Main Cast: Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook, Una O'Connor, Herbert Mundin, Ursula Jeans, Beryl Mercer
Release Year: 1933
Country: US
Run Time: 110 minutes
Plot
The only Academy Award winning picture for Fox Studios (in its pre-20th Century-Fox era), Cavalcade is a stately film adaptation of the pageant-like stage hit by Noel Coward. The film concentrates on the years 1901 through 1933, as seen through the eyes of an upper-class British family and its servants. Clive Brook and Diana Wynyard portray the "upstairs" Marryots, while Herbert Mundin and Una O'Connor represent the "downstairs" Bridges (the incidents and characterizations in Cavalcade are very, very close to those seen in the popular 1970s BBC series Upstairs, Downstairs). The triumphs and tragedies of both masters and servants are placed in context with the death of Queen Victoria, the Boer War, World War I, the Jazz Age, and the Depression. Both classes have their troubles with their children, what with their offsprings' predilection for opposing authority, marrying the wrong people, and dying at the least opportune moments. The film's highlight was also the most talked-about scene in the original play: newlyweds Edward Marryot (John Warburton) and Edith Harris (Margaret Lindsay), discussing their future while on their honeymoon cruise, reveal at the scene's fadeout that they've been standing in front of a life preserver bearing the name "TITANIC". On the whole, however, Cavalcade creaks a bit when seen today, and is best viewed from a historical perspective. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Fox Movietone newsreel cameramen were sent to London to record the original stage production as a guide for the film adaptation.
The soundtrack includes "Girls of the C.I.V.," "Mirabelle," "Lover of My Dreams," and "Twentieth Century Blues" by Noël Coward, "A Bird in a Gilded Cage" by Harry von Tilzer, "I Do Like to Be Beside the Seaside" by John Glover Kind, "Take Me Back to Yorkshire" by Harry Castling and Fred Godfrey, "Nearer My God, To Thee" by Lowell Mason, "Your King and Country Want You" by Paul Rubens, "It's a Long, Long Way to Tipperary" by Jack Judge and Harry Williams, "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile" by Felix Powell and George Asaf, "Keep The Home Fires Burning" by Ivor Novello and Lena Guilbert Ford, "Oh, You Beautiful Doll" by Nat Ayer and Seymour Brown, "Hinky Dinky Parlay Voo (Mad'moiselle from Armentieres)" by Irwin Dash, Al Dubin, and Joe Mittenthal, and "Over There" by George M. Cohan.
The film premiered in New York City on January 5, 1933 but did not go into general theatrical release until April 15.
The film is one of only two Best Picture Oscar winners not currently available on DVD in Region 1, together with Wings.
Mordaunt Hall of the New York Times called the film "most affecting and impressive" and added, "In all its scenes there is a meticulous attention to detail, not only in the settings ... but also in the selection of players ... It is unfurled with such marked good taste and restraint that many an eye will be misty after witnessing this production."[1]
To Redeem a Value •10,000 Dollars •The Gentleman from Indiana •Jane •The Reform Candidate •The Tongues of Men •The Call of the Cumberlands •Madame la Presidente •The Code of Marcia Gray •David Garrick •The Making of Maddalena •An International Marriage •The Stronger Love •The Intrigue •Sins of Her Parent •The World and the Woman (with Eugene Moore) •The Kingdom of Love •The Price of Silence •A Tale of Two Cities •American Methods •When a Man Sees Red •Les Misérables •The Heart of a Lion •The Blindness of Divorce •True Blue •Riders of the Purple Sage •His Extra Bit •The Rainbow Trail •For Freedom •The Man Hunter •Pitfalls of a Big City •The World and Its Woman •The Loves of Letty
1920s
The Woman in Room 13 •The Silver Horde •Madame X •The Great Lover •A Tale of Two Worlds •Roads of Destiny •A Voice in the Dark •The Invisible Power •The Grim Comedian •The Man from Lost River •The Eternal Flame •The Sin Flood •Oliver Twist •The Voice from the Minaret •Within the Law •Ashes of Vengeance •Black Oxen •The Sea Hawk •The Silent Watcher •Her Husband's Secret •Winds of Chance •The Splendid Road •The Wise Guy •The Eagle of the Sea •Children of Divorce •Adoration •Weary River •The Divine Lady •Drag •Dark Streets •Young Nowheres
