Cavalcade (1933)

The triumphs and tragedies of two English families, the upper-crust Marryots and the working-class Bridges, from 1899 to 1933 are portrayed.

Director:

Frank Lloyd

Writers:

Reginald Berkeley (screen play), Sonya Levien (continuity)

Stars:

Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook, Una O'Connor

Won 3 Oscars. Another 1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Diana Wynyard	...	Jane Marryot
Clive Brook	...	Robert Marryot
Una O'Connor	...	Ellen Bridges
Herbert Mundin	...	Alfred Bridges
Beryl Mercer	...	Cook
Irene Browne	...	Margaret Harris
Tempe Pigott	...	Mrs. Snapper
Merle Tottenham	...	Annie
Frank Lawton	...	Joe Marryot
Ursula Jeans	...	Fanny Bridges
Margaret Lindsay	...	Edith Harris
John Warburton	...	Edward Marryot
Billy Bevan	...	George Grainger
Desmond Roberts	...	Ronnie James
Dickie Henderson	...	Master Edward (as Dick Henderson Jr.)

Storyline

A cavalcade of English life from New Year's Eve 1899 until 1933 seen through the eyes of well-to-do Londoners Jane and Robert Marryot. Amongst events touching their family are the Boer War, the death of Queen Victoria, the sinking of the Titanic and the Great War.

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Plot Keywords:

mother daughter relationship | dysfunctional marriage | manipulative mother | manipulative wife | homosexual subtext | 

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Taglines:

THE PICTURE OF THE GENERATION! (original print ad-all caps)

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Genres:

Drama | Romance | War

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 April 1933 (USA)

Also Known As:

Cabalgata

Filming Locations:

Fox Movietone City, Westwood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,180,280 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$7,630,000

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$17,440,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In one of the many chapters presented in the film, there's a section dedicated to the sinking of Titanic. Coincidence or not, but this movie and Titanic, directed by James Cameron have a lot in common: both were winners of the Best Picture, Best Director and Best Art-Direction Oscars; both were produced by Fox; and both featured a scene on the ship where the background music playing was Johann Strauss' "The Blue Danube".

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Goofs

A lady at this time never smoked in public. Jane lights a cigarette in the train station and very graciously gives it to a wounded soldier, something a lady of that time would not have done.

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Quotes

Jane Marryot: There should never be any good reason for neglecting someone that you love.

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Alternate Versions

As the film was originally released, the "Twentieth Century Blues" cabaret scene featured both a gay male couple and a lesbian couple. For the 1935 reissue after the coming of the Production Code, Fox was forced to delete the lesbians. Although the gay men can still be seen (one is putting a bracelet on the other), the lesbian pair (one in black, the other in white) can be glimpsed only in a quick flash.

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Connections

Featured in 20th Century-Fox: The First 50 Years (1997)

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Soundtracks

Valse des enfants
(uncredited)
Written by Frank Tresselt

User Reviews

"Time changes many things"

Unlike the big Oscar winners of later decades, the Best Pictures of the 1930s have largely been neglected (the only notable exceptions being It Happened One Night and Gone with the Wind). Of them all, Cavalcade is perhaps the most rarely remembered, and if remembered at all frequently dismissed as a dated, stagy melodrama, a product of an embarrassing era in cinema's history that even film buffs tend to shy away from, without even the added attraction of some pre-code naughtiness. But are bare legs, innuendo and mean-faced gangsters the only things worth salvaging from this era? The accusations of staginess are not surprising, Cavalcade being adapted from a Noel Coward play. But while Coward may have been a bit of a theatre snob with a naively upper-class attitude, he is not as impenetrably British as he may appear at first glance. Although Cavalcade focuses ostensibly on the concerns of a typical well-to-do English family, Coward strings together his story from universally emotional events, many of which would have related to the lives of people all over the world, and most of which still bear a kick today. Granted, Cavalcade's social conservatism and stiff-upper-lipped fustiness can be a little alienating, but this is not a preachy movie and nothing is forced home or laid on too thickly. Besides, Coward's warm humanism pervades even the most clichéd of characters.

The director is Frank Lloyd, himself an unfairly forgotten man of old Hollywood. Many will not understand why Lloyd one an Oscar for his work on Cavalcade, because he does not use any overt camera tricks, but the truth is Lloyd is too much of a master to need any tricks. Many of the claims of stiltedness probably stem from the fact that Lloyd uses a lot of long and often static takes, but there is still subtle and clever technique at work here. Take that first scene of Diana Wynyard and Clive Brook making their preparations for New Years Eve. A large chunk is done without a single edit, yet with a few simple panning manoeuvres Lloyd's camera is smoothly changing the focus and keeping things feeling fresh, at one point having Brook's face appear in the mirror, then following her over to the table where the two of them stand with a garland of flowers framing the lower edge of the shot. Another director might have used a dozen cuts in the same scene, but Lloyd does it with just one or two. And the great thing is you don't notice. Often he will shift our attention from one place to another, but do it by having the camera follow a walking character to disguise the movement, such as the father carrying off a crying child on the beach. In spite of this unostentatious approach, the style is purely cinematic.

To be fair however, most of the accusations of theatricality fall upon the cast. I would however describe the performances here as being stereotyped rather than grandiosely hammy. Diana Wynyard was the only Oscar nominee for acting, although she does little here but emote rather wetly. In her favour she does put a lot of expression into her small gestures, and as the picture progresses she ages her character convincingly. More realistic turns however are given by Clive Brook and Irene Browne. The real surprise performance of the lot though is Herbert Mundin. In his many supporting roles Mundin typically played a bumbling yet lovable comedy character, but here he is forceful, passionate and rather moving. Had such a thing existed in 1933, he could have been in line for a Best Supporting Actor award.

But, aside from all these qualities, why did Cavalcade of all things appeal to the Academy, which was not exactly cosmopolitan in those days? The answer may be that the mood of the picture was very apt for the times. This was of course the height of the depression, and despite appearances Cavalcade is a rather downbeat affair. The gung ho optimism of the Boer war is replaced by the bitter folly of the World War; characters disappear from the narrative, everyday life becomes increasingly impersonal, until the final scenes are almost despairing. And yet this is not some tale of personal tragedy. Crowds are a constant presence in Cavalcade, with Lloyd using them as a backdrop to a teary farewell, the bookends to a scene or even just a noise heard through a window. In Coward's play characters are killed off in significant events making them symbolic of the losses of a nation. This is a story of great suffering, but it is a story of collective suffering, and this makes it comparable to the most poignant and affecting pictures of depression-era Hollywood.