'Broadway to Hollywood' has a grandiose title and can't live up to it. Nevertheless, this early MGM semi-musical does have some good moments in amongst the soap opera. The most interesting thing about this movie is that Jackie Cooper plays Mickey Rooney's father! (They were both child actors at the time, and Cooper is two years younger than Rooney.) The catch is that this movie is the saga of three generations of a vaudeville family, with the second-generation son (played by Cooper as a boy) growing up to be played as an adult by Russell Hardie (who he?), who then becomes the father of the third-generation grandson (played by Rooney as a boy) who then grows up to achieve stardom as Eddie Quillan.
With a title like 'Broadway to Hollywood', I assumed this movie would be a documentary overview of American show business. I was wrong. It's the story of a fictitious show-biz family. Frank Morgan and Alice Brady are Ted and Lulu Hackett: an old-time vaudeville team, going back to the days when even a mediocre act was assured of 50 weeks' work every year on the five-a-day grind circuits. (In those days, actors were paid badly or not at all, but they very seldom starved.) As the Hacketts reach middle age, their young son Ted Jnr shows some talent as a dancer, and eventually he makes his way to Broadway. But then his son Ted the Third shows even more talent. We see grandson Ted (played by Mickey Rooney, age 13 at the time) doing a spirited buck-and-wing dance. (This delightful sequence was shown in the first 'That's Entertainment' movie, with no narration to explain where it came from: now you know.) As he reaches adulthood, Hollywood offers Ted Hackett 3rd a contract as a musical star, and it looks like his grandparents (now elderly) can retire at last, knowing that the Hackett name will be up in lights.
SPOILER COMING NOW. The ending is quite touching, and sad. Ted and Lulu sit proudly on the sound stage, just out of camera range, while their grandson (Eddie Quillan) does a dance routine. It's been a long road to stardom. Lulu notices that her husband has nodded off, and she touches him. Then she realises he isn't sleeping: he's dead. Lulu lets out a whimper, and a sound man quickly shushes her: the camera is grinding, and we mustn't blow this take. Understanding that this is what matters, Lulu sits quietly and proudly through the rest of the dance number. Ted the Third keeps dancing, unaware that his grandfather has just carked it. One generation of show business has died, but another one must go on with the show...
There are some enjoyable moments here. The movie feels like a musical, but the song-and-dance numbers are too few, too far apart, and not very good. Some of the drama is too soap opera-ish and maudlin. I'm well and truly annoyed that some VERY big show-biz names from the first two decades of the twentieth century have been assembled for this movie, yet they've been given almost nothing to do: among the people you'll see here are Marie Dressler, DeWolf Hopper (the man who immortalised 'Casey at the Bat'), comic actor William Collier, and the very great comedy team of Weber and Fields (who were major stars of the stage, yet whose film work was negligible). Yes, you'll see them all in this movie (unless you blink), but you won't see them doing anything important. There's a nice supporting cast, though. And Frank Morgan gives an excellent performance. I'm annoyed that this fine actor is remembered only for his hokey overdone performance in 'The Wizard of Oz' rather than his superb understated performances in several other films, including this one. For all those Friends of Dorothy who insist on refracting every other movie through 'The Wizard of Oz' (you know who you are), I'll point out that 'Broadway to Hollywood' was co-written by Edgar Allan Woolf, who also co-scripted that overrated Munchkin mishmash.
'Broadway to Hollywood' is full of missed opportunities. The best thing in here is Mickey Rooney's dance number, and you can see that footage in a much better movie: 'That's Entertainment!'. I'll reluctantly rate 'Broadway to Hollywood' 5 points out of 10.
With a title like 'Broadway to Hollywood', I assumed this movie would be a documentary overview of American show business. I was wrong. It's the story of a fictitious show-biz family. Frank Morgan and Alice Brady are Ted and Lulu Hackett: an old-time vaudeville team, going back to the days when even a mediocre act was assured of 50 weeks' work every year on the five-a-day grind circuits. (In those days, actors were paid badly or not at all, but they very seldom starved.) As the Hacketts reach middle age, their young son Ted Jnr shows some talent as a dancer, and eventually he makes his way to Broadway. But then his son Ted the Third shows even more talent. We see grandson Ted (played by Mickey Rooney, age 13 at the time) doing a spirited buck-and-wing dance. (This delightful sequence was shown in the first 'That's Entertainment' movie, with no narration to explain where it came from: now you know.) As he reaches adulthood, Hollywood offers Ted Hackett 3rd a contract as a musical star, and it looks like his grandparents (now elderly) can retire at last, knowing that the Hackett name will be up in lights.
SPOILER COMING NOW. The ending is quite touching, and sad. Ted and Lulu sit proudly on the sound stage, just out of camera range, while their grandson (Eddie Quillan) does a dance routine. It's been a long road to stardom. Lulu notices that her husband has nodded off, and she touches him. Then she realises he isn't sleeping: he's dead. Lulu lets out a whimper, and a sound man quickly shushes her: the camera is grinding, and we mustn't blow this take. Understanding that this is what matters, Lulu sits quietly and proudly through the rest of the dance number. Ted the Third keeps dancing, unaware that his grandfather has just carked it. One generation of show business has died, but another one must go on with the show...
There are some enjoyable moments here. The movie feels like a musical, but the song-and-dance numbers are too few, too far apart, and not very good. Some of the drama is too soap opera-ish and maudlin. I'm well and truly annoyed that some VERY big show-biz names from the first two decades of the twentieth century have been assembled for this movie, yet they've been given almost nothing to do: among the people you'll see here are Marie Dressler, DeWolf Hopper (the man who immortalised 'Casey at the Bat'), comic actor William Collier, and the very great comedy team of Weber and Fields (who were major stars of the stage, yet whose film work was negligible). Yes, you'll see them all in this movie (unless you blink), but you won't see them doing anything important. There's a nice supporting cast, though. And Frank Morgan gives an excellent performance. I'm annoyed that this fine actor is remembered only for his hokey overdone performance in 'The Wizard of Oz' rather than his superb understated performances in several other films, including this one. For all those Friends of Dorothy who insist on refracting every other movie through 'The Wizard of Oz' (you know who you are), I'll point out that 'Broadway to Hollywood' was co-written by Edgar Allan Woolf, who also co-scripted that overrated Munchkin mishmash.
'Broadway to Hollywood' is full of missed opportunities. The best thing in here is Mickey Rooney's dance number, and you can see that footage in a much better movie: 'That's Entertainment!'. I'll reluctantly rate 'Broadway to Hollywood' 5 points out of 10.