The Hollywood Revue

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The Hollywood Revue of 1929
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The Hollywood Revue of 1929
Gus Edwards
Arthur Freed
("Singin' in the Rain")
Nacio Herb Brown
("Singin' in the Rain")
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates
June 20, 1929
(Los Angeles)[1]
Running time
130 minutes (roadshow)
118 min (Turner library print)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$426,000[2][3]
Box office$2,421,000 (worldwide rental)[3]

The Hollywood Revue of 1929, or simply The Hollywood Revue,

musical comedy film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was the studio's second feature-length musical, and one of their earliest sound films. Produced by Harry Rapf and Irving Thalberg and directed by Charles Reisner, it features nearly all of MGM's stars in a two-hour revue that includes three segments in Technicolor. The masters of ceremonies are Conrad Nagel and Jack Benny.[5]

At the 2nd Academy Awards, the film received a Best Picture nomination (its sole nomination) but lost to another Irving Thalberg MGM production, The Broadway Melody.

Production

Unlike M-G-M's imposing feature films, which always boasted strong story values, The Hollywood Revue of 1929 was a plotless parade of variety acts. Conrad Nagel, interviewed for the book The Real Tinsel, recalled, "Everybody thought Harry Rapf was crazy for making it."

Gus Edwards, John Gilbert, Norma Shearer, Lionel Barrymore, Buster Keaton, Marie Dressler, Bessie Love, Marion Davies, Anita Page, and the comedy team of Karl Dane and George K. Arthur
.

Highlights of the film are a comedy routine starring

The Brox Sisters, which was recycled into a short subject, Gems of MGM. Another sequence, a parody of the Albertina Rasch ballet's "pearl dance" by Marie Dressler, was planned but not shot (as the film's production records reveal). Instead, the number was replaced by one featuring Buster Keaton, though Dressler did pose for stills wearing a Lady Godiva wig.[citation needed
]

The film is sometimes cited, as on the DVD release of the 1952 Singin' in the Rain, as the film that led to the downfall of Gilbert's career. Gilbert, a popular silent film actor best known for his work opposite Garbo, possessed a pleasant, tenor speaking voice which did not always match his heroic, dashing screen image. In Hollywood Revue he plays the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet with Norma Shearer, first straight, then for laughs with contemporary slang. It is possible, though, that the negative effect of the film on Gilbert's career has been overstated, since many contemporary reviews made no criticism of his performance.[8] His problems really began with the next two films he made, His Glorious Night (1929) and Redemption (1930).

Cast

Musical numbers

The circulating print of The Hollywood Revue of 1929 runs as follows:

Act I

Intermission

  • "Nobody But You", "Your Mother and Mine", and "I've Got a Feeling for You" by the orchestra

Act II

  • "The Pearl Ballet" sung by James Burrows, danced by Beth Laemmle and the Albertina Rasch ballet
  • "The Dance of the Sea", an "underwater" dance performed by Buster Keaton
  • "
    Gus Edwards
  • "The Adagio Dance" with the Natova Company
  • "Romeo and Juliet" (in two-color Technicolor) with John Gilbert and Norma Shearer, with Lionel Barrymore as director
  • "Singin' in the Rain" introduced by Cliff Edwards, with The Brox Sisters
  • "Charlie, Gus, and Ike" with Charles King,
    Gus Edwards
    , and Cliff Edwards
  • "Marie, Polly, and Bess" with Marie Dressler, Polly Moran, and Bessie Love
  • "Orange Blossom Time" (in two-color Technicolor), sung by Charles King to Myrtle McLaughlin, danced by the Albertina Rasch Ballet Company
  • "Singin' in the Rain" (finale) (in two-color Technicolor), sung by entire cast

Reception

The film, which was shot in 25 days with a budget of US$426,000, was popular with audiences and critics alike, especially in its initial big-city engagements. "Brimming over with good fun and catchy music",

Film Daily reported, "A smash and a wow. Smart revue with plenty of comedy beautifully dressed and a cast that is gilt-edged."[11] John Mosher of The New Yorker called it "the most extravagant and extensive musical comedy so far presented by the talking pictures, and is in itself a complete evening's entertainment."[12]

The film went on to make a profit of $1.1 million

The March of Time
, and finally abandoned. Musical numbers already shot for the film were edited into M-G-M short subjects of the early 1930s.

Alternate version

Some sources list the original running time of Hollywood Revue of 1929 as 130 minutes. At least two sequences in the original roadshow version are missing from current prints: an opening recitation by the showgirls who are seen posing in the "Hollywood Revue" sign after the opening credits, and the appearance of Nils Asther, who assisted Jack Benny in introducing the final "Orange Blossom" number.

Preservation

The film survives intact with its original

laserdisc in the 1990s from MGM/UA Home Video, and on DVD in 2009 through the Warner Archive Collection
.

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-7864-6062-5
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7864-2029-2
    .
  3. ^ a b c The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles, California: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  4. ^ "The 2nd Academy Awards". AMPAS.
  5. ISBN 0-634-00765-3
  6. ^ Silverstein, Harry; Rosenberg, Bernard (1970). The Real Tinsel. Macmillan. p. 189.
  7. ISBN 978-0-8065-0720-0
    .
  8. ^ See, for example, Hall, Mordaunt (August 15, 1929). "The Screen". The New York Times. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  9. ^ Hall, Mordaunt (August 15, 1929). "The Screen". The New York Times. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  10. ^ "Hollywood Revue". Variety. New York. June 27, 1929. pp. 12, 22.
  11. Film Daily
    . New York: Wid's Films and Film Folk, Inc. August 18, 1929. p. 10.
  12. ^ Mosher, John (August 24, 1929). "The Current Cinema". The New Yorker. p. 53.

External links

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