Just as Wings was the first war movie to win the Academy’s highest honor, this week’s featured film, The Broadway Melody (1929, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), was the first musical to take home the coveted prize. Also like Wings, The Broadway Melody won Outstanding Picture (not Best Picture)—and that was the sole award won by the film, which is quite a rare feat in Academy Awards history.

While, yes, The Broadway Melody is technically a musical, it is not a musical in the sense of classic films such as The Sound of Music or My Fair Lady in which the songs most often continue the themes and purposes of the characters’ dialogues—nor can it in any way compare to other such Broadway smashes-turned-into-movie-successes like The Phantom of the Opera or Les Misérables in which most of the dialogue is in fact sung rather than spoken.

In some ways, then, The Broadway Melody shares a few similarities with the recent hit musical film La La Land in that singing numbers are frequently set up by audition experiences or performance-based situations. Funny how trends from the past eventually come back around!

For more detailed thoughts on The Broadway Melody and its significance, check out the full post this weekend!