The Broken Melody (1938 film)

For other films of the same name, see The Broken Melody.

The Broken Melody
The Broken Melody poster
Directed byKen G. Hall
Written byFrank Harvey
Based onnovel by F. J. Thwaites
Produced byKen G. Hall
StarringLloyd Hughes
CinematographyGeorge Heath
Edited byWilliam Shepherd
Music byHorace Keats
Hamilton Webber
Alfred Hill (special theme)
Production
company
Distributed byBritish Empire Films (Aust)
RKO (UK)
Release date
  • 17 June 1938 (1938-06-17) (Australia)
Running time
89 mins
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
Budget£20,000 (est.)[1]
Premiere of The Broken Melody

The Broken Melody is a 1938 Australian drama film directed by Ken G. Hall and starring Lloyd Hughes, based on a best-selling novel by F. J. Thwaites. Hall later said in 1974 that "This was a film that I’m particularly keen about still."[2]

Synopsis

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John Ainsworth helps win a rowing race for Sydney University against Melbourne University. While celebrating at a nightclub, he demonstrates his skill with the violin with one of his original compositions. He also flirts with a young woman, Ann Brady, to the displeasure of a crook, Webster. A brawl results and John is expelled from university. John's sheep farmer father – who is disdainful of culture and wants John to marry a rich girl – is furious and disowns his son.

The Depression is in full flight and John has difficulty obtaining work. He befriends a pickpocket, Joe, who invites John to live with him in the Sydney Domain. One night he comes across Ann trying to commit suicide under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. He stops her and she goes to live with John and Joe.

John gets hold of his old violin and starts playing for his fellow homeless vagrants in the Domain. He is overheard one night by a rich couple travelling through the area and soon becomes a well known violinist under the name "John Hilton", working with manager. He goes to London, taking Joe with him as his valet but leaving Ann behind. He meets a famous singer, Madame Le Lange, and rises to fame as a leading conductor and composer.

John returns to Australia intending to conduct his new opera in triumph. His father, whose property is greatly in debt, suffers a heart attack. Madame Le Lange throws a tantrum and refuses to appear. Anne steps in, John's father recovers and the opera is a big success.

Cast

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Original novel

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See The Broken Melody (novel)

F.W. Thwaites' original novel was a best seller on its publication. In January 1937 Cinesound bought the screenrights.[3] Hall later said, "as a piece of literature it was not good. But it had a tremendous sale and that persuaded me to buy the book and we found we had a great deal of re-writing to do. And I wanted to get music in. We learned how while I was in Hollywood. "[2]

Production

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The movie was part of a policy from Cinesound Productions to make top line movies, which also included Tall Timbers and Lovers and Luggers. According to Everyones, The Broken Melody "represents perhaps the biggest and most ambitious idea of them all. It is a musical, but a musical with a difference—one that would be fit for any topline story... there is music planned on a grand scale never before attempted in Australian production."[4]

The movie was to be the first of five movies made by Cinesound Productions for a total cost of £100,000, others including Gone to the Dogs and Robbery Under Arms (the latter was never made).[5]

Casting

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American star Lloyd Hughes, who previously appeared in Lovers and Luggers for Cinesound, returned to Australia to play the male lead. Regular female Cinesound star Ann Richards was not cast the film as she was exhausted after making three films back to back.[6]

Diana du Cane was an English actress who had toured Australia with JC Williamson Ltd and appeared in a number of radio plays in Australia.[7] Rosalind Kennerdale was another radio actor.[8]

Hall said "we had to find people who could sing it because the girls we had couldn’t sing a note. Rosalind Kennerdale was a fine actress but she was no singer, and I had to find a woman to sing for her. And the leading woman... got very upset because I wouldn’t let her sing opera — after all she sang musical comedy! Alfreda Hill sang it, but she was never seen."[2]

Filming

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Filming started in September 1937, with the elaborate cabaret scene shot first.[9] Future Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam was a law student at the time and appeared as an extra in this scene. Shooting wound up in November.

Music

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Noted Australian composer Alfred Hill was especially commissioned to write an operetta for the movie.[10] Hamilton Webber, conductor of the State Theatre Orchestra, rehearsed and conducted the A.B.C. Symphony Orchestra conducted by Lionel Lawson. There was the choir of 40 voices conducted by R. McLelland and Lionello Cecil, Australian tenor, appeared in the film.

The opera scenes were shot using the "play back" method.[11][4][12] According to Hall, "Clyde Cross had learned the technique of how to break up a sound track and mark it for playback. You see you were working off positive tracks then, you couldn’t play it back off a tape, there was no such thing. We knew that technique and we took on this operetta."[2]

Release

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Reviews praised the movie but criticised the melodramatic plot.[13] Hall gave the movie a sneak preview in the style of Hollywood studios which produced a strong response and box office performance was solid.[14]

Critical

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Variety said the film performed better in the "nabes and stix although" it was "a class production".[15]

Smith's Weekly said the film was "surprisingly successful, in spite of poor story; music good, general craftsmanship excellent."[16]

The Bulletin "Cinesound’s latest is a pleasant and capable blending of heart-interest, comedy and tunefulness, and those three ingredients being successfully mixed in the one film marks another step forward for Australian productions."[17]

In Britain the movie was released under the title The Vagabond Violinist to avoid confusion with the British film, The Broken Melody (1934).

Despite the film's success, this was Hall's last drama for Cinesound. In 1938 the British government ruled that Australian films no longer counted as British for purposes of the local quota, and therefore could not be guaranteed release over there. Accordingly, Cinesound's next six movies were all comedies even though Hall preferred drama.

"It is so much cleaner", he said at the time. "There is no mess of pies and so forth to be swept from the studio, as there is after slapstick."[14]

F. J. Thwaites expressed pleasure with the film.[18]

Radio adaptation

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The novel was adapted for radio in 1961.[19]

References

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  1. ^ Pike, Andrew Franklin. "The History of an Australian Film Production Company: Cinesound, 1932-70" (PDF). Australian National University. p. 245.
  2. ^ a b c d Taylor, Phillip (1 January 1974). "Ken G. Hall". Cinema Papers. p. 85. interview done on 25 October 1972
  3. ^ "Author Publishes Own Books". News. Vol. XXVIII, no. 4, 232. South Australia. 13 February 1937. p. 3. Retrieved 27 July 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ a b "Cinesound Tackles Ambitious Musical in "Broken Melody"". Everyones. 20 October 1937. p. 50.
  5. ^ "AUSTRALIAN FILMS". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 16 September 1937. p. 4. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  6. ^ 'AUSTRALIAN FILMS. Cinesound's Plans', The Sydney Morning Herald Thursday 16 September 1937 p 4
  7. ^ Coombes, Jennifer. "Casting Diana Du Cane". National Film and Sound Archive.
  8. ^ Australasian Radio Relay League. (29 October 1937), "Sydney Radio Stars GO INTO PICTURES", The Wireless Weekly: The Hundred per Cent Australian Radio Journal, Sydney: Wireless Press, nla.obj-718899485, retrieved 27 July 2024 – via Trove
  9. ^ ""THE BROKEN MELODY."". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 20 September 1937. p. 7. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  10. ^ 'AUSTRALIAN FILMS. Music and Actors', The Sydney Morning Herald, Friday 22 October 1937 p 21
  11. ^ "OPERATIC SCENE FOR FILM". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 5 November 1937. p. 10. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  12. ^ Shirley, Graham (24 June 1998). "Interview with Bill Shepherd from 1975". Australian Screen Editor.
  13. ^ "REVIEWS". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 20 June 1938. p. 5. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  14. ^ a b "FILM NEWS OF THE WEEK. CINESOUND'S NEW PRODUCTION". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 26 May 1938. p. 24. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  15. ^ "Variety (January 1939)". 1939.
  16. ^ ""The Broken Melody"". Smith's Weekly. Vol. XX, no. 17. New South Wales, Australia. 25 June 1938. p. 19. Retrieved 27 July 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  17. ^ "SUNDRY SHOWS", The Bulletin, Sydney, N.S.W: John Haynes and J.F. Archibald, 22 June 1938, nla.obj-576365781, retrieved 27 July 2024 – via Trove
  18. ^ "CINESOUND'S NEW FILM HAS MUSICAL CLIMAX". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 16 June 1938. p. 27. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
  19. ^ The Broken Melody radio drama at AustLit
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