Hollywood Cavalcade

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Hollywood Cavalcade was a fictionalized history of silent films and the growth of the movie industry. Don Ameche portrays a character based on equal portions of Mack Sennett and D. W. Griffith, while Alice Faye's silent star is an amalgam of Mabel Normand and Gloria Swanson. Ameche breaks into pictures with slapstick comedies, initiating the first "pie throwing" scene, with Buster Keaton the thrower and Alice Faye the throw-ee. Thanks to Ameche, Faye becomes a major comedy star, appearing in wild Keystone Kops chase comedies. But success goes to Ameche's head, and soon he's staging elaborate Intolerance-like historical spectacles. As Ameche's artistic aspirations climb, his relationship with the faithful Alice deteriorates. She finds solace with her young leading man (Alan Curtis) and becomes a top dramatic star. Having made and lost several fortunes, Ameche talks Alice into appearing in his "comeback" picture, but shortly before filming ends, she and her husband are in a serious auto accident. The husband is killed, and as Faye recuperates, Ameche agonizes over how he'll save his uncompleted masterpiece. He witnesses the premiere of Al Jolson's part-talking The Jazz Singer and decides to risk everything by scrapping his film and remaking it as a talkie. Faye, who's never really stopped loving Ameche, agrees to star in this new project. On a level of accuracy, Hollywood Cavalcade is for the birds, but it scores on its energetic performances and nostalgic appeal. As a bonus, several past movie greats appear in cameos: Al Jolson, Buster Keaton, Mack Sennett, Ben Turpin, Chester Conklin, Jimmy Finlayson, Hank Mann and even Rin Tin Tin Jr. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Audio: Dolby Digital Mono
• Screen: Color
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Pre-1954 Standard)
• Features:
  • cc
  • Hollywood Cavalcade: The Silent Dream featurette
  • Buster Keaton: Head Over Heels in Hollywood featurette
  • Hello Roscoe: The Fate of Fatty Arbuckle featurette
  • Outtakes
  • Fox Movietonenews: Hollywood Cavalcade premiere
  • Restoration comparison
  • Advertising gallery
  • Still gallery

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Alice Faye - Molly Adair
       Don Ameche - Michael Linnett Connors
       J. Edward Bromberg - Dave Spingold
       Alan Curtis - Nicky Hayden
       Stuart Erwin - Pete Tinney
       Buster Keaton - Himself
       Donald Meek - Lyle P. Stout
       George Givot - Claude
       Hank Mann - Keystone Cop
       Eddie Collins - Keystone Cop
       Chester Conklin - Sheriff in Western
       James Finlayson - Keystone Cop
       Chick Chandler - Chick, Assistant Director
       Robert Lowery - Henry Potter
       Russell Hicks - Roberts
       Ben Welden - Agent
       Willie Fung - Willie
       Paul Stanton - Filson
       Mary Forbes - Mrs. Gaynes
       Irving Bacon - Bakery Clerk
       Ben Turpin - Bartender in Western
       Marjorie Beebe - Telephone Operator
       Frederick Burton - Thomas of Famous Players
       Lee Duncan - Himself
       Rin Tin Tin, Jr. - Rin Tin Tin
       Al Jolson - Himself

• Director:

  Irving Cummings, Malcolm St. Clair

• Producer:

  Darryl F. Zanuck

• Screen Story:

  Brown Holmes

• Screenwriter:

  Ernest Pascal

• Screen Story:

  Hilary Lynn

• Cinematographer:

  Allen M. Davey, Ernest Palmer

• Composer (Music Score):

  David Raksin

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  Louis Silvers

• Editor:

  Walter Thompson

• Art Director:

  Richard Day, Wiard Ihnen

• Associate Producer:

  Harry Joe Brown

• Set Designer:

  Thomas K. Little

• Costume Designer:

  Herschel

• Consultant/advisor:

  Natalie Kalmus

• From Idea By:

  Lou Breslow

• Color Timing:

  Henri Jaffa

REVIEW:

• Hollywood Cavalcade is overall a fine piece of entertainment, but it would probably rate even higher had it ended about halfway through. Granted, slicing Cavalcade in half would have seriously affected its dramatic trajectory, but the truth of the matter is that the first half of the film is much better than the second half. This is largely because the first portion is concerned with capturing Hollywood during the silent era, when filmmaking was in its infancy and no one knew what they were really doing. They were making up the rules as they went along, and Cavalcade does a fine job of capturing that joyous spirit. It also provides opportunity for some of the silent era's finest comic talent, including Buster Keaton, Mack Sennett, Chester Conklin and Ben Turpin, to make appearances and demonstrate their special magic. The gags they pursue may be old, but the talent is as fresh as ever, and there is genuine sparkle to these sequences. Unfortunately, the second half deals less with Hollywood than with the cliched and predictable love triangle that has sprung up among the leading players of Cavalcade. This story isn't necessarily bad; it just isn't very good, and it drags the second half of the film down a bit. Don Ameche, Alice Faye and Alan Curtis do everything they can -- which is saying a lot -- but one still finishes the film remembering how much more fun it was before it started concentrating so much on the story. ~ Craig Butler, Rovi