The Hollywood Revue of 1929

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Movie
Original title The Hollywood Revue of 1929
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1929
length 119 minutes
Rod
Director Charles Reisner
script Al Boasberg
production Harry Rapf for
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
music Songs by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown, among others
camera John Arnold , Max Fabian , Irving G. Ries
cut William S. Gray
occupation

The Hollywood Revue of 1929 is an early American sound film from 1929. It is a revue made with cinematic means without a framework. Some sequences were shot in 2-color Technicolor . The success set the style for a genre of musical all-star revue that was popular during the early sound film days and in the 1940s. For the German-speaking market, the studio produced Wir switch to Hollywood at the end of 1930, a film with a plot, which partly contains passages from The Hollwood Revue of 1929 , but otherwise has a completely different cast.

content

In terms of content, the film is not a feature film, but rather, as a revue, a loose series of skits and song numbers. The two actors Conrad Nagel and Jack Benny will conduct the program as conférenciers . Like a vaudeville show, the plot consists of two parts.

The revue begins with a long shot on a closed stage curtain. With the onset of music, the curtain rises and the Hollywood Revue of 1929 opens with a miniature choir, followed by the appearance of the two show masters Jack Benny and Conrad Nagel, who will guide the audience through the revue. Right at the beginning, Joan Crawford made her appearance with the singing and dance number I Gotta Feelin 'for You . In the further course of the first act, Marion Davies appears and sings Tommy Atkins on Parade , accompanied by male dancers. Laurel and Hardy also make an appearance later . With the final applause, the curtain falls and the first act is over.

This is followed by a four-minute break, during which the camera is fixed on the closed curtain and the orchestra repeats some of the previous songs.

In the second part of the show, a Corps de Ballet with the number The Dance of the Sea appears, in which Buster Keaton delivers a comical interlude, but without having a line of dialogue. Later in the process, Norma Shearer and John Gilbert give both a classic version of William Shakespeare's balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet and a modern version. The scene is shot in an early 2-color Technicolor. Cliff Edwards can be seen with his version of Singin 'in the Rain . The film ends with a huge revue scene in which all actors dance, sing and play music around a replica of Noah's Ark to the renewed sounds of Singin 'in the Rain in Technicolor.

background

Since mid-1928 it was clear that the innovation of the sound film was not a temporary phenomenon, but would revolutionize the entire film industry permanently. Until then, the two largest film studios Paramount Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer had shown themselves to be waiting to invest heavily in the new trend. A number of problems arose for the studios. On the one hand, the investments in the necessary technology were costly. Not only did the recording rooms in the studio have to be created, but the cinemas also had to be gradually converted. At the same time, a solution was sought to enable as many stars as possible to make their sound film debut at the same time without having to make a separate film for each actor. The solution went back to Irving Thalberg , who came up with the idea of ​​filming a classic stage show that consisted of many small episodes and singing numbers. The individual short segments made it possible to present almost all of the studio's stars in one film without many problems. However, the concept posed a problem for MGM. Greta Garbo , who had gained fame in recent years, had a contract that basically stipulated that the actress was to be named solely above the title. Only if she was given a male co-star of comparable rank at her side could this star be announced next to Garbo above the title. The equal naming of a female star was excluded. However, the cast of Hollywood Revue included almost every male and female MGM star, which triggered an insoluble contradiction to Greta Garbo's contract as part of the announcement. The other big star who didn't appear was Ramón Novarro , who still had an overly Mexican accent at the time of filming.

The success of The Hollywood Revue of 1929 triggered a whole wave of follow-up films , in which the individual film studios let their entire star team appear. Fox brought the end of 1929 Happy Days in the rental, Paramount countered with Paramount on Parade and Warner Brothers were shooting The Show of Shows . Universal Studios finally released King of Jazz in the mid-1930s . The concept was only short-lived at first and MGM stopped filming The Hollywood Revue of 1930 as early as mid-1930 , when serious competition with the musical genre established itself. During the war years, the all-star revue experienced a renaissance. Triggered by Paramount's Star-Spangled Rhythm from 1942, other studios followed with films such as Hollywood Canteen , Thank Your Lucky Stars or The Ziegfeld Follies of 1946 .

Joan Crawford, who made her official sound film debut in the film, was satisfied with herself and her portrayal, as she told Roy Newquist decades later:

"[...] one of those let's-all-stars-in-a-musical-things, but I had a good dance-and-singing number."

Theatrical release

At $ 426,000 to produce, The Hollywood Revue of 1929 was one of the studio's average expensive productions for the year. The film was distributed at the height of Talkie Craze , the audience's run on talkies, and grossed 1,517,000 US dollars in the US alone and over 894,000 US dollars on the world market, which is a cumulative box office income of $ 2,421,000 and a profit of $ 1,135,000.

Reviews

Eleanor Barnes found benevolent words for Joan Crawford in the Los Angeles News:

“Joan Crawford's popularity among the youth is understandable. Joan represents the spirit of youth. '"

Awards

The Hollywood Reuve of 1929 received a nomination in the category at the 1930 Academy Awards (April)

  • Best movie

literature

  • Roy Newquist (Ed.): Conversations with Joan Crawford . Citadel Press, Secaucus, NJ 1980, ISBN 0-8065-0720-9 .
  • Alexander Walker: Joan Crawford. The Ultimate Star . Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1983, ISBN 0-297-78216-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ […] one of those Let's-throw-everyone-on-the-lot-into-a-musical things, but I did a good song-and-dance number.
  2. ↑ Joan Crawford's popularity with the collegiate crowd is understandable. Joan is the spirit of youth.