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Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

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

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Fifty years before Woody Allen's Zelig (1983), which preceded Robert Zemeckis's Forrest Gump (1994) by more than a decade itself, this sprawling spectacle of a drama features its characters in (or during) various real life, historical events (the Boer War, the Titanic, World War I, etc.) to help tell its 33 year story. It earned director Frank Lloyd his second and last Best Director Academy Award (on his second to last nomination). The film also won the Best Picture & Art Direction Oscars, and lead actress Diana Wynyard earned her only recognition from the Academy with a Best Actress nomination.If you haven't heard of Wynyard before, don't be surprised - primarily known as a London stage actress, she appeared in only half a dozen films in the 1930's (her debut in Rasputin and the Empress (1932), the only film featuring all three Barrymore siblings, directly preceded this one) and only twice that number in her career (most notably, in the British version of Gaslight (1940) opposite Anton Walbrook). In this film, she reminded me of Norma Shearer, whom she resembles, except for the fact that Wynyard under plays her character (at least, relatively).Many film fans won't recognize all of the other names in the cast either, which includes: Clive Brook, Una O'Connor, Herbert Mundin, Beryl Mercer, Irene Browne, Frank Lawton, Ursula Jeans, Margaret Lindsay (her sixth film), John Warburton and Bonita Granville (their third films), among others. It's a British story with an "upstairs downstairs" subplot, from Noel Coward's play, which was produced by a Hollywood company (20th Century Fox). Reginald Berkeley wrote the screenplay, and Sonya Levien provided continuity.It's New Year's Eve, 1899! Upstairs, Jane (Wynyard) & Robert (Brook) Marryot are toasting the coming century before he must go and serve as an officer in the Boer War (Africa). Downstairs, their servants Ellen (O'Connor) & Alfred (Mundin) Bridges can appreciate their bittersweet celebration because he too must soon leave, as an infantryman. Mercer plays the cook; Tempe Pigott plays Alfred's disagreeable mother-in- law.The Marryots have preteen two sons, Masters Edward (Dickie Henderson) and Joey (Douglas Scott), who play with Edith (Sheila MacGill), the daughter of Jane's lifelong (and film-long) best friend, Margaret Harris (Browne). The Bridges have a new baby named Fanny. After both soldiers return uninjured from the war, Robert helps Alfred go into business for himself, lending him the money he needs to buy a pub. Merle Tottenham plays the Marryot's newest servant (later, she marries, Billy Bevan).Ten years later, Fanny (now played by Granville) is a dancing prodigy. Alfred, who has been drinking away his bar's profits, is killed when he struggles away from some friends and staggers into the street in front of a speeding fire engine. Five years later, newlyweds Edward (now Warburton) and Edith (now Lindsay) wonder about what their future holds on the decks of their honeymoon cruise ... on the Titanic! When (WW I) war breaks out, Joe (now Lawton) is as excited to be joining the conflict as he was for his father 15 years earlier. Near the end of the conflict some four years later, he's predictably weary. But his spirits rise when, by chance, he sees dancer Fanny's (now Jeans) name in lights, and the two of them begin an affair unknown to their parents of differing classes. On armistice day, working class success Ellen Bridges, gaudily dressed and looking uncomfortable in high heels, visits Jane to tell her about their "children's" affair. But they're interrupted by a telegram that tells Mrs. Marryot about Joe's death. Fanny sings the "Twentieth Century Blues" about it in her nightclub.After a series of montages (like those included which signified the length of the so-called Great War) including newspaper headlines spanning more than a decade, the film ends as it began with an elderly Robert and Jane, after Margaret has left, toasting the coming of 1933 on New Year's Eve.

. . . since Germany had, with ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, the ONLY foreign movie ever to win the "Best Picture" Oscar (1930). Or perhaps WINGS "started the fire," as the first claimant of this top prize in 1928. But both of these "best pictures" focused on WWI (or "the Great War," as it was called until the 1940s), while the 1933 top Oscar winner, CAVALCADE, is far more diffuse, covering 33 years of British history and even throwing in the kitchen sink! Yes, CAVALCADE is the template for PBS' perennial TV favorites, UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS and DOWNTON ABBEY. As Billy Joe realized when he wrote his #1 hit in 1989 cataloging 119 items of mental furniture for the late Beatnik and early Baby Boomer Generations, a montage of headlines can be enough to create quite sentimental Art, reminding your "target audience" of its Youth. CAVALCADE is quite upfront about its intentions, daring viewers to observe a family (no doubt like themselves--in 1933, that is; AND, you have to count the servants, of course, for the realists in the audience) buffeted by "the cavalcade of the New 20th Century." Why not give household members tickets to the Boer War in South Africa, a place at the front of Queen Victoria's funeral cortège, a space at the railing on the Titanic, a white cross in a WWI cemetery, a knighthood, a showgirl, and a champagne toast on two New Year's Eves to bracket everything else? There's a continuing motif here of "ghost riders in the sky," presumably to symbolize the passing cavalcade of this flick's title. Though it is up to History to determine whether this movie OR Billy Joel's ode will be meaningful at the NEXT turn of a century (when everyone with a living memory of the events of either may have passed on), the superimposed battle sequences of WWI in CAVALCADE are among the most stirring martial art ever presented on screen.

An upper-crust British family and their servant class react to the preeminent events that introduced Earth people to the Twentieth Century. Mainly, we see three decades of dramatic interludes surrounding lady Diana Wynyard (as Jane) and her noble husband Clive Brook (as Robert Marryot). This "upstairs" couple is contrasted by "downstairs" maid Una O'Connor (as Ellen) and her boozy husband Herbert Mundin (as Alfred Bridges). But, they take a back seat to the quartet's children, after they grow up to be rich Frank Lawton (as Joe Marryot) and poor Ursula Jeans (as Fanny Bridges)...Noel Coward's stage play is more than a little tedious, at least in cinematic form. "Cavalcade" was well-produced, however, and was the year's "Best Picture" by "The New York Times", "Film Daily", and the "Academy Awards". The latter group named Frank Lloyd "Best Director" and nominated Ms. Wynyard as "Best Actress" of the year for falling hard upon reading bad news. A British Norma Shearer, Wynyard came in third in "Oscar" voting, after winner Katharine Hepburn (in "Morning Glory") and May Robson (in "Lady for a Day"); a good ranking, but Greta Garbo (in "Queen Christina") outperformed them all."Cavalcade" is an anti-war excursion, by Mr. Coward, with some observations on the British class system (both rich and poor mourn the death of "Queen" Victoria), and alcoholism among the working class. The awards notwithstanding, watching these characters react to news events is hardly ever engaging. One exception is when Mr. Lawton goes blushingly backstage to meet Ms. Jeans, after she has become an entertainer. This scene gives their otherwise ordinary and predictable storyline some spark. Another strength is the wonderful Coward tune "Twentieth Century Blues" sung by Jeans' character. The song serves not only as the film's theme but also as a timeless comment on chaotic societal changes.****** Cavalcade (1/5/33) Frank Lloyd ~ Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook, Frank Lawton, Ursula Jeans

I have to admit I liked this movie. I am not sure whether it deserved Best Picture, but I do not think it is worthy of the maligning I have seen some people give it. I saw Cavalcade out of curiosity, and I found it both impressive and interesting.It may be slightly overlong, a little slow and have moments of stuffiness, but... the period detail and cinematography are terrific and the music is well composed and fits well. The story has a play-like feel and it feels adeptly constructed and very rarely lost my interest, and the script is consistently very good. The direction is adroit, likewise with the actors. The acting style here may be broad, but it is also thoughtful and interesting to watch; I think Diana Wynyard, Clive Brook and Una O'Connor are fine. Also the final march is both stirring and moving.In conclusion, Cavalcade was interesting, a curiosity yes but an interesting one at that. 7/10 Bethany Cox