Watch The Hollywood Revue of 1929 For Free

Simply Perfect

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

If you answer 'yes,' then this film may prove entertaining. It certainly has historical value and fans of the stars involved will get a small kick out of seeing their favorites, even if it's in something as uninspired as this film.The sketches throughout are mildly entertaining at best and painfully awkward at worst. How can Jack Benny and Laurel and Hardy NOT be funny? Conrad Nagel looks downright uncomfortable as he warbles a love song to Anita Page. I love Marie Dressler, but why did MGM give her that awful song to sing? There are a few charming moments, like Buster Keaton's drag routine and Norma Shearer and John Gilbert doing the balcony scene from "Romeo and Juliet" in modern slang, but those moments are sparse.The whole thing is also un-cinematic, with a camera glued to the floor and everything shot like this is a stage show.Just skip to the scenes where your favorite actors do their thing and then forget the rest. It's overlong and awkward.

What a crass attempt by "the studio with more stars than the heavens" to try and blind you with them in this ill conceived, poorly mounted musical comedy review in which our headliners could used a lot more rehearsal time. In no particular order MGM major stars Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer, John Gilbert, Laurel and Hardy, Buster Keaton and an uncomfortable looking Marie Dressler fumble their way through this ill conceived all star variety show featuring both Hollywood stalwarts and Broadway players clumsily handled by co masters of ceremony Conrad Nagel, who gets to show off his rusty pipes and Jack Benny, who delivers more misses than hits. It is all a rather sloppy affair poorly edited and paced as comedy routines go lame and large dance numbers look more like stampedes than chorus numbers.There are also a couple of early Technicolor scenes, one featuring a shrill Shearer as an over aged Juliet and John Gilbert's billy goat voiced Romeo in a scene directed by Lionel Barrymore that is near painful to endure. Revue is not a complete disaster with Ukelele Ike introducing Singing in the Rain to movie audiences, Natova and Company providing a spirited dance number, Bessie Love being dangerously tossed about the stage in a piece of slapstick, and Marion Davies being the only star not embarrassing herself on stage. There is also a provocative large dance scene among the hoofers with the girls white and the guys in black face with the scene changing from print to negative to re-enforce the contrast. I doubt very much this scene got past censors down South.Hollywood was still struggling with sound around the time of Revue and it is evident in many scenes but with jokes falling flat, the lack of cohesion in scene transition as well as dance numbers this musical comedy show remains off key from end to end.

All-star talent show of MGM silent stars, many of which in their first talkie. They sing, they dance, they do comedy bits. Most of it is a poor representation of the talent of those involved. Still, I found something quaintly charming and entertaining about it. It's certainly interesting from a film history perspective. Yes, it suffers from the crudeness of sound filmmaking in these early days but I try not to hold that against it too severely.Two of the more entertaining parts were Buster Keaton's sketch and "Singin' in the Rain." But I must admit my personal favorite was the "Lon Chaney's Gonna Get You if You Don't Watch Out" number. The worst was probably Marion Davies. For as much as people bash Joan Crawford's dance routine in this, Marion Davies was a million times worse. She sang off key and did what was supposed to be dancing. Just dreadful. As for Joan, the song she did was fine I thought but yes the dancing was a little goofy looking. The flapper dances were generally graceless to begin with but this was especially silly to watch. The other segment that gets talked about a lot is the "Romeo & Juliet" part with Norma Shearer, John Gilbert, and Lionel Barrymore. This was one of the few parts of the movie done in early Technicolor. I actually don't think this was a bad segment. The part where they do Romeo & Juliet updated for modern language was amusing.Overall, it's not great but it's way better than a lot of the critiques I've read have given it credit for. If you're a film buff you should see it. Everybody else, check it out if you are already familiar with early sound films and aren't going to harp on its technical failings. If you don't have the patience for that then just avoid it and save yourself the headache.

MGM's stupendously batty all star early talkie extravaganza from 1929 is a gloriously overproduced jamboree of jumping about, vaudeville comedy, tap-dancing, Minstrel antics, embarrassing and tedious comedy, and best of all - some two-color technicolor spotlights allowing for some standout moments. It is all so mad, a complete variety show more than a Follies with an endless parade of the 20s big names trying to be themselves and allow us into their glamorous lives for a few minutes. With wonderfully tinny sound, yelling, reprises galore of terrible songs - YOUR MOTHER AND MINE in particular... an underwater goddess grotto, harem aerobics, Buster Keaton being a caterpillar, people waving their arms about, annoying Ukulele Ike trilling and a finale on Noah's Ark...well yes it is The Hollywood Revue. If you love The Dawn Of Sound era and are fascinated with the Art Deco of the Vaudeville 20s then this film is a major treat. The jewel box and pearls sequence is Erte heaven. Many scenes are introduced by Jack Benny who often appears before some of the most beautiful glittering diamanté and velvet stage curtains you could imagine. Like a toy-box of musical madness, THE Hollywood REVUE OF 1929 is hilarious and annoying by turns but well worth the effort to sit through. A companion piece to GLORIFYING THE American GIRL of 1929 and KING OF JAZZ of 1930. My best tip to get friends to watch it is to play it at your next party as musical wallpaper. No sound, just the imagery playing to your own DVD collection....This is the sort of wonderful visual confection that nightclubs should play on a big wall screen. It is completely insane and unstoppable in its desire to pelt the viewer with musical silliness.. especially towards the end with trios of singing (yelling) stars leaping across the stage yowling at the camera in fantastic costumes. Marie Dressler must have nearly killed herself competing for facial contortion rights against younger and more agile stars.