Product Details

• Actors: Dick Powell, Adolphe Menjou, Gloria Stuart, Alice Brady, Hugh Herbert
• Directors: Busby Berkeley
• Writers: Manuel Seff, Peter Milne, Robert Lord
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Warner)
• VHS Release Date: September 1, 1998
• Run Time: 95 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301969278
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #256,064 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

In the resort of Lake Waxapahachie, the swanky Wentworth Plaza is where the rich all congregate, and where the tips flow like wine. Handsome Dick Curtis (Dick Powell) is working his way through medical school as a desk clerk, and when rich, penny-pinching Mrs. Prentiss (Alice Brady) offers to pay him to escort her daughter Ann (Gloria Stuart) for the summer, Dick can't say no - even his fiancee, Arline Davis (Dorothy Dare) thinks he should do it. Mrs. Prentiss wants Ann to marry eccentric middle-aged millionaire T. Mosley Thorpe (Hugh Herbert), who's a world-renowned expert on snuffboxes, but Ann has other ideas. Meanwhile her brother, Humbolt (Frank McHugh) has a weakness for a pretty face: he's been married and bought out of trouble by his mother several times. Every summer, Mrs. Prentiss produces a charity show for the "Milk Fund", and this year she hires the flamboyant and conniving Russian dance director Nicolai Nicoleff (Adolphe Menjou) to direct the show. The parsimonious Mrs. Prentiss wants to spend the least amount possible, but Nicoleff and his set designer Schultz (Joseph Cawthorn) want to be as extravagant as they can, so they can rake off more money for themselves, and for the hotel manager (Louis Lamson) and the hotel stenographer (Glenda Farrell), who's blackmailing the hapless snuffbox fancier Thorpe.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Visual Masterpiece! September 27, 2000

By Evan Stern

Format:VHS Tape

I make no apologies for saying that Busby Berkeley's incredible sequence to "The Lullaby of Broadway" is one of the most beautiful, chilling, and exuberant moments in the history of American cinema. Not only is the number amazing from a visual standpoint, but is a fantastic illustration of urban isolationism, and attitudes of "The Great Depression." Dreamlike and hypnotic, the song easily seduces the moviegoer as its short character study takes flight, then leaves its viewers in a bizare state of discomfort as its story takes an abrupt and disturbing turn. I know it's cliched, but they really don't make 'em quite like this anymore!

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Making A Buck (Or More) July 28, 2002

By James L.

Format:VHS Tape

The first hour or so of this film sets up the plot. Dick Powell is hired by wealthy but cheap Alice Brady to chaperone... It seems like everyone is out to make or save a buck in this film, often with comedic results. But this film isn't famous for the plot. It's the musical numbers that make up the last third of the film that you will remember. There's one involving a huge number of showgirls playing pianos that revolve and move around the stage exactly like you would expect in a Busby Berkelely musical. The second number is for the famous song "Lullaby of Broadway", which Berkeley presents with great drama, pushing back all the boundaries. As a rule, I don't much like musicals, but the sheer visual imagination of these numbers kept my attention. There's nothing else like them. As for the actors, they do what they did so well in so many of the Warner Brothers' musicals and comedies of the Thirties. Forget the ridiculous plot and concentrate on the spectacle and professionalism of all involved.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Listen to the Lullaby of Old Broadway! March 18, 2003

By A Customer

Format:VHS Tape

Okay, the story is a cliche from start to finish and the acting is "thirties" overkill. That's not what any movie buff is interested in. The only reason this film is remembered, and it's a doozy of a reason, is the 13-plus minutes of "Lullaby of Broadway". This "film-within-a-film", as it were, is a hypnotic, visually billiant, and shockingly original musical number like none that has ever appeared on the screen. Its story of the life and death of a New York goodtime gal is thrillingly, cleverly rendered and ultimately achieves the impact of both moving and haunting the viewer. The most awesome and eerie part of the spectacle is the synchronized dancing of dozens of chorines and chorus boys, to the manacing strains of "Lullaby...". The effect is a curious mix of excitement and dread, just right for what's coming ahead. The number never fails to achieve maximum impact, and it's so unusual that it is worth the price of admission and deserves its lofty status. Listen to the lullaby...again and again.