Paramount parade

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Movie
German title Paramount parade
Original title Paramount on parade
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1930
length 102 (1930) minutes
Rod
Director in alphabetical order: Dorothy Arzner ,
Otto Brower ,
Edmund Goulding ,
Victor Heerman ,
Edwin H. Knopf ,
Rowland V. Lee ,
Ernst Lubitsch ,
Lothar Mendes ,
Victor Schertzinger ,
A. Edward Sutherland ,
Frank Tuttle
script Joseph L. Mankiewicz
production in alphabetical order: Elsie Janis ,
Albert A. Kaufman ,
Jesse L. Lasky ,
BP Schulberg ,
Adolph Zukor for Paramount Pictures
music Howard Jackson
camera Harry Fischbeck
Victor Milner
cut Merrill G. White

Paramount Parade is an American episode film from 1930 featuring music, dance, singing, and skits. Directed by Ernst Lubitsch and ten other colleagues.

action

In twenty individual episodes, parodies, dance interludes, song numbers and skits are performed, intoned and stepped by actors who were all under contract with Paramount Pictures at the time.

Single episodes

Production notes

The Paramount Parade , as the name suggests, was conceived by Paramount Pictures as a major exhibition to show what this major Hollywood company was capable of at the dawn of the age of talkies. Filming began on August 19, 1929 and ended on February 19, 1930. Although the majority of the film was shot in black and white, this show revue, in which the entire Paramount cast had to appear, also contains several Technicolor sequences. However, these have not survived the times, as the company management had the original negative with the color numbers destroyed. Until 1996, the film received only one color sequence, the final number with Maurice Chevalier , in which he sings the song "Up on Top of a Rainbow". Since then, the UCLA archives have been restoring the film and restoring other color sequences. The original 102-minute film premiered on April 22, 1930. Later (severely mutilated) versions, such as one that was shown on US television decades later, were cut down to 77 minutes.

A squad of eleven directors was drafted to stage the almost 50 actors with speaking roles in the individual skits. The most famous of them, Ernst Lubitsch , staged the sketch " Origin of the Apache " with Maurice Chevalier, which was particularly well received by the critics (see below). Both had worked together on the film Love Parade immediately before and were able to celebrate an overwhelming success.

Special versions were made for numerous non-English-speaking countries (including Spanish, German, French, Dutch, Romanian, Japanese, Polish, etc.), some of which featured other actors and other directors. Whether Paramount on Parade was also shown in Germany cannot be determined with any certainty at the moment. In Austria, the film ran under the title Paramount Parade in cinemas. There you could see Dina Gralla and Eugen Rex as German-speaking contributors .

Reviews

"Of all the revues, this is the only one that contains everything you would expect from a first-class Broadway show ... In short: the film is a real pleasure."

- Los Angeles Times, April 27, 1930

“… A really enjoyable piece of work, one that is far more enjoyable than any other film revue on Broadway. One of the most striking skits is the "Origin of the Apache" dance. "

- The New York Times, April 27, 1930

"With the great listing of popular personalities, plus a load of comedy and particularly enjoyable performances by Maurice Cevalier, little Mitzi Green and Nino Martini ... this revue should be a hit everywhere."

- Film Daily from April 20, 1930

"... in a class of its own. Real entertainment ... Paramount on Parade is testimony to how this first production of its kind combines performances from the smallest technical detail to the greatest possible artistic effort with almost unbelievable uniformity. "

- Variety of April 23, 1930

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Paramount on Parade in The Life and Films of Hollywood Lady Crook: Evelyn Brent . Jefferson, North Carolina 2009, p. 188
  2. ↑ In the original: "Of all the revues, this is the only one that has captured everything expected of a first-class Broadway Show… In short, the picture is wholly a delight."
  3. ↑ In the original: “… a genuinely enjoyable piece of work, one that is much more enjoyable that any of the film revues that have appeared on Broadway… One of the conspicuously clever Features is' Origin of the Apache'-dance.”
  4. ↑ In the original: "With its smashing lineup of popular personalities, plus a load of comedy and especially enjoyable performances of Maurice Chevalier, little Mitzi Green and Nino Martini ... this revue should get over everywhere with a bang."
  5. ↑ In the original: “… a class by itself. Real entertainment… Paramount on Parade witnesses the first production of this kind linking together with an almost incredible smoothness achievements from the smallest technical detail to the greatest artistic endeavor. "

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