BROADWAY (1929)
Special Features: FREE for Silver Cinema Club members! | Introduction by film historian and archivist David Pierce | Plus pre-screening Skyscraper Hat contest!
Skyscraper Hat Contest: Film patrons are invited to make and wear their own Art Deco Skyscraper Hats to celebrate the very tall creations in the film's chorus line. Prizes will be awarded at the beginning of the screening.
Previously available only in incomplete form, this legendary film from director Paul Fejos (LONESOME, THE LAST MOMENT) has now been fully restored by Universal Pictures, including the film's Technicolor final sequence. Set in Times Square's lavishly appointed Paradise Nightclub, an Art Deco fantasia, BROADWAY centers on the relationship between star dancer Roy Lane (Glenn Tryon) and chorus girl Billie Moore (Merna Kennedy), who become embroiled in gangland intrigue when murderous bootlegger Steve Crandall (Robert Ellis) makes a move on both the club and Roy, as well as Billie’s fellow trouper Pearl (Evelyn Brent). Universal's second all-talking film was a big-budget super production, featuring a custom-built camera crane that was, at the time, the largest ever built. Known as the Broadway crane, it was later used for ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930) and many other films for years afterwards. Cinematographer Hal Mohr deployed the crane to capture stunningly fluid tracking shots rising to bird's-eye views of the dancers on stage, fully displaying the impressively constructed and detailed multi-story nightclub set — itself a work of art. Based on the hit play by stage greats Philip Dunning and George Abbott, BROADWAY is an equally foundational film for both the backstage musical and gangster genres, and it confirms director Fejos as a visionary craftsman. DIR Paul Fejos; SCR Edward T. Lowe Jr., Charles Furthman, from the play by Philip Dunning, George Abbott; PROD Carl Laemmle Jr. U.S., 1929, b&w, 104 min. NOT RATED
4K digital restoration by Universal Pictures from the 35mm nitrate original negative, 35mm composite fine grain and 35mm two-color (red/green) original.
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Run Time: 104 Minutes
Opening Date: Saturday, April 05, 2025
Genre: Crime drama