Cavalcade (1933)

Director:

Frank Lloyd

Writers:

Noel Coward (play)
Reginald Berkeley (screenplay)

Release Date:

15 April 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | War

Tagline:

A love that suffered and rose triumphant above the crushing events of this modern age! The march of time measured by a mother's heart!

Plot:

A cavalcade of English life from New Year's Eve 1899 until 1933 seen through the eyes of well-to-do Londoners Jane and Robert Marryot...

Plot Keywords:

Death | Titanic | New Year | New Year's Eve | Boer War

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Diana Wynyard	...	Jane Marryot
Clive Brook	...	Robert Marryot
Una O'Connor	...	Ellen Bridges
Herbert Mundin	...	Alfred Bridges
Beryl Mercer	...	Cook
Irene Browne	...	Margaret Harris
Tempe Pigott	...	Mrs. Snapper
Merle Tottenham	...	Annie
Frank Lawton	...	Joe Marryot
Ursula Jeans	...	Fanny Bridges
Margaret Lindsay	...	Edith Harris
John Warburton	...	Edward Marryot
Billy Bevan	...	George Grainger
Desmond Roberts	...	Ronnie James
Dickie Henderson	...	Master Edward (as Dick Henderson Jr.)

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #0585-R, 6 August 1935 for re-release) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Argentina:13 | Spain:7 | Sweden:15

Company:

Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The film has the lowest number of IMDb votes out of all the Best Picture Oscar winners, less than a thousand (as of late April 2009).

Goofs:

Factual errors: The Titanic's port of registry was Liverpool, not Southampton.

Quotes:

Jane Marryot: There should never be any good reason for neglecting someone that you love.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Twentieth Century Blues

One of the great films of the 20th century

Cavalcade is one of the great films of the 20th century, and was justifiably honoured as "best picture" by the Academy in 1932-33. It is a golden cinematic treasure- waiting to be found anew for those who may know nothing of its existence.

It is dated only for those who have no sense of history or cultural depth. It tells the story of England and western civilisation through the history of two families, the Marryots and Bridges. It is the same technique of intimate narrative history that was successfully used in "Roots" and other family-history sagas.

Noel Coward's highly successful London-set stage play "Cavalcade" was adapted for the big screen with a cry of "A love that suffered and rose triumphant above the crushing events of this modern age! The march of time measured by a mother's heart!" It tells of the struggle of civility against the brutalising effects of war (and in particular the Great War).

It tells the story of Britain's struggle against barbarism in the late 19th and 20th century, and of old fashioned virtues in a world that seemed determined to leave them all behind. The final "march of the heroes of history" is perhaps quasi melodramatic Wagnerian mysticism, but it tightens the stiff upper lip- and makes me (for one) proud of Britain's contribution to the modern world.