Melody of Love (1928)

Synopsis
Universal's first 100% all-talkie, Melody of Love was completed with the aid of borrowed Movietone sound equipment from Fox studios (it was largely filmed at night, when Fox was shutdown). Walter Pidgeon stars as Tin Pan Alley composer Jack Clark, who when WWI breaks out signs up for the army with his pal Lefty (Tom Dugan). The boys spend their time overseas plunking out tunes while enemy shells whiz past their head. Eventually, a stray bullet hits Clark in his right arm, rendering him unable to wield a pencil or play a piano. He is sent home, where his former sweetheart Flo Thompson, sensing that Jack isn't going to be much of a gravy train, sends him packing. But there's a happy ending in the offing when French chanteuse Madelon (Mildred Harris) comes back into Jack's life. Recovering the use of his arm, Jack writes a hit song dedicated to Madelon, a sequence which affords former musical-comedy leading man Walter Pidgeon a golden opportunity to show off his splendid singing voice. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide