Cavalcade (1933) – full length review!

Cavalcade (1933) – full length review!

Fifty years before Woody Allen’s Zelig (1983) which preceded Robert Zemeckis’s Forrest Gump (1994) by more than a decade itself this sprawling spectacle of a drama features its characters in (or during) various real life historical events (the Boer War the Titanic World War I etc.) to help tell its 33 year story. It earned director Frank Lloyd (The Divine Lady (1929)) his second & last Best Director Academy Award (on his second to last nomination). The film also won the Best Picture & Art Direction Oscars and lead actress Diana Wynyard earned her only recognition from the Academy with a Best Actress nomination.

If you haven’t heard of Wynyard before don’t be surprised – primarily known as a London stage actress she appeared in only half a dozen films in the 1930’s (her debut in Rasputin and the Empress (1932) the only film featuring all three Barrymore siblings directly preceded this one) and only twice that number in her career (most notably in the British version of Gaslight (1940) opposite Anton Walbrook). In this film she reminded me of Norma Shearer whom she resembles except for the fact that Wynyard under plays her character (at least relatively). Many film fans won’t recognize all of the other names in the cast either which includes: Clive Brook Una O’Connor Herbert Mundin Beryl Mercer Irene Browne Frank Lawton Ursula Jeans Margaret Lindsay (her sixth film) and John Warburton & Bonita Granville (their third films) among others. It’s a British story with an "upstairs downstairs" subplot from Noel Coward’s play which was produced by a Hollywood company (20th Century Fox). Reginald Berkeley wrote the screenplay and Sonya Levien (State Fair (1933)) provided continuity.

It’s New Year’s Eve 1899! Upstairs Jane (Wynyard) & Robert (Brook) Marryot are toasting the coming century before he must go and serve as an officer in the Boer War (Africa). Downstairs their servants Ellen (O’Connor) & Alfred (Mundin) Bridges can appreciate their bittersweet celebration because he too must soon leave as an infantryman. Mercer plays the cook; Tempe Pigott plays Alfred’s disagreeable mother-in-law. The Marryots have preteen two sons Masters Edward (Dickie Henderson) & Joey (Douglas Scott) who play with Edith (Sheila MacGill) the daughter of Jane’s lifelong (and film-long) best friend Margaret Harris (Browne). The Bridges have a new baby named Fanny. After both soldiers return uninjured from the war Robert helps Alfred go into business for himself lending him the money he needs to buy a pub. Merle Tottenham plays the Marryot’s newest servant (later she marries Billy Bevan).

Ten years later Fanny (now played by Granville) is a dancing prodigy. Alfred who has been drinking away his bar’s profits is killed when he struggles away from some friends and staggers into the street in front of a speeding fire engine. Five years later newlyweds Edward (now Warburton) and Edith (now Lindsay) wonder about what their future holds on the decks of their honeymoon cruise … on the Titanic! When (WW I) war breaks out Joe (now Lawton) is as excited to be joining the conflict as he was for his father 15 years earlier. Near the end of the conflict some four years later he’s predictably weary. But his spirits rise when by chance he sees dancer Fanny’s (now Jeans) name in lights and the two of them begin an affair unknown to their parents of differing classes. On armistice day working class success Ellen Bridges gaudily dressed and looking uncomfortable in high heels visits Jane to tell her about their "children’s" affair. But they’re interrupted by a telegram that tells Mrs. Marryot about Joe’s death. Fanny sings the "Twentieth Century Blues" about it in her nightclub.

After a series of montages (like those included which signified the length of the so-called Great War) including newspaper headlines spanning more than a decade the film ends as it began with an elderly Robert & Jane after Margaret has left toasting the coming of 1933 on New Year’s Eve.

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