Customer Reviews

Cavalcade

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

CAVALCADE is an extremely good example of films made in the first few years following the advent of sound, an era in which actors, directors, writers, and cinematographers struggled to find a new style that could comfortably accomodate the new technology. During this period, many actors and writers were drawn from the stage--only to discover that what seems real and natural in the theatre seems heavily mannered on screen.

This is certainly the case with CAVALCADE. The film presents the story of two London families whose lives intertwine between 1900 and 1933. The film begins with the upperclass Marryot family and their servants, Mr. and Mrs. Bridges, facing the Boer War--and then through a series of montages and montage-like scenes follows the fortunes of the two families as they confront changing codes of manners and social class and various historic events ranging from the sinking of the Titanic to World War I.

From a modern standpoint, the really big problem with the film is the script. CAVALCADE was written for the stage by Noel Coward, who was one of the great comic authors of the 20th Century stage--but the sparkling edge that seems so flawless in his comic works acquires a distastefully "precious" quality when applied to drama. Although the play was a great success in its day, it is seldom revived, and the dialogue of the film version leaves one in little doubt of why: it feels ridiculously artificial, and that quality is emphasized by the "grand manner" of the cast.

That said, the cast--in spite of the dialogue and their stylistically dated performances--is quite good. This is particularly true of the two leading ladies, Diana Wynyard and Una O'Connor (best known for her appearances in THE INVISIBLE MAN and THE BRIDE OF FRANKESTEIN), both of whom have memorable screen presences that linger in mind long after the film ends. The material is also quite interesting and startlingly modern; although it is more covert than such films as ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, CAVALCADE has a decidedly anti-war slant, and the characters in the film worry about where technology (which has produced such horrors as chemical warfare by World War I) will take them in the future.

I enjoyed the film. At the same time, I would be very hesitant to recommend it to any one that was not already interested in films of the early 1930s, for I think most contemporary viewers would have great difficulty adjusting to the tremendous difference in style. The VHS (the film is not yet available on DVD) has some problem with visual elements and a more significant problem with audio elements, but these are not consistent issues. Recommended--but with the warning that if you don't already like pre-code early "talkies" you will likely be disappointed.

The most important thing to keep in mind with this film is the fact that it was made in 1933. It is an excellent film for capturing the mood of the English people at this time. It seems to be almost a tribute to English perseverance and a wake up call for a society that is spiraling into decadence and immorality. (ie Wake up - life is brief and may be over in an instant) I loved the symbolism in this movie, the horses portraying time marching on, the image of Jesus hanging on the cross as the troops march off to "sacrifice" themselves. The cross on the top of the church that symbolized faith and eternity. You really need to look under the surface to appreciate this film. As a timepiece, and a wakeup call that went unheralded, I give it four stars.

Noel Coward's homage to the bygone era of Edwardian England. A long and somewhat lumpy script tracks one upper-upper class family's trials through 1899-1933, as their paths intersect the Boer War, WWI, and the Titanic... Oddly enough, considering Coward's bon vivant temprament, the movie seems to condemn the libertine sensibilities of the Jazz Era (great glimpses of the action, though, including a gay couple exchanging gifts in a nightclub...) and exalts the more traditional English reserve. An interesting film, although in retrospect WWII loomed large in the background...

"Cavalcade" directed by Frank Lloyd is probably best known (to those who have actually heard of it) as one of the most forgettable Oscar winners ever! It's a sad fact but true. Diana Wynyard stars as Jane Marryot. The Marryot's are an upper class English family, and are struggling with the same problems people of every class are struggling with. Like the Bridges whom happen to be their servents, they are played by Herbert Mumdin (Alfred Bridges) and Una O' Conners (Ellen Bridges). Originally a play by Noel Coward, the screenplay by Reginald Berkeley doesn't provide us with an interesting portrait inside both families. For example, we don't even know how long each couple has been together. We don't know how old they are, we don't know how old their childern are. We don't know how the Marryot family came into wealth. It's simple things like this we would like to know. But, I must admit at times we do feel for these people. Certain sad events take place, and we found ourselves actually caring and getting caught into the movie. But, not enough of these moments happen where I would dare give this film a 4 or 5 star rating. Even though I didn't care for the screenplay very much, there are highpoints to the film. I liked the acting by Diana Wynyard (She was nominated for an award) and her husband Clive Brook (Robert Marryot). The directing by Lloyd was good also. And, one of my favorite moments in the film Ursula Jean (Fanny Bridges) singing "20th Century Blues". One of my favorite Coward songs. The reviwer below me mentioned Coward's "In Which We Serve" that movie was a better film. We cared for the characters in that film more than we do in this film. But, even though many many people would not go for a movie like this today, it's still not a waste of time to watch it. At least give it a try. This movie was nominated for 4 Oscars, it won three; "Best Picture", "Best Director", and "Art Direction". It's not great but does prove to be entertaining.

We always think of Noel Coward as being this hip, ironic, sophisticated glibster but at heart he wasall mush and my, oh my, did he love England, everything about it, especially its aristocracy. CAVALCADE the movie is a faithful recreation of his showstopping London hit, the one that made him a respectable man of the theater, instead of just an angry young man. If you had a copy of his play in hand while following the movie you would see how extraordinarily the screenplay follows the show, though director Frank Lloyd fails to make use of cinema techniques (like a split screen) that must have been available to him even in the early talkie days? However it's not as clunky or static as some have made out, and scene after scene unrolls at a stately, but yet somehow hypnotic and indeed sometimes shocking clip.

Diana Wynyard isn't to everyone's taste but if you like your Norma Shearer and wish that she had somehow surpassed her own levels of emotional hysteria, than Diana is the girl for you! She's like a manic Norma Shearer, her expressive eyes and quivering contralto like Shearer squared. Watch her long fleshy arms as she reaches down to hug her little boy. If she said any more with them she'd have been arrested. Occasionally her servant counterpart, Una O'Connor, threatens to steal the show from Wynyard, but that don't happen, even in the fantastic scenes when the two women quarrel over their children's plan to marry.

William Cameron Menzies gave the screen some of its finest special effects and art design, and here the bombing of London during World War I, while Fanny and Joey watch from a nearby balcony, is magnificent and horrifying at the same time, like Thomas Pynchon's GRAVITY'S RAINBOW. The montage at the end of CAVALCADE has got to be one of the most astounding sequences ever filmed, as Lloyd and Coward show us flashes of different responses to postwar "unfaith," a Communist demagogue, a Christian priest (preaching to a near-empty congregation), an armament mogul, an atheist ("God is too crude a superstition to foist on our children"--cinema hasn't been so bold in seventy years since!), and finally a slow pan across a decadent 20s sex party, in which every sort of sexuality is on display, a young girl frightened at the advances of a middle-aged woman; a pair of he-men swapping bracelets; one young vamp, bending slightly to adjust volume on an art deco radio cabinet, radiates sin with the movement of a single finger.

This familiar album extends itself from 1899 to 1932,in this sense the movie focuses around the painful years of the WW1 and the Great Depression. The sorrows and triumphs of the Marryot family are treatedadmirably in this admirable adptation of Noel Coward's play.
The film looks dated but maintains its involving expressive force.
This can be Frank Lloyd's masterpiece.

Famous mainly as the obscure movie that beat King Kong, Cavalcade had an impressive reputation well into the 50s. But this tale of upstairs and downstairs from the Boer War to the 30s is not only stagey and creaky, it's snobbish-- compare it to In Which We Serve to see how completely Noel Coward's attitudes toward the lower classes turned around by the time their help was needed in wartime. The classism and the pacifism of it all are historically interesting, and so are some of the songs (it's not exactly a musical, but like Forrest Gump, uses music of different eras to set the scene quickly), but the performances and the script don't really hold up.

We lost both of our children. This movie helped us ,to not feel so alone. It`s an excellent movie.

Certainly not one of the greatest films ever made, but it is interesting to watch the progress being made in film-making by comparing Academy Award winners for Best Picture.

It's probably telling that CAVALCADE is one of two Academy Award "Best Picture" winners yet to be released on DVD (in Region 1). If ever a film screamed "DATED!" this would be it. If, like me, you don't automatically assume datedness to be a bad thing, however, you'll welcome the chance to view this rare Noel Coward drama in whatever format is available. We are lucky to have it.

One could make the case that all but the most abstract or fantastical narratives are somehow about human beings caught up in the grand sweep of history. But there is something especially interesting about works where that kind of portrayal is clearly the author's primary intent.

CAVALCADE chronicles the lives of two London families--one upper class, one lower-- from New Year's Eve 1899 to New Year's Eve 1929. It is a classic "upstairs/downstairs" scenario, with a slight twist that suggests significant social changes at the turn of the last century. The servant family, the Bridges, take advantage of a business opportunity, and with some reluctance, opt to leave their masters' employ and strike out on their own. (The results are not all that felicitous, which might be interpreted in a variety of ways, I imagine.) The upper class Marryots experience social advancement on their own elevated level as well (when Mr. Marryot is knighted), but they experience heartache as well (the tragic loss of two sons).

Joy and sorrow. Gain and loss. You could say it's the same old story. But each story, ultimately, is unique--if only because each story is lived out by unique individuals. Yes, it's harder to get to know well characters from other times and places, but it IS possible. In fact, it's often easier to understand characters as products of their time and culture when you're viewing them from a remove.

At least one previous reviewer has commented on the subtle anti-war sentiments in the film. The play on which it was based was perceived as being proudly nationalistic, but it is doubtful that an ironist like Coward would have intended anything quite so simple. The anti-war sentiments are uttered mainly by the cast's female characters, which even in the 1930s meant that they could be readily dismissed (unfortunately). A contemporary viewer might tend to actually hear what these wives and mothers of soldiers are saying quite clearly.

War and rumors of war are the film's touchstones. The film begins with the men of both the upper class and the lower class families proudly marching off to fight the Boers in South Africa. The characters do not know it, but this war marks the end of an era. War as adventure, as an hororable and noble pursuit, was a given. AND they were short. Sixteen years later, the horrifying era of modern warfare had begun with the "War to End All Wars." As the film ends in 1929, storm clouds are starting to brew once again. Yes, our principle characters will continue to try to face whatever comes with a sense of honor and dignity--stiff upper lip and all that--but they've seen the dramatic changes the earliest years of the 20th century have brought. The future can't help but be at least somewhat daunting.