Broadway Babies (1929) - A messy, loud, and weirdly fun flapper time capsule

Is this worth watching today? Honestly, only if you have a soft spot for the 1920s or if you're a bit of a completionist for early talkies. It's loud and the plot is pretty thin, but Alice White is such a firecracker that it's hard to look away.

People who love flapper fashion and jazz-age energy will probably get a kick out of it. If you're looking for a deep story or something with great sound quality, you'll probably hate it within five minutes.

Alice White plays a girl named Delight—which is a hilarious name, let's be real. She's a chorus girl who is head over heels for Billy, the stage manager.

The whole movie basically hinges on one of those annoying 'I saw you talking to another woman so now I must ruin my life' misunderstandings. It’s the kind of thing that makes you want to reach into the screen and shake them.

Instead of just asking Billy what’s up, Delight decides she's going to marry a bootlegger named Perc. Perc is played by Fred Kohler, and he looks like he walked off the set of a much more serious movie like The Savage.

There is this one scene in a dressing room where all the girls are talking at the same time. The audio is a total mess because 1929 tech wasn't ready for that many voices, but it feels weirdly real.

It’s like someone just left the mic on while the extras were gossiping. I noticed a girl in the back who keeps adjusting her stockings and she looks bored out of her mind.

Alice White has this jittery, caffeinated energy that I really liked. She doesn't just walk; she kind of bounces everywhere.

It’s a bit different from the vibe in The Girl in the Limousine, where things feel a bit more structured. Here, it’s just chaos and feathers and sequins.

The stage manager, Billy, played by Charles Delaney, is fine I guess. He has a very small mustache that distracted me for most of his scenes.

I kept wondering if it was real or if they just drew it on with a pencil before the camera started rolling. He spends a lot of time looking stressed out, which I suppose is what stage managers do.

There’s a lot of music, but none of it is particularly catchy. It’s that very specific style of early film music where everyone sounds like they are singing into a tin can.

The bootlegger subplot feels like it belongs in a different film. Perc isn't really a 'bad guy' in the traditional sense, he’s just… there?

He seems way too old for Delight, which makes the whole marriage proposal feel a bit icky. But that was probably just how movies worked back then.

I liked the scenes that showed the 'behind the scenes' stuff of the theater. You can see the stagehands moving things and it feels very lived-in.

It reminds me a little bit of the energy in The Ring and the Ringer, even though the setting is totally different. There is a sense that these people actually work for a living when they aren't dancing.

One reaction shot of a woman in the audience lingers for about five seconds too long. She just has this blank stare like she forgot where she was.

I wonder if the director just liked her face or if they forgot to yell cut. It's those little imperfections that make these old movies worth sitting through.

The ending happens so fast you might blink and miss it. Everything gets resolved with a quick conversation and suddenly everyone is happy again.

It’s not as sweeping or dramatic as something like Evangeline, but it gets the job done. Sometimes you just want a movie that doesn't try to be a masterpiece.

The costumes are definitely the best part. I’m pretty sure I saw some sequins that were large enough to be used as mirrors.

If you're into the history of show business, it’s a neat little time capsule. Just don't expect it to change your life or anything.

It’s just a silly story about a girl with a funny name and a bootlegger who wears his hat a little too high on his head. 🥂