The Broken Melody (1934)

The Worst Film Ever

Really Surprised!

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Although she's only third billed here Merle Oberon is the main reason to see The Broken Melody. She plays the faithful girl friend of composer John Garrick who gets himself in quite a jackpot.Garrick lives at the boardinghouse run by Oberon's father and both work singing and serving at a cheap Paris cafe. One night musical star Margot Grahame drops in and sees Garrick as her latest boy toy. Before you know it they're wed and she's given birth to their son.She tires of him quickly after a musical he wrote flops and shows him the way out. He responds by killing her paramour which wins him a trip to Devil's Island.The whole melodrama is told in flashback by Austin Trevor who thinks he recognizes Garrick on stage while Trevor is at the theater. What happens is for you to watch the movie for.Garrick sings well, I assume Oberon and Grahame are dubbed. But he truly is stiff. Tyrone Power would have been great in the role.The ending? Watch the John Garfield classic They Made Me A Criminal for a hint.

Please indulge me a small diversion before I comment on this film and its stars. Once in a while, a movie made in America will have its title changed for release in England and around the globe. And, some British movies are renamed before they open in America. This is one such movie. It had me scratching my head and wondering why. The logic and need for the change escape me completely. Both titles had been used before, so scratch that as a reason. Apparently, some movie mogul thought very little of our respective cultures and the intelligence of our citizenry. Or, he stood to make a little money on the side by repackaging. The DVD cover and photo used by IMDb show this title as "The Broken Melody." But the IMDb listing has it under "Vagabond Violinist." The first was the original title when the film opened in the U.S. on Oct. 30, 1934. But, then it opened in England on Dec. 3 as, "Vagabond Violinist." Now, I admit to being somewhat an Anglophile (could it be something in my blood?). But for the life of me, I can't conceive why anyone would think "Vagabond Violinist" was a more fitting title for this film. Was it too obvious for a British audience? Did the Brits need to have the subject cloaked in suspense? Or, are vagabonds and violins more catchy and attractive to Brits than melodies – broken or unbroken?Nowhere in this film do we notice a violinist playing, let alone a vagabond violinist. On the other hand, the male lead writes a song that he calls "The Broken Melody." He and a female lead sing it together. We hear the melody a couple more times in the film. Then, the cast reprises the song toward the end. The original seems to nail the story and theme quite clearly. Maybe some higher up to do with this film had a fixation with the letter "V" at the time.It's a good thing he or she wasn't in charge of some classics that come to mind. Just think! Instead of "Murder on the Orient Express," we might have watched "Tricks and Treachery on the Train." Or, instead of "Around the World in 80 Days," we might have had "Air Balloon Travel." Or, "Pride and Prejudice" might have become "A Romp in the English Countryside," even with the Jane Austen title in hand. Or, instead of "Bonnie and Clyde," how about something as off-base as "New Clothes and a Car with Holes?"So, thanks for indulging my above tirade. The line from Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" comes to mind – "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Regardless of its name, "The Broken Melody" is a sweet period drama of human foibles, and weaknesses, infatuation, pride and self-centeredness, arrogance and snobbery, true love and unselfishness, and redemption. That's a lot to pack into a film with this title, but it's all set around music with an aspiring composer, a famous opera star, and two budding singers. This is not a great film. It was made in England and released first in the U.S. It has an interesting plot. Most of the cast are not first- tier, but the leads were well known and popular at the time. John Garrick is just OK as Paul Verlaine. Margot Grahame gets second billing, and is very good as Simone St. Cloud. Austin Trevor is very good as Pierre Falaise. But Merle Oberon, as Germaine Brissard, is the star of this movie – even in her lesser role. Oberon is one of several excellent actresses who never won an Oscar. She was nominated for one, and had several Oscar-worthy roles in her life. She was of mixed Welsh-Indian parentage, and was one of the most physically beautiful women of the 20th century. And, she had talent. She retired from film in her early 1950s and died at age 68 of a stroke. Oberon had a number of excellent films in a career in which she starred with the greatest male actors of the time, including two English greats who died young – Robert Donat and Leslie Howard. Among her other leading co-stars were Laurence Olivier, Marlon Brando, Claude Rains, Frederic March, Dana Andrews, Rex Harrison, David Niven, Franchot Tone and Paul Muni.

How many times have you seen this plot? Leading man or woman marries the wrong person, kills either that person or their lover, suffers in prison, and then ends up with the right person at the very end. I can think of a few dozen movies, half of those made in 1934 when "The Broken Melody" was released. John Garrick, who creaked his way through two genuinely awful early musicals ("Just Imagine" and "The Lottery Bride"), doesn't sing much here. He's a composer (who ironically ends up in his own show) who leaves the very lovely Merle Oberon for the very self-centered Margot Grahame. It should be obvious that Oberon is the more suitable partner, even though Grahame has career connections that could get Garrick's music published. When it does (after they are already in the midst of a horrendous marriage), it is a bomb, and Grahame makes it clear she wants nothing more to do with Garrick, preferring instead her old lover Austin Trevor. She's already been dallying with him behind Garrick's back, even though they have a baby together. Oberon, with eyebrows that make her look like Sigrid Gurie in "The Adventures of Marco Polo", has already tried to cover for Garrick's wife by covering for his wife when she sees Garrick coming into a room where Grahame and Trevor are in the middle of a tete-a-tete. Then, when Trevor is murdered, Garrick immediately takes his child to Oberon, who agrees to take care of it for him. And the vengeful Grahame doesn't try to stop this? It's preposterous, but yet somehow it works because Grahame is so wrapped up in her own career that motherhood is something that doesn't interest her. Still, no mention of Grahame agreeing to this occurs, and as the years go by with Garrick in prison, Oberon has become the child's guardian. The prison scenes are very exciting and darkly realistic, making Devil's Island a hell on earth. Charles Carson is very good as the Devil's Island commander who happens to be at the presentation of Garrick's musical drama, and recognizing the music as some he heard in prison, narrates the back story to a colleague.It is all preposterous, yet somehow, once you get past that, it is really very entertaining. The DVD print is outstanding, crisp and clear and filled with excellent sound. Oberon and Grahame are beautifully dressed and made up, yet Garrick's brooding hero is never quite convincing as a screen lover. The musical drama that wraps around the flashback narrative gets better towards the end as the nonsensical plot really comes together. A nice little twist in the on-stage drama is the key that gives Carson's Devils Island Commander to make a judgement that morally makes much sense and gives a satisfying ending. Oberon, the British Kay Francis, could always make suffering in ermine fun to watch, even in the most unbelievable of plots, while Grahame overacts ridiculously at times. This is a movie that one can groan at a bit, yet come out not feeling cheated.

When I was about twelve years old, I saw "The Broken Melody" on TV and I thought it was absolutely wonderful. It was very romantic and had some really lovely music. From that day onwards I looked forward to seeing it again.For years I looked in the TV listings but it never came up. And then, the other day, it occurred to me that there might be a DVD available. So I looked on Amazon . . . and there was! I was so thrilled. I sent off for it and it arrived quite quickly. I sat down to watch it . . . and quite quickly realised why it had never been shown again on TV. It must be one of the worst movies ever made!!! It's not so much romantic as melodramatic. The music is nothing special. The acting is criminal - it's set in France so there's one character with an accent so thick you could cut it with a knife, one or two with slight accents and the hero and heroine have 'cut glass' 'fratefully frateful' accents.The story is ludicrous and the ending so sentimental that I could hardly bring myself to watch. But it's left me wondering how a relatively bright twelve year old (ie me!) could have thought it such a wonderful movie!