title: Broadway (1942 film)
text: 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
  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."
  
  References
  
  External links
  
  Review of film at Variety
  
  1940s musical drama films
  1942 films
  American black-and-white films
  American mystery drama films
  1940s English-language films
  Films about actors
  Films about musical theatre
  Films about theatre
  American films based on plays
  Films directed by William A. Seiter
  Films set in New York City
  Universal Pictures films
  Films scored by Frank Skinner
  American musical drama films
  American crime drama films
  1942 crime drama films
  1940s mystery drama films
  1940s American films