissimos, but her very high notes had a whitish, straight sound - basically that's how female singers were taught back then. I always loved her acting. She and Ayres are both good although an unlikely couple, he being boyish and she being diva-ish.

Some bizarre musical numbers, such as the one at the end. A mixed bag. There are better musicals - an understatement.

Some odd touches

[jjnxn-1 · 7/10 · 18 June 2013]

Conventional musical with some odd touches in the musical numbers. Jeanette MacDonald is in good voice and her numbers are a bit more varied than her usual sets with Nelson Eddy. As someone who has a limited tolerance for both operetta and MacDonald/Eddy musicals I enjoyed the substitution of Lew Ayers for Nelson. Unfortunately his character makes little sense, he initially pushes his wife to grab the chance she's given than when she starts to succeed acts like a churlish jerk almost instantly and yet still she pines for him.

So the story is wanting but at least the cast is full of good actors, Frank Morgan, Ian Hunter, Rita Johnson, Virginia Grey, Esther Dale etc., all adding nice touches to the film making it much more pleasant than it would be.

Shot for some unknown reason in inconsistent sepia tones which both add and distract from the flow of the film where this goes off the rails a bit is in a couple of musical numbers. The Madame Butterfly riff is interesting on an enormous stage that no theatre could possibly hold but with some beautiful almost surreal images. However the finale is like some crazy fever dream with a majority of the participants in creepy immobile masks. Not a major musical or even a major picture in any of the stars filmographies this is still an decent musical from the king of studios in the dream factory.

Busby Berkeley bombs

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 13 March 2006]

Jeanette MacDonald filmed Broadway Serenade while her usual screen partner Nelson Eddy was busy doing Balalaika with Ilona Massey. She's married to Lew Ayres, musician and would be composer. They're a duo working in some real dives when we first meet them. Ayres has a short fuse involving his wife and manages to get himself fired after punching out a drunk. MacDonald dutifully follows her man.

After that it's the usual backstage story for both of them. She becomes a big Broadway star and he has dreams of presenting his concerto, a treatment of Tschaikovsky's famous None, But the Lonely Heart. And they run into the usual situations involving her beauty and his temper.

Jeanette sings beautifully and Ayres steps out from his Dr. Kildare image. At the time Broadway Serenade was being filmed, just as Jeanette was taking a break from Nelson, Ayres was on hiatus from the Dr. Kildare series which was at the height of its popularity.

Also in the cast is Frank Morgan as a Broadway producer, the same role he had in Sweethearts and Ian Hunter as the playboy backer of Morgan's shows who's got a yen for Jen. But the best supporting part in Broadway Serenade is Al Shean who is sidekick and confident to Lew Ayres. This may have been Al Shean's best screen role.

But what this film is probably best known for is the climax sequence involving Lew Ayres's concerto. Busby Berkeley did the number and it goes down as one of his worst.

Berkeley who did so well at Warner Brothers with Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler and later on at MGM with Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, makes a ghastly debut at MGM. His None But the Lonely Heart dance number is like the number that Jack Buchanan did in The Bandwagon. Only that was supposed to be satiric, this one was for real.

If Ayres's concerto had been presented simply as just an instrumental piece it would have been sooooooo much better. It was one bad creative decision to give Busby Berkeley an assignment here.

Other than that, Jeanette's fans will go for this. She has some fine numbers to sing her in both the classical and popular vein.

6/10 ***/5 ~ Jeanette stumbles in her career and breaks a nail.

[Doctor_Mabuse · 6/10 · 22 September 2001]

With a string of glorious classics including The Merry Widow, Naughty Marietta, Rose Marie, Maytime and San Francisco, Jeanette MacDonald had rapidly grown from Paramount transfer to established musical Queen of the MGM lot. Her operetta series with Nelson Eddy was challenging the studio's intended blockbusters. Stars from Joan Crawford to Norma Shearer were taking new acting lessons and going over their contracts. Evidently MGM felt the need to show MacDonald her place, and railroaded her into this unworthy affair which remains among the "Iron Butterfly"'s weaker vehicles.

MacDonald herself endures the film with her usual dignity, and there are the usual songs and arias to atone for the silly story. Also there's a chance to see Lew Ayres out of his "Dr. Kildare" strait-jacket, and Jeanette has some charming scenes with The Wizard of Oz himself, Frank Morgan. Anyone who loves the Lion will find something to like; everyone else beware.

You'll have to see for yourself.

[jayson-4 · 1 June 2004]

Strange musical stew with a puppyish Lew Ayres and a soft-focus Jeanette MacDonald making an unlikely romantic pair. The score is, shall we say, oddly eclectic, ranging from Victor Herbert (surprise!) to Ella Fitzgerald. Worth catching, though, for the final reel, which features possibly the screwiest musical number ever to appear in a "golden-age" MGM film (via Busby Berkeley). This one's beyond description -- not even Harlow singing or Crawford dancing comes close.

Not as bad as some reviewers say

[iddycollins-80147 · 7/10 · 5 November 2018]

Although not as brilliant as some of the MacDonald/Eddy musicals, the storyline is acceptable; boy (composer) is happily married to girl (singer) - she gets a break, succeeds big time; he struggles; through her career, they are parted; she files for divorce and is eventually engaged to be married to another man just as her ex hits the big time with a musical in which she is to star. Her fiancé realises that she still loves her ex and bows out of the picture, leaving the reconciled couple to the astounding success of the first night of the new musical..

There is a wide variety of musical numbers, most of which are very enjoyable.Regretably, the final sequence, the opening night of the new musical, is rather strangely chereographed by Busby Berkeley. If treated in a more traditional manner, as Berkeley had done during his time at Warner Brothers, it would have made a fitting climax to the film. Unfortunately, it leaves us feeling disappointed in what could have been an otherwise very enjoyable movie.

Dull and Irritating Overblown Mess

[bbmtwist · 3/10 · 17 July 2013]

Although Jeanette MacDonald struggles valiantly, the script is poor, overlong and cliché. Ayres' character is thoroughly unlikeable, boorish, insanely jealous, violent - the audience has difficulty caring about him and likewise the motivations and caring of MacDonald, who plays his wife.

Able support is given by Al Shean as the kindly old musician who takes an interest in Ayres' serious music composition, and Rita Johnson, who gets all the best lines as a catty chorus girl who has her eye on the producer (Frank Morgan) and won't let anyone get in her way. Also fine is Franklin Pangborn who is wonderful in his three scenes as a frustrated arranger.

The score is lackluster. Jeannette has a medley at the beginning (Yip I Addy I Ay, Just A Song at Twilight and a few unrecognizable tunes), Lonely Heart - based on Tchaikovsky's song, Flying High, Un Bel Di from Madame Butterfly, another montage of snippets of songs, Musetta's Waltz, Les Filles de Cadiz, Italian Street Song, One Look At You. It's a combo of song and opera snippets and new songs that are dreary.

The stupid finale with grotesque masks and bizarre sets and lighting makes no sense in terms of a staging of a rhapsody, less in the fact that the music is stolen from Tchaikovsky - one of Busby Berkeleky's very worst conceptions.

Flatly directed by Robert Z. Leonard and overlong at 114 minutes, this is a forgettable mishmash, far below the standard the studio had previously set for Jeannette, at the time its biggest star. See it only for her.

Masked Finale

[nancy6456 · 7/10 · 5 January 2015]

Did anyone realize that the Busby Berkeley number at the end was a tie in for the Lew Ayres character telling Jeanette MacDonald to take off her mask in the scene where she was crying? I believe that to be a direct tie in to the musical finale with all the masks. Although it was not the best of Jeanette MacDonald films It does show a side of her that is in direct juxtiposition for the films with Nelson Eddy. How many Canadian Mounty movies can she do. Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy were a tour de force that even had fans expecting or anticipating that the two were married. This movie is a relief for Jeanette MacDonald not to be type cast. I for one really enjoyed the final acte.

A low point in Jeanette's career...no Nelson Eddy in sight...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 21 May 2007]

MGM probably wanted to give their singing sweetheart a break from doing every film with her usual co-star, baritone NELSON EDDY. So, they put her in this mess of a musical just to keep her busy. Her most ardent fans probably won't complain because she does get to sing rather nicely, but the story is--well, a mess with the usual contrived ending that lacks conviction, or any sense of reality.

JEANETTE MacDONALD is a lovely singer with an aspiring song writer for a husband (LEW AYRES, taking a break from his Dr. Kildare chores). The two of them are facing a marriage on the skids because she's getting more popular while his star is fading--until he can write his great concerto for the finale.

It's all old hat with even the presence of FRANK MORGAN and IAN HUNTER not enough to ensure anything approaching solid entertainment.

The Busby Berkeley staged concerto is totally inappropriate and ends the film on a low note.

Summing up: At your own risk.

Not Jeanette's best

[PeterPangloss · 3/10 · 14 March 2006]

Through no fault of the players, this must be one of the worst major studio films of a great year for cinema--1939. Jeanette is charming as always, although I'd like to see her try Butterfly on stage without amplification. I'm afraid the orchestra would win that round! That said, she warbles beautifully and is great fun to watch.

Lew Ayres plays a nearly saintly husband (albeit with a temper) and the supporting cast is just fine. The problems: a hackneyed script, and an incredibly tasteless and vulgar Busby Berkeley number to end the affair. Of course we expect BB's numbers to be over the top, we just don't expect them to be so poorly designed. Without this final extravaganza, I'd have given this a 5 at least, but after seeing that debacle, I'm giving it a 3.

OK; MacDonald Is An Acquired Taste

[ktatlow · 10/10 · 15 July 2005]

A lot of fun! The ending sequence is great.

MacDonald is indisputably a talented vocalist, extremely powerful. (See and hear her in "San Francisco.") She's a little TOO powerful for my taste. Whenever she solos or duets, she smothers everything else with soprano sauce. She's a warbler for sure! Her best bit is the swing sequence at the bar.

July 2005 Trivia: Lew Ayres old house in LA (< 2000 square feet) just sold for around $620K.

So rent it!

Here's another line!

If you can stand the singing, it's worth seeing.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 18 May 2022]

"Broadway Serenade" is a film you'll either love or hate, mostly depending on whether you like Jeanette MacDonald and her style of singing. While she was very popular in the 1930s and early 40s, her operatic stylings are no longer popular and might make this film tough for modern audiences. While I myself like opera, her voice and style are something I have never learned to love....or even like.

The story begins with Jimmy and Mary (Lew Ayers and Jeanette MacDonald), a married couple who are struggling musicians. He's a composer and pianist and she sings. Unfortunately, she's discovered and goes on to be a famous Broadway star....while Jimmy's career stagnates. Some of this is due to Jimmy being a bit of a jerk, as he seems to enjoy punching folks! Not surprisingly, over time, the marriage hits the skids.

Overall, this is a very predictable film with all the gloss MGM can slap on a movie during this era.

Time for a serenade

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 10 October 2022]

My guess is this film is neglected, because it features Jeanette MacDonald on her own. She is drenched in plenty of MGM glamour, but nearly all her musical numbers are solo. If any other male singers do accompany her, they're part of a larger chorus. No Nelson Eddy in sight.

As an experiment, to see if the singer-actress can do well by herself, this picture mostly succeeds. The leading men are Lew Ayres, who has temporarily removed his scrubs as Dr. Kildare; and British import Ian Hunter. Hunter had recently signed with Metro after several successful years at Warner Brothers, both in his native England and in Hollywood.

Hunter is cast as a playboy who decides to back a touring show that features Miss MacDonald singing one important tune. She becomes an overnight sensation, and the entire show is built around her after the previous leading lady (Katharine Alexander) leaves the company due to creative differences.

Meanwhile, Ayres- who portrays Miss MacDonald's husband- gets sidelined since he remains in the shadows as a composer when wifey's career takes off, and she reaches the stratosphere. Ayres gets to struggle. He gets to pout and throw temper tantrums. And he gets to throw some punches- most of them directed at Hunter- when he becomes intensely jealous. He is mostly jealous of MacDonald's newfound success, and he is bothered by her growing closeness to Hunter on the road.

Character actor Frank Morgan appears as a Broadway producer who has discovered Miss MacDonald and turns her into a star with Hunter's help. Mr. Morgan is his likable self. He had better roles at this time (see THE WIZARD OF OZ and THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER). In addition to Morgan, there is Al Shean as a musician friend of the main couple. As well as Franklin Pangborn as another composer, doing what he does best in this kind of light entertainment, playing his flamboyant self.

The plot contains no real surprises. We know that a million arguments may occur in the MacDonald-Ayres marriage, but they will manage to stick it out and find a happy ending together. None of the dialogue is what you'd call provocative. It's all carefully hewn in by the production code, sure to offend no one. The only risky thing the studio did was to shoot the entire thing in sepia. This gives the story more of an old-fashioned nostalgic feel, though it is set in modern day times.

The best part of BROADWAY SERENADE, and what makes the long 114-minute running time worthwhile and more than tolerable, is the energy on display in MacDonald's many numbers. She performs with customary pizzazz, and it's obvious she's having a fun time.

1939 movie competition.

[gkeith_1 · 8/10 · 7 January 2016]

No color movie. Boo and hiss. Jeanette lovely voice. No Nelson Eddy.

1939 movies included Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind. Here is Frank Morgan from WOZ also in this movie. Color could have been used here, like WOZ and GWTW. I guess MGM put the money into color for those movies, but not this little gem. (MGM distributed the GWTW Selznick vehicle).

Jeanette becomes a star in this movie. I love those old performer gets famous films. This movie is reminding me of Red Shoes and A Star is Born. Man gets less attention than the leading lady.

Nice to see Mary Gordon from The Little Minister.

I liked Jeanette's costumes. I liked her performance hairstyles.

I did not like the lederhosen male stereotypes. War was afoot in Europe. Hitler bombed Poland in 1939. This was way too creepy. The scene may have been Switzerland, but German themes were all too obvious.

8/10