1932/1933: Cavalcade

Fox Film's "Cavalcade" was the sixth Best Picture Oscar winner, released in 1933.   The film also won the award for Best Director (Frank Lloyd) and Best Art Direction (William S. Darling).  Diana Wynyard was nominated for Best Actress, but did not win.

Based on a Noel Coward play, "Cavalcade" follows the life-events of two families - the upper-class Marryots, and their servants, the Bridges - from the last moments of 1899 to the first moments of 1933.

It begins on New Years Eve 1899, at a quarter to midnight.  Robert and Jane Marryot (Clive Brook and Diana Wynyard) return home to continue their tradition of ringing in the New Year with a toast between the two of them.  This year they allow their young children Joey and Edward to participate as well.  Jane expresses anxiety for the coming year, because Robert has enlisted in the armed forces as in officer and will be heading to South Africa to fight in the Boer War, a conflict Jane's brother is already fighting in.

Herbert Mundin, Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook and Una O'Connor

Meanwhile, the Marryot's maid Ellen Bridges (Una O'Connor) is similarly upset because her husband Alfred (Herbert Mundin) - who is also the Marryot's butler - has also enlisted to fight in the Boer War. Ellen wonders what would happen to her and their baby girl Fanny if anything were to happen to Alfred.  Jane and Ellen bid tearful farwell to their husbands.  Jane's friend Margaret (Irene Brown) brings her daughter Edith around to play with Joey and Edward.  The men return home safely.

Upon coming home, Alfred announces that he has purchased a pub and that he and his wife will now be in business for themselves.  The death of Queen Victoria is announced.  Everyone is sad.

A few years go by, and the Bridges are having a hard time paying their rent, as Alfred has developed a drinking problem and is drinking the pub's profits.  Ellen has Jane and Edward (John Warburton), now a student at Oxford, over for a visit, and tells them that Alfred isn't there because of a leg injury.  At that moment, a drunk Alfred bursts in, behaves inappropriately, chases Fanny out into the street, and is run over and killed by a horse-drawn fire engine.

The next year, the Marryots encounter Ellen and Fanny (Ursula Jeans) - now a talented dancer - at the seaside.  Edward is now dating his childhood playmate, Edith (Margaret Lindsay).  The families witness the flight of Louis Bleriot over the English Channel.

Jump to 1912.  Edward and Edith are on an ocean-liner celebrating their honeymoon.  After a protracted conversation about mortality, the couple step away from the railing to reveal the name of the ship on a life-preserver: RMS Titanic.

Frank Lawton and Ursula Jeans

Jump to 1914, and the outbreak of World War I.  Robert and Joey Marryot (Frank Lawton) go off to war.  Joe encounters Fanny Bridges and they begin an affair.   Fanny expresses concern that they can never get married because they come from different social classes.  When Ellen finds out about the affair, she confronts Jane and insists that Joey must marry Fanny.   As they argue, Jane receives a telegram that Joey has been killed in action.

The rest of the film is a crazy montage of what I suppose is meant to represent a rapidly changing society in chaos.  Finally, we see Robert and Jane continuing their tradition of a private toast as they ring in 1933.

I found "Cavalcade" to be deadly dull.  None of the characters are developed much at all, and the framing of scenes around historical events isn't effective.  Each event (the death of Victoria, the flight over the English Channel, the Titanic) just serves to end a scene, and then the timeline jumps forward a few years.   Well received in its day, this film really doesn't hold up.  BORING!!