LORD BYRON OF BROADWAY (1930)

A primitive early musical; the production numbers, in color, are fairly well executed but the rest is a long haul to get through and there is sometimes an amateurish air about the proceedings. The biggest amateur of them all is leading man Charles Kaley who deservedly remained an unknown, with only one other feature film to his credit. To be fair, his character is a tough nut to crack. He plays Roy, a pianist in a bar, who gets a big break when Cliff Edwards (later the voice of Jiminy Cricket in Disney's PINOCCHIO) sings some songs he wrote. The two form a partnership, joined by pianist Marion Shilling, whom Kaley discovers in a music shop. It's established that Kaley is a heel, carrying on affairs with women seemingly only to get songwriting inspiration from them, then dumping them and moving on. As the trio hit the big time, he's sweet on Shilling for a while, but then gets his head turned by sexy singer Ethelind Terry. He drops Shilling, not realizing that Terry is actually Edwards' wife, though they're separated. Things take a melodramatic turn with the death of one character, and eventually Kaley, his composing talent apparently gone, sees the error of his ways and manages to turn his life around. Kaley is almost thoroughly unlikeable all the way through; the stiffness of the actor stops us from having any sympathy for him and the weak writing doesn't allow us to get any real handle on why he is the way he is. Shilling is marginally better, but Edwards, who fleshes out his character a bit, is the real attraction here and he gives a delightful rendition of "Japanese Sandman." Full blooded comic relief is provided by Benny Rubin as Edwards' Jewish manager--his ethnicity is trumpted at full volume, but Rubin is consistently funny and comes to life as well as any of the other characters. Most of the songs are by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed, of "Singin' in the Rain" fame. Of interest mostly as a novelty, or for Cliff Edwards fans. [TCM]