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| Hollywood Cavalcade | 
 enlarge | Directors: Buster Keaton, Irving Cummings, Malcolm St. Clair
Actors: Alice Faye, Don Ameche, J. Edward Bromberg, Alan Curtis, Stuart Erwin
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $7.99
You Save: $6.99 (47%)
New (36) Used (8) from $7.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 53261
Format: Color, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Subtitled, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 97
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.8
MPN: FOXD2253694D
UPC: 024543536949
EAN: 0024543536949
ASIN: B0019APR6C
Theatrical Release Date: 1939
Release Date: October 7, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 10/07/2008 Run time: 97 minutes Rating: Nr
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| Customer Reviews:
A uneven tribute to films' "silent" era! November 7, 2008
1939's "Hollywood Cavalcade" is a nice but uneven tribute to the "silent" era of cinema,with roles reprised by many of the greats of its' time.
The film stars Alice Faye and Don Ameche in the lead roles.Ameche starts out as a prop man/wanna be director who discovers Alice on stage and brings her to Hollywood.Ameche through coersion and determination makes a star out of her and a huge name for himself.But Ameche becomes a workaholic,ignoring the possibilties of a great romantic future right in front of him.Eventually as his star falls Alices' rises and she goes on without him and in the process marries,much to Ameches chagrin,a then leading man.To make matters worse the man who backed Ameche and had stuck with him from the start leaves him to become Fayes' manager.In the end we get the prerequisite happy ending with the trio back working together and as the picture fades,on to bigger and better things.
The problem I have always found with the film is its' uneven script.Not only does the plot give us problems but the subject which it homages is ,at times,in overkill mode.There are SO many in-jokes and nods,so many convoluted references to events and people real and imagined,that it is hard to sometimes wrap your head around and enjoy what is happening on the screen.This aside though,what has made this film one that has been sought after and eagerly watched by many film buffs has been for its' plethora of silent stars that actually appear in it.People like Buster Keaton,Ben Turpin,Chester Conklin,Stuart Erwin,Harold Goodwin,James Finlayson,etc,seen in B&W AND in colour! And what colour we have here.Fox has done many,many hours of restoration on this film after making a fine grain transfer and it shows.I have never seen it so clear and crisp.
Most of the film is in brilliant three-strip technicolour while the silent sequence was shot in glroious black and white.The plot of the main film you know.The plot of the B&W part is slight,to say the least.While some of the greatest comedy by Chaplin,Keaton or Laurel and Hardy didn't need plot to succeed,this one could have used a little of that infusion of vitality and inventiveness.The end product here is too pat and sterile with little life.
It involves a cat who has got a bird in a cage trapped.A telephone operator hears the birds' cries(thinking it's murder) and telephones the police for help.Well the police are the thinly disguised Keystone Kops made up of Keystone and Roach veterans.They make their raucous way,in typical Keystone Kop style,to the scene.Meanwhile the owner of the house at which the "murder" is taking place,Molly(Faye),summons a policeman on his motorcycle.She and the cop(Keaton) race off at breakneck speed to get to her home.As is the case in many of those films of old,neither The Keystone Kops or Molly w/her cop,ever makes it.Mack Sennett who also appears in main portion of the film,oversaw the production of this sequence.
Overall this film is worth getting not so much for the plot or its' homage to the genre of "silent" films(which is all over the map) but for the film stars of old that appear once again before our eyes in both black and white and in colour.It is a gloriously restored print with which Fox has done a great job.In fact beacuse of this fine work I gave the film an extra star.The DVD also gives us some nice bonuses such as a still gallery,a featurette on the film itself,a brief sequence of the films premiere,some outtakes(watch for a SMILING Keaton!) and an eight minute feature on Keaton and a four minute one on Roscoe Arbuckle,both of which include Patty Tobias the president of the International Buster Keaton Club.
Almost a classic May 30, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This film should have been a worthy 20th Century Fox entry into the best films of 1939, often considered Hollywood's best year. A great idea about the advent of Hollywood itself, it starts really well but becomes bogged down in the hokey melodramatics for which Alice Faye's films became prototypes.
Alice plays Molly Adair, an actress who is discovered by aspiring director Don Ameche and brought to Los Angeles to star in his productions. The film traces Molly's evolution from slapstick queen to Keystone Cop heroine to bathing beauty to major dramatic star. The comedy sequences in the first half are the best parts of the film from which it moves into predictable melodramatics and sluggish direction by Irving Cummings.
The assets are that the film is always entertaining, Faye looks great in the soft technicolour photography and Al Jolson appears, re-enacting the coming of talkies. For whatever reason, Faye does not become a singing star so you will be disappointed if you were hoping she would sing. Fox are marketing this as a Marquee Musical but it is not a musical in spite of the charming soundtrack of familiar tunes backing the melodrama.
The print has been restored and is in excellent condition. There is a comprehensive set of entertaining extras. Three documentaries are included. The first focuses on the making of the film and its accuracy in depicting Hollywood's silent film history. The film broadened Alice Faye's appeal by giving her slapstick comedy and drama rather than music and Hugh Hefner appears expressing his disappointment that she did not sing. The other documentaries focus on silent comedians Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton. There are outakes of Faye and Keaton in the pie throwing sequence and they look like they are enjoying themselves. Lastly there are the usual marketing bits - on set stills and a newsreel of the premiere.
One last thing. Keep an eye out for the scene on the soundstage when Faye tells Ameche she is married. The scene captures the essence of what made her a star - eyes brimming with tears and raw genuine emotion with no embellishment. She is unforgettable in this short moment.
The DVD is good value and it is pleasing that this rather rare film has at last re-appeared.
Half fast-paced comedy, half melodrama May 24, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
The first half of this film is a fast-paced comedy that seems to have promise. The story has Don Ameche as director Mike Conners, who spots Molly Hayden (Alice Faye) one day and thinks this great beauty could be a big star. He signs her to a contract and she is set to make her debut in a dramatic film. However, Buster Keaton is on the set, cast as Molly's romantic interest in the film. He hurls a custard pie at her and a food fight ensues. Mike has discovered a new form of cinema - slapstick comedy. Molly is his big star, but he is ignoring her personally. At the point where he decides to make Molly a big dramatic actress instead of a comedian, the film also goes from comedy to melodrama. It's not that the movie is bad drama, it's just after the humorous first half I was hoping for more of a humorous second half.
This film is also notable for Buster Keaton's first appearance in an American-made feature film after he was fired from MGM in 1933. The intensity of Buster's pie attack on Alice Faye was quite a surprise to her. After the scene was shot apparently she grabbed her own pie and chased Keaton quite a distance before he could finally outrun her.
Note that this film is also being released as part of the The Alice Faye Collection, Vol. 2 (Rose of Washington Square / Hollywood Cavalcade / The Great American Broadcast / Hello, Frisco, Hello / Four Jills in a Jeep). If you are a real Alice Faye fan that might be the more economical way to go.
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