''On with the Show!'' is a 1929 American sound ( All-Talking)

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serv ...

produced by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

Filmed in two-color

Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

, the film became the first all-talking, all-color feature-length film, and the second color film released by Warner Bros.; the first was the partly color

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

The Desert Song ''The Desert Song'' is an operetta with music by Sigmund Romberg and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel. It was inspired by the 1925 uprising of the Riffs, a group of Berber fighters, against French colonia ...

'' (1929). On January 1, 2025, the film's copyright expired, resulting in the film entering the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

Plot

With unpaid actors and staff, the stage show ''Phantom Sweetheart'' seems doomed. To complicate matters, the box-office revenue has been stolen and the leading lady refuses to appear.

Cast

Songs

* "Welcome Home": Music by Harry Akst, lyrics by Grant Clarke, performed by Henry Fink and chorus, danced by the Four Covans * "Let Me Have My Dreams": Music by Akst, lyrics by Clarke, performed by Josephine Huston (with Betty Compson and Sally O'Neil on screen) * "

Am I Blue? "Am I Blue?" is a 1929 song composed by Harry Akst (music) and Grant Clarke (lyrics), and published by M. Witmark & Sons. It was featured in four films that year, most notably with Ethel Waters in the movie '' On with the Show''. It has appeare ...

": Music by Akst, lyrics by Clarke, performed by Ethel Waters and the Harmony Four Quartette * "Lift the Juleps to Your Two Lips": Music by Akst, lyrics by Clarke, sung by Henry Fink, Josephine Huston and chorus and danced by the Four Covans * "In the Land of Let's Pretend": Music by Akst, lyrics by Clarke, sung by Mildred Carroll and chorus * "Don't It Mean a Thing to You?": Music by Akst, lyrics by Clarke, sung by Josephine Huston and danced by Marion and Madeline Fairbanks * "Birmingham Bertha": Music by Akst, lyrics by Clarke, performed by Ethel Waters, dancing by Angelus Babe * "Wedding Day": Music by Akst, lyrics by Clarke, sung by Henry Fink, Arthur Lake, Josephine Huston and chorus * "Bridal Chorus" (from ''Lohengrin''): Music by

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

, played at the beginning of the finale

Production and promotion

Warner Bros. promoted ''On with the Show!'' as filmed in "

natural color Natural color was a term used in the beginning of film and later on in the 1920s, and early 1930s as a color film process that actually filmed color images, rather than a color tinted or colorized movie. The first natural color processes were in t ...

." This was the first in a series of Warner Bros. contracted color films. The film generated much interest in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

and virtually overnight, most other major

studios A studio is a space set aside for creative work of any kind, including art, dance, music and theater. The word ''studio'' is derived from the , from , from ''studere'', meaning to Wiktionary:study, study or zeal. Types Art The studio o ...

began filming in the color process. The film would be eclipsed by the far greater success of the second

film, ''

Gold Diggers of Broadway ''Gold Diggers of Broadway'' is a 1929 American sound ( All-Talking) pre-Code musical comedy film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Winnie Lightner and Nick Lucas. Distributed by Warner Bros., the film is the second all-talking, all-Techni ...

''. (''

Song of the West ''Song of the West'' is a 1930 American Pre-Code musical Western film produced by Warner Bros., and photographed entirely in Technicolor. It was based on the 1928 Broadway musical ''Rainbow'' by Vincent Youmans (music), Oscar Hammerstein II (ly ...

'' was completed first, but its release was delayed until March 1930).

Reception

Box office

The film was a box-office hit, with a worldwide gross of more than $2 million. According to Warner Bros. records, the film earned $1,741,000 domestically and $674,000 internationally.

Critical

Reviews from critics were mixed.

Mordaunt Hall Mordaunt Hall (1 November 1878 – 2 July 1973) was the first regularly assigned motion picture critic for ''The New York Times'', working from October 1924 to September 1934.The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote that the film was "to be felicitated on the beauty of its pastel shades, which were obtained by the Technicolor process, but little praise can be accorded its story or to its raucous voices....It would have been better if this film had no story, and no sound, for it is like a clumsy person arrayed in

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue runs south from 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The se ...

finery." ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' reported that the film was "too long in running", but was nevertheless "impressive, both as an entertainment and as a talker." ''

Film Daily ''The Film Daily'' was a daily publication that existed from 1918 to 1970 in the United States. It was the first daily newspaper published solely for the film industry. It covered the latest trade news, film reviews, financial updates, informati ...

'' called it "fine entertainment and a very adroit mixture of comedy, some rather bad pathos and musical comedy numbers." The ''

New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the '' New York Tribune'' acquired the '' New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and compet ...

'' declared it "the best thing the films have done in the way of transferring Broadway music shows to the screen and, even if the story is bad and the entire picture considerably in need of cutting it is an admirable and frequently handsome bit of cinema exploring."

John Mosher John Mosher (1928–1998) was an American jazz bassist, classical bassist and composer who worked, recorded and toured with a wide range of primarily West Coast artists from the 1950s through the mid-1990s. Early years A native of Sioux City, ...

of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' wrote that the film was "completely undistinguished for wit, charm, or novelty, except that it is done in color. Possibly in the millennium all movies will be colored. In these early days of the art, however, not much can be said for it, except that it is not really distressing." The film is recognized by

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...

in these lists: * 2004: AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs: ** "

" – Nominated

Preservation

One reel of the 35mm color nitrate print of ''On With the Show'' exists at the BFI archive. Only

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

prints have survived from the remainder of the film. A fragment of an original color print lasting about 20 seconds surfaced in 2005. Other original color fragments were discovered in 2014. A copy of the black-and-white version has long been held by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
The film's copyright expired on January 1, 2025, resulting in the film entering the

Home media

In December 2009, ''On with the Show!'' (in black and white) was made available on manufactured-on-demand DVD by the

Warner Archive Collection The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the inte ...

References

External links

* * * * * (''On with the Show!'' clip starts at 3:45) {{DEFAULTSORT:On with the Show 1929 films 1929 musical films 1920s color films American musical films 1920s English-language films American films based on plays Films directed by Alan Crosland Warner Bros. films Films with screenplays by Robert Lord (screenwriter) Early color films 1920s American films English-language musical films