Hollywood Cavalcade (1939)

Starting in 1913 movie director Connors discovers singer Molly Adair. As she becomes a star she marries an actor, so Connors fires them. She asks for him as director of her next film. Many silent stars shown making the transition to sound.

Directors:

Irving Cummings, Buster Keaton (uncredited)

Writers:

Ernest Pascal (screenplay), Hilary Lynn (story)

Stars:

Alice Faye, Don Ameche, J. Edward Bromberg

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alice Faye	...	Molly Adair
Don Ameche	...	Michael Linnett Connors
J. Edward Bromberg	...	Dave Spingold
Alan Curtis	...	Nicky Hayden
Stuart Erwin	...	Pete Tinney
Jed Prouty	...	Chief of Police
Buster Keaton	...	Buster Keaton
Donald Meek	...	Lyle P. Stout
George Givot	...	Englishman
Al Jolson	...	Al Jolson - Recreation of 'The Jazz Singer' Scene (as Mr. Al Jolson)
Eddie Collins	...	Keystone Kop
Hank Mann	...	Keystone Kop
Heinie Conklin	...	Keystone Kop
James Finlayson	...	Keystone Kop
Chick Chandler	...	Assistant Director

Storyline

Michael Linnett Connors takes Molly Adair from Broadway understudy to 1913 Hollywood star. Although she is in love with him, she marries her co-star reckoning wrongly Connors thinks of her only in terms of movies. He fires her in pique, apparently terminally damaging his career.

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Plot Keywords:

actor | manhattan new york city | dog | hollywood california | keystone kops | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | History

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Many film historians believe this movie was based off the real life story of Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand. Darryl F. Zanuck actually hired Mack Sennett to serve as a technical advisor for this film.

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Goofs

Connor mentions that "The Jazz Singer" was running all night long. In fact, it opened as a roadshow engagement--two shows a day. The Vitaphone discs were only playable for a maximum amount of 20, and would have needed almost constant replacement if it were running continuously.

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Quotes

Dave Spingold: [to Molly] It'll be chiseled on my tombstone - Dave Spingold - Schlemiel.

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Connections

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

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Soundtracks

Carolina in the Morning
(1922)
Music by Walter Donaldson
Lyrics by Gus Kahn
Played by a studio orchestra for the 'Common Clay' scene

User Reviews

Hollywood Cavalcade was a nice tribute to silent pictures

After about a year of this being on the "long wait" list on Netflix, the DVD was finally delivered a couple of days ago and I finally got to see this after about a couple of decades being curious about it because I read about Buster Keaton throwing a pie in the face of Alice Faye in his bio in an encyclopedia of movie comics called "Funsters". Seeing Keaton years after he seemed to have fallen on hard times due to his alcoholism was refreshing when he performs his silent antics especially when he does those pie scenes. Oh, and Ms. Faye does a nice tribute to Anita Garvin in The Battle of the Century when she falls on a pie. Don Ameche isn't bad as her director who guides her through slapstick comedies and then dramas but can't see the forest for the trees, if you know what I mean. Obviously, if you're familiar with silent movie history, you can see that Ms. Faye and Ameche are a mix of various celebrities from then but also Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand. Sennett himself cameos in a party scene making a speech on the fictional stars depicted. I did not notice James Finlayson-best known to me for his work with Laurel & Hardy-as one of the Keystone Cops. The silent comedy sequences were really well done. The dramatic scenes were okay. I'm guessing Al Jolson didn't recreate his blackface numbers from The Jazz Singer and instead did his stint as a cantor from that was because he already did those in a previous Faye picture called Rose of Washington Square. I'm obviously babbling now so on that note, I recommend Hollywood Cavalcade.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 October 1939 (USA)

Also Known As:

Assim Nasceu o Cinema

Filming Locations:

West First Street, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1