The problem and the failure of Lord Byron of Broadway are epitomized by the central cast, whose acting is painfully bad. None of its three leading players–Charles Kaley, Marion Shilling and Ethelind Terry–had any experience of film acting. Kaley, in fact, was not an actor at all, but a singer and band leader. And the result of this bold (or foolhardy) casting by producer Harry Rapf was to bring the careers of Kaley and Terry to an abrupt halt, while Shilling, who continued acting for a few more years, was relegated to ‘B’ westerns. Lord Byron might have turned out very differently with the originally-announced leads, Bessie Love and William Haines, though it is unlikely Love would have thanked anyone for another dose of noble heartbreak.
The lack of substance in the lead players (though Terry does her best) meant that much of the heavy lifting, in terms of light and shade, and of humour, was left to supporting players Cliff Edwards and Benny Rubin. Both were affable players, but neither was capable of holding a picture together.
The problem with the performances was exacerbated by Rapf’s equally bizarre decision to assign the picture to William Nigh, a third-tier action director attempting to punch above his weight at Hollywood’s biggest studio. Harry Beaumont, of Broadway Melody fame, was brought in to undertake significant reshooting, but was unable to save the film, which drags painfully even though only 80 minutes long. Anne Bauchens, the highly-respected editor of Cecil B DeMille’s films, must have despaired at the material she was given to work with.
Lord Byron of Broadway is further undermined by an inferior Freed-Brown score. The stand-out song, ‘Should I?,’ is familiar to most musical fans from the snatch of it heard in Singin’ in the Rain.
The film has the Technicolor sequences that seemed obligatory at the time. The ‘Blue Daughter of Heaven’ number was presumably shot by Beaumont, and does show significant development from his first musical. The camera moves in and out of the stage space, and Sammy Lee’s choreography is even captured in Berkeleyesque overhead shots filmed some months before Berkeley himself came to Hollywood. The geometric patterns are simple and lack Berkeley’s firm control, but they are a brave attempt.
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