Waste of time

Nice effects though.

Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Interesting chronology of early-1900s English history and life.The English experience, from 1899 until 1933, seen through the eyes of an upper-middle class family, the Marryots. We also, to an extent, see the world from the eyes of a working class family, the Bridges. Events covered include the Second Anglo-Boer War, the death of Queen Victoria, the sinking of the Titanic, World War 1 and its aftermath.Interesting, from an historical perspective and how the average Englishperson perceived these events and was caught up in them. Quite dry though - the degree of engagement is quite limited and it feels more like a series of historic events unfolding than characters whom we have any attachment to being involved in them. However, the lack of engagement in the middle section is made up for by a an emotional and powerful ending which brings everything together.Won the Best Picture Oscar in 1934 (plus Best Director for Frank Lloyd and Best Art Direction).

A cavalcade of British history flashes past the eyes of a prosperous London family and their domestics during a fairly interesting two-hour melodrama that presages both "Upstairs, Downstairs" and "Downton Abbey." From the Boer War to the death of Queen Victoria, the sinking of the Titanic and World War I, Jane and Robert Marryot watch their sons grow up and become romantically involved, watch men march off to war, watch their servants leave and go into business, watch British society change. As the Marryots, Diana Wynyard and Clive Brook have the required stiff upper lips; unfortunately the stiffness extends to other body parts in performances more suited to the stage than film. "Cavalcade" began life as a Noel Coward play, and director Frank Lloyd's adaptation often betrays its stage origins, especially when characters look past the proscenium and deliver their lines to the audience. Despite three Academy Awards, including the sixth ever awarded for best picture, "Cavalcade" betrays its age and fails to merit classic status.Although an Oscar went to art director William S. Darling, the production's limited budget shows in a lack of spectacle, despite numerous opportunities. Queen Victoria's funeral is reflected in the family's faces as they watch from a balcony. The Titanic is a white life ring emblazoned with the ill-fated ship's name. However, an extended montage of images and sounds effectively depicts World War I, a technique later reused with less effect to depict the social upheaval of the 1920's. During the brief scandalous 1920's episode, historians of gay film will note a nightclub scene that includes a Lesbian couple and two gay men, one fitting a bracelet on the other's wrist. While the images pass without comment, the intent seems to underscore an anything-goes depravity, at least in the eyes of the Marryots. However, Mrs. Marryot clearly illustrates the social changes underway when she pulls out a cigarette and even lights up in public. But, despite her personal liberation, she remains a social conservative and cannot cope with a marriage between her son and the daughter of her former domestic.While they make a valiant attempt, the upstairs actors fail to make deep impressions; they are manikins mouthing lines and depicting a social class, rather than flesh-and-blood characters. Wynyard rarely shows emotion and often stares off into space; Brook acts the English stereotype, complete with facial hair; the sons are bland and colorless. The downstairs performers fare better, led by the always entertaining Una O'Connor as the brash domestic, Ellen Bridges, and by Herbert Mundin as her husband. The colorful duo are perhaps a bit over the top, but their performances add life and, unlike the upstairs residents, their characters develop over time. Film buffs will spot a young Bonita Granville as Fanny, the Bridges's daughter. At the conclusion of "Cavalcade," the aging Marryots, tastefully powdered to suggest age, toast Britain's future on the eve of the New Year 1933, which was not only the year of the film's release, but also the year Hitler rose to power. If the oh-so-proper couple thought the prior three decades had been tumultuous, they had not seen anything yet. However, despite the film's over use of "Auld Lang Syne," viewers may be reluctant to share the Marryot's company more than once

An upper-crust British family and their servant class react to the preeminent events that introduced Earth people to the Twentieth Century. Mainly, we see three decades of dramatic interludes surrounding lady Diana Wynyard (as Jane) and her noble husband Clive Brook (as Robert Marryot). This "upstairs" couple is contrasted by "downstairs" maid Una O'Connor (as Ellen) and her boozy husband Herbert Mundin (as Alfred Bridges). But, they take a back seat to the quartet's children, after they grow up to be rich Frank Lawton (as Joe Marryot) and poor Ursula Jeans (as Fanny Bridges)...Noel Coward's stage play is more than a little tedious, at least in cinematic form. "Cavalcade" was well-produced, however, and was the year's "Best Picture" by "The New York Times", "Film Daily", and the "Academy Awards". The latter group named Frank Lloyd "Best Director" and nominated Ms. Wynyard as "Best Actress" of the year for falling hard upon reading bad news. A British Norma Shearer, Wynyard came in third in "Oscar" voting, after winner Katharine Hepburn (in "Morning Glory") and May Robson (in "Lady for a Day"); a good ranking, but Greta Garbo (in "Queen Christina") outperformed them all."Cavalcade" is an anti-war excursion, by Mr. Coward, with some observations on the British class system (both rich and poor mourn the death of "Queen" Victoria), and alcoholism among the working class. The awards notwithstanding, watching these characters react to news events is hardly ever engaging. One exception is when Mr. Lawton goes blushingly backstage to meet Ms. Jeans, after she has become an entertainer. This scene gives their otherwise ordinary and predictable storyline some spark. Another strength is the wonderful Coward tune "Twentieth Century Blues" sung by Jeans' character. The song serves not only as the film's theme but also as a timeless comment on chaotic societal changes.****** Cavalcade (1/5/33) Frank Lloyd ~ Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook, Frank Lawton, Ursula Jeans

This is one of those sweeping intergenerational stories of an upper-middle-class British families in which the children grow up over the course of thirty or so years, with the older and the younger generations each encountering triumph and tragedy. There's a bit of class conflict thrown in when the daughter of the kitchen maid becomes a successful and wealthy singer and the upper-echelon son of the ruling family fall in love with each other. There are some musical interludes, none of the songs written by the author of the play from which this film derives.That author was Noel Coward. Coward was great in some of his movie appearances, which ranged from the heroic ("In This We Serve") through the comic ("Our Man in Havana") to the somewhat bizarre and slightly menacing ("Bunny Lake Is Missing"). I quite like the guy.Yet this story seems pointless to me in many ways. A lot of these epic movies about subsequent generations and their adaptation to social change do. I know Noel Coward's work is esteemed, and I know we should all keep a stiff upper lip and hope for the best, but as one New Year celebration follows another, the message gets tiresome. Really, I was saddened by some of the turns taken by events, but didn't much give a damn what happened to any of the characters, all of whom struck me as animated messages rather than living people.What tragedy. Let me see. In the beginning there is the Boer War. The death of the Old Queen. Then two characters from the household discover they love one another -- on the Titanic. Then there is World War I. That's followed by the Jazz Age with all its threats, and what noisome threats to social stability they are -- drinking is flagrantly shown on the screen, along with homosexuality (that's a laugh, coming from Noel Coward), the threat of yet another war, art moderne, smoking cigarettes (well, we've gotten rid of that filthy nuisance), blues singers, and long fluffy feathers.At the end, the original father and the original mother, now old and a little bent, toast each other delicately. They turn and look solemnly into the camera and the mother pronounces a long toast to both the past and the future while the viewer pendiculates. Then, arm in arm, the stroll to the balcony and smile at the New Year celebration in the streets below.I suppose this sort of thing appeals to a good many people. There seems no avoiding these stories. If there IS a way of slipping past them, would someone let me know?