HOLLYWOOD CAVALCADE – The DVD Review

Review by Sam Moffitt

I love the silent era of movie making. I’ve written of this before and will again, many times I’m sure. Roger Ebert, on his website, made the observation (accurately I’d say) that silent films are not just movies without sound; they are a different medium altogether from the movies we are used to seeing now. Silent films are as different to sound films as radio is to television.

Hollywood Cavalcade was one of the first movies to look back at Hollywood history, and managed to involve several artists who were instrumental in making films that are still enjoyable today.

Hollywood Cavalcade tells the story of Mike Conners (Don Ameche) and his partner, ace cameraman Pete Tinney (Stu Erwin) and their trip to New York City to find a stage actress they can take back to Hollywood and make into a star of moving pictures. This is 1913 when stage actors were not inclined to work in moving pictures, which many people considered a fad that would pass away soon.

They hit the jackpot with Molly Adair played winningly by Alice Faye. It takes some doing and quite a lot of bullshit to get Molly headed west by train. Connors is not a director or a producer or even a writer, but he sure would like to do all three and make a star of Molly while making a whole lot of motion pictures. Mike pulls it off and Molly becomes a star, and of course she falls in love with him but all he’s in love with is making movies.

Molly marries her co-star and Mike fires her and there by destroys his own career. And in scenes eerily like the recent return to silent film making, The Artist, Mike predicts that talking pictures are a passing fad, that audiences don’t want to hear their idols talk.

I won’t give any more plot away other than to say that like any Hollywood movie, especially one made in 1939, there is a happy ending, and along the way Hollywood Cavalcade is a tremendous piece of work. To start with the Technicolor has been fully restored, the images are just gorgeous. And the period detail is right on the money. The clothes, the cars, the movie equipment, which actually can be seen being upgraded as the story progresses are fascinating to a movie geek like myself.

And the characters are a curious amalgam of several Hollywood legends. On the surface Hollywood Cavalcade appears to be all about Mack Sennett and his one true female star, Mabel Normand. Legend has it that Normand loved Mack Sennett and he never really returned that affection. Don Ameche’s character also has certain elements of D.W. Griffith, one scene he is shown directing looks a lot like the Babylon scenes from Intolerance. He also appears to have some of Eric Von Stroheim’s drive to get it all on camera and damn the cost! Alice Faye’s character also has elements of Gloria Swanson and especially Greta Garbo, in that she effortlessly makes the transition to talkies.

But it’s the passing parade that really fascinates. In their wisdom 20^th Century Fox hired not just Buster Keaton (uncredited) to play himself they also brought in several of the original Keystone Cops to play themselves. Chester Conklin, Snub Pollard, Hank Mann and several others recreate Sennett era gags to perfection. Keaton directed some of the silent scenes and most of that filming was directed by Malcolm (Mal) St. Clair who really did direct a great deal of silent era films. And again, very wisely, the silent scenes really are silent and in black and white and in a smaller aspect ratio than the main film. Beautifully done, for a movie lover Hollywood Cavalcade is a real treasure.

And there is even more, Mack Sennett plays himself in an awards ceremony. Al Jolson recreates a scene from The Jazz Singer which Mike Connors goes to see and verify that the Vitaphone system works. And amazingly, here is a film made by 20^th Century Fox, openly singing the praises of a land mark film…..made by Warner Brothers! That kind of free publicity for a rival studio was unheard of in Hollywood, then or now!

There is even more astonishing content in this wonderful film, J. Edward Bromberg (the only other film I can recall seeing him in was Universal’s Son of Dracula) plays a producer named Spingold who is openly, unashamedly Jewish! The Jewish influence in early, and current Hollywood is not only not glossed over, this movie celebrates it! I couldn’t help but think of the excellent documentary, An Empire of Their Own regarding the Jewish businessmen who invented Hollywood. We have a lot to thank them for, and maybe to blame them for at the same time! The scene with Jolson recreating part of The Jazz Singer is not, as you would expect, the “wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain’t heard nothin’ yet!” that always makes it into every documentary on the history of movies. No, it’s the cantor scene, in a Jewish synagogue with good old Jolson singing his heart out, in Hebrew!

All of this is discussed in the extra features, and those extra features are excellent, as you would expect from a 20^th Century Fox release. First is a great making of documentary, mostly with film historians and critics. The cast and crew of a film made in 1939, as you would expect, are pretty much gone.

There are also short featurettes on Buster Keaton, Fatty Arbuckle and Alice Faye. If you don’t know anything about Keaton’s sad story this is a good place to start. A true superstar in the silent era, Keaton couldn’t get arrested by the time Hollywood Cavalcade was in production. He managed to hang on long enough to get a fairly good career as a character actor but he never got to direct again and was pretty much considered an antique for years afterward. At least AIP put him in all the Beach Party movies and he’s got nice bits in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to The Forum.

Fatty Arbuckle (someone who resembles him) makes a brief appearance in Hollywood Cavalcade and again, if you know nothing about his sad story it will break your heart. Accused of rape and involuntary manslaughter Arbuckle was put on trial three times (THREE times!) and finally acquitted, long after his career was over. If you have never seen an Arbuckle comedy Kino video has released a box set of his vintage comedies, I strongly recommend these films, they are priceless. The guy was the first full blown comedy genius in films. Keaton learned everything from Arbuckle. He certainly did not deserve the fate that was in store for him when he made his great series of comedies. Disgraceful!

And Alice Faye, well what can you say about someone who walked away from Hollywood at the height of her career and never looked back? Faye was one of the biggest stars of her generation, and known for being a singer, although she does not sing in Hollywood Cavalcade.   Faye was married for years to Phil Harris and had two children by him, she wanted to be a full time wife and mother and Hollywood, through various producers and directors and writers and other actors tried to get her back, it seldom happened. She came back for a part in State Fair in 1962, her last appearance on film was The Magic of Lassie in 1978 with Jimmy Stewart.   Alice Faye walked away from Hollywood fame on her own terms, I have to admire and respect that, I really do.

And I have to admire and respect a movie as glorious as Hollywood Cavalcade. Yes, it’s Hollywood re-writing its own history, so what? It’s a swell picture! And if you see it, watch a Buster Keaton or Harry Langdon movie afterwards, you’ll be glad you did!