Cavalcade: Movie Review + Analysis, The 6th Academy Awards
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On March 16, 1934, a little over 87 years ago, the Academy Awards presented its next Best Picture winner award to Frank Lloyd’s, Cavalcade. The film is a look into the high social class life of early 20th Century England and two families experiences through it. In this cavalcade of a movie review (get it?), we will look to highlight the pros and cons of the 1933 film.
The 6th Best Picture Winner
While it may seem strange that a film about social wealth in England would be popular in a post-depression America, it isn’t that strange considering how we got here. The previous 5 Best Picture winners all touched upon issues of war, social class dynamics, and the impact of time and history on the individual. Cavalcade is a culmination of those attributes found in the previous Best Picture winner, which makes sense for the time why it was so popular.
Cavalcade starred Diana Wynyard and Clive Brook as Jane and Robert Marryot and their two children Edward and Joe, played by John Warburton and Frank Lawton. The Marryot family is joined by the Bridges family that feature husband and wife Alfred and Ellen, played by Herbert Mundin and Una O’Connor. They also have a daughter Fanny, played by Urusula Jeans. The British families’ accomplishments and struggles is the focus of the film as they navigate from New Years Eve 1899 to New Years Eve 1933.
The title alone implies a parade of events in the film, which is certainly how the story structure plays out. The film is extremely episodic in how it navigates the story throughout. Big events in the twentieth century include World War I, the death of Queen Victoria, and the sinking of the Titanic are all points emphasized in the film. There are also smaller events that are exclusively important to England’s history like the Second Boer War or the flight of Louis Blériot.
While these events may seem significant to all happen on film, they are not portrayed that way. In fact many of these events are just topics of discussion or looming in the background as the actors react. For example, the scene aboard the ill-fated Titanic features a discussion between Edward Marryot and his new bride Edith Harris, played by Margaret Lindsay. Edith proclaims she could die happy that night because she has Edward, which he feels the same. This scene is full of rare beautiful dialogue and when they finally finish there is a dramatic reveal that they are aboard the Titanic. We do not get to see the ship sink or the news that it had, we instead get a time jump to a grieving Jane Marryot.
The Titanic scene as I mentioned had rare beautiful dialogue, which is true. The rest of the script feels boring and full of itself and the ideas that it doesn’t come across as real. There is nothing honest or truthful behind a rich woman’s pontifications. So when the audience can finally sink their teeth into something good, it is stopped by the poor story structure and over-dramatic reveals that the creatives behind the film wish to use.
Another downfall involving a Marryot child has to do with Joey. Towards the end of the third act of the film, Joey is older and joins the army to fight in World War I. He is at a nightclub only to see Fanny Bridges there performing. The issue lies within the age of Fanny. At the beginning of the film, she is a baby in 1899, only to then be a performing artist around 1914. Joey stalks her to her dressing room where he watches her undress and change. Since this was a pre-code era film, there was more shown of Fanny in her underwear while she undresses.
This age issue of her being 15 and this male gaze being placed on to her is horrifying to watch. Joey takes full advantage of his place as a male at this time and is allowed to gaze upon her like this without repercussions. It is these types of scenes in Hollywood filmmaking that are wrong and deplorable. It has no business being in an Academy Award winning film.
Finally, what is probably the biggest issue with the entire film is the acting. The film is based on a stage play of the same name and the actors in the film come from a background of stage acting. This style in early Hollywood films is hard for me to evaluate and find any true golden moments in it. Looking back in general in these older films, there was not the type of care in the acting that we are used to seeing. There was no method style of actors that we would see boom in the 50s and 60s.
Diana Wynyard, who is the true lead of the film constantly falls into these traps of stage acting in her performance. She delivers her lines in a formulaic way that holds no room for error or improversation. Acting we see today is based on the collaboration between actor and director. In Cavalcade the acting feels void of true power acting. Wynyard at times can be seen looking off and up, as if playing to the rafters at a show. The way the film is shot, which I know was a style and necessity of the time, feels like it is just a recreation of the play.
This lack of diversity in acting style and performance is really harmful to early films because it is hard to appreciate in 2021. Is this unfair? Possibly and that’s because we are afraid to say that these actors and actresses may just not be as good as we think. So when you combine a poor approach in acting for film into a film that lacks a cohesive story structure, you can start to see why we value this film the way we do.
Looking at our podcast, Worthy, we challenged why a film like Cavalcade would take the top prize away and why it’s director Frank Lloyd was awarded Best Direction. There is nothing new from a film technique standpoint and there is nothing amazing from the actors or story that truly impacts the audience. The stories are just there and the people are just there. The film moves forward but yet never wants to look back and create discussions of meaning. Just a reaction to history, which is not a fun filled time for a 2-hour film.
Cavalcade overall is not a film I would recommend everyone must see. It is a film that does not add up to why it was worthy to win the award for Best Picture at the 6th Academy Awards. There is much that is left to be desired about the film and if it was made today, there would be much more emphasis on the events and showing them in order to invoke reaction and dialogue that is meaningful among the main characters.
Where to watch Cavalcade?
Cavalcade is available to watch on Apple TV+ or Amazon Prime Video to rent or buy.