Broadway is a 1942 American crime drama musical film directed by William A. Seiter and starring George Raft and Pat O'Brien. The supporting cast features Janet Blair and Broderick Crawford.
Another fictionalized biographical movie based on Raft's life, The George Raft Story (1961), featured a different actor (Ray Danton) playing Raft.
Contents
Plot
George Raft, a Hollywood dancer, returns to Manhattan and recalls working in a nightclub with a bootlegger's girlfriend.
Cast
George Raft as George Raft
Pat O'Brien as Dan McCorn
Janet Blair as Billie Moore
Broderick Crawford as Steve Crandall
Marjorie Rambeau as Lillian (Lil) Rice
Anne Gwynne as Pearl
S. Z. Sakall as Nick
Edward Brophy as Porky (as Edward S. Brophy)
Marie Wilson as Grace
Gus Schilling as Joe
Ralf Harolde as Dolph
Arthur Shields as Pete Dailey
Iris Adrian as Maisie
Janet Warren as Ruby (as Elaine Morey)
Dorothy Moore as Ann
Nestor Paiva as Rinalti
Abner Biberman as Trado
Damian O'Flynn as Scar Edwards
Mack Gray as Mack 'Killer' Gray
Production
Universal paid $175,000 for the rights to the 1926 play of the same name that had previously been filmed in 1929. On Broadway, Lee Tracy played the dancer, Thomas Jackson played the detective and Paul Porcasi played the nightclub owner. In the 1929 film, Jackson and Porcasi reprised their roles and Glenn Tryon replaced Tracy. Pat O'Brien once played the detective role in a road show.
In February 1941, Universal announced the film for the coming year. Bruce Manning, a writer who had recently been promoted to producer, would produce and George Raft and Broderick Crawford would star. Manning and Felix Young were to write the screenplay.
However, Raft was under contract for three more pictures with Warner Bros., which refused to loan him to Universal. Raft had been refusing roles that he did not like over the course of eight months, but an agreement was reached whereby $27,500 would be taken from Raft's salary to allow Warner Bros. to borrow Robert Cummings from Universal. In December 1941, Raft signed on to make the film.
Manning wanted to change the bootlegger characters from the play into foreign agents. He discussed the story with Raft and recognized the similarities between the story of Roy, the dancer played on stage by Tracy, and that of Raft's early career. He kept the characters as bootleggers but changed the story to focus on Raft. He also added a prologue and epilogue in which Raft returns to New York after establishing himself as a movie star.
In February 1942, O'Brien signed on and filming began.
Reception
The film was a success with audiences.
The Los Angeles Times called Broadway a "sock melodrama." Filmink said that the film "... isn’t particularly well remembered but it's a lot of fun, with plenty of gunfire and dancing, and was reasonably popular – Raft was best known for his gangster movies, but he was also a half-decent draw in musicals."