Broadway (1942 film)

Broadway is a 1942 crime drama musical film directed by William A. Seiter and starring George Raft as himself and Pat O'Brien as a detective. 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.
Plot.
A Hollywood dancer (George Raft playing George Raft) returns to Manhattan and recalls working in a nightclub with a bootlegger's (Broderick Crawford) girlfriend.
Production.
The film was an adaptation of a 1926 play of the same name which had previously been filmed in 1929. On Broadway, Lee Tracy played the dancer, Thomas Jackson played the detective and Paul Porcasi played the night club 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.
Universal had paid $175,000 for the rights.
In February 1941 Universal announced the film would be part of its slate 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, from a script by Manning and Felix Young.
However Raft was under contract to Warner Bros who refused to loan him out. Raft kept refusing roles at Warners who put him under suspension for months. Eventually Warners relented and Raft made the film. Raft said he had to pay $27,500 out of his own pocket and negotiate so that Warners could borrow Robert Cummings from Universal free of charge.
In December 1941 Raft signed to make the film.
Producer Bruce Manning wanted to turn the bootleggers into foreign agents. He discussed the story with George Raft and recognised the similarities the story of Roy, the dancer played on stage with Lee Tracey, had with the early career of George Raft. He decided to keep the characters as bootleggers but changed the story to make it about George Raft. He also added a prologue and epilogue where Raft returns to New York after establishing himself as a movie star.
In February 1942 O'Brien signed to co star. Filming started that month.
Reception.
The film was a success with audiences.
The "Los Angeles Times" called it a "sock melodrama". "Filmink" magazine said 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."