Hollywood em Desfile

"Hollywood Cavalcade" is a mildly entertaining 1939 film starring two staples of the 20th Century Fox roster, Don Ameche and Alice Faye, and containing a couple of in jokes.

The film concerns a Max Sennett type, Michael Connors (Ameche) who brings an actress to Hollywood, Molly Adair (Faye) and makes her a big silent comedienne, eventually moving her into more dramatic roles. He becomes extremely successful with her as his star. Obsessed with his work, he's absolutely shocked when she and her leading man (Alan Curtis) run off and get married. He's so shocked, he dumps her. She and her husband go off and continue to be more and more popular while Connors' studio starts losing money at an alarming rate. Before you know it, he's through. Molly wants to help and asks that Connors direct her next film.

There's lots of Keystone Kop type footage, which is quite funny, and some fantastic slapstick by Buster Keaton, who is wonderful. The film also has a scene from "The Jazz Singer" when the talkies take over. The in-joke, of course, has to do with Rin Tin-Tin, for whom Zanuck used to write. In one scene, Rinny's trainer brings him in as a potential contract player for Connors' studio. Connors throws both of them out of his office. A few scenes later, Rin-Tin-Tin is shown to be #1 box office. The role of the famous German shepherd in this film is played by Rin Tin-Tin, Jr., daddy having passed away in Jean Harlow's arms in 1932, one month shy of his 14th birthday. Fortune smiled on him even at the end.

Alice Faye is very pretty and does a fine job, as does Ameche, who turns in an energetic performance. J. Edward Bromberg and Stuart Erwin provide very good support.

Unfortunately, this film isn't quite sure what it is - history, comedy, romance, or drama. However, "Hollywood Cavalcade" is still quite watchable.

In this sweet salute to old Hollywood, Alice Faye plays a silent movie star vaguely reminiscent of Mabel Normand, often remembered by her pie-throwing work in silent comedies. When Alice goes to Hollywood with her ambitious director Don Ameche in tow, she and Buster Keaton accidentally become responsible for inventing the pie-in-the-face gag. She rockets to stardom, but when Don seems like he's more interested in her career than her heart, she finds comfort in Alan Curtis's arms.

The romance in Hollywood Cavalcade is predictable, but still manages to be sweet and tragic. It's obvious to the audience that Don cares, and when Alice confronts him, he shows off his acting chops in a wonderfully dramatic scene. His character is extremely strong, stubborn, and prideful, but he gives enough humanity in his performance to make the audience root for him unconditionally. In contrast, Alice comes across as flaky and weak, but since Don's the protagonist, it's alright.

The other half of Hollywood Cavalcade shows what it's like to be in the business. Here today, gone tomorrow, and all at the whim of the audience and the studio. Several silent legends gave cameos and received a special thank-you during the opening credits-Buster Keaton, Lee Duncan, Chester Conklin, Ben Turpin, Hank Mann, Jed Prouty, Snub Pollard, and Al Jolson-and it was sweet to see them reliving their heydays. And when talking pictures come, Don delivers an incredible monologue about the power of sound in films. "They were looking at shadows on the screen, only they weren't shadows anymore," he describes. I'm sure audiences of 1939 remembered how they felt in 1929 during that speech.

All in all, this is a very good movie, but generally overlooked because of the year it was released. If you're looking for a better, more dramatic version of Singin' in the Rain, check this one out.

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.

It's 1913. A studio prop boy spies the actress who is going to become Hollywood's next great movie star and he's the director that's going to make it happen. After inventing pie throwing and the keystone cops, his dream comes true. Being completely absorbed in his film-making, however, he fails to notice that he is losing his leading lady to another man. Several over-budget flops later, he is known as nothing more than the director who turned down Rin-tin-tin. Fortunately for him, the loyal and compassionate residents of Hollywood are untainted by ambition and ego. He'll be okay as long as he still has his friends.

This movie starts out as a mad-cap comedy typical of the time period, and in the opening scenes it holds its own with the best of them. It has a playful lack of self-consciousness which is sorely missing in most of today's comedies. Shortly into the film, however, it moves away from this mode of comedy and instead attempts to entertain us using the films within the film. These are silent slapstick comedies, well done but nothing out of the ordinary, and they go on for much longer than is necessary for any audience which has seen the originals. Upon returning, the film takes a dramatic turn. It's well written and the cast does an excellent job of making the transition, but the movie really should have decided from the beginning what it was going to be.

By the end of the film, it has transformed once again - this time into a paean to the glitter of Hollywood. The small town of Los Angeles has grown up into the city which makes the movies that entertain the whole world.

In spite of its promising beginnings, this film has not aged particularly well. Nevertheless, it does have some strong scenes, a certain nostalgic appeal, and an entertaining sub-text about the people who made it and the audiences it was made for.

Didn't like "Hollywood Cavalcade" because it was a disappointment. Don't be deceived by the glitzy picture of happy faces on the title page, this is a somber drama which starts out happy, but quickly descends into discord and bitterness. The question is why Ameche and Faye? I guess because they were two of Fox's brightest stars and money was hopefully to be made. Ameche played a scold who wallowed in self-pity and Faye was his verbal punching bag. Talk about casting against type.

Not one song. This picture didn't need technicolor, or either of the stars, it needed black-and-white and a twosome like John Garfield and Claire Trevor, and a heavier hand on the script, if Fox was going for strife and pathos. I got this picture in a Fox Musical DVD set and it doesn't fit in.

Its only redeeming quality is a look into silent-movie Hollywood, with some of its stars in small parts. I think movies like this - "Singing In The Rain" is another - fill in the blanks for those of us who were too young when silents gave way to talking pictures. Otherwise, "Hollywood Cavalcade" was a chore to watch.