The Hollywood Revue

The Hollywood Revue of 1929, or simply The Hollywood Revue,[4] is a 1929 American pre-Code 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]

The Hollywood Revue of 1929
Theatrical release poster
Directed byCharles Reisner
Written byAl Boasberg
Robert E. Hopkins
Joseph W. Farnham
Produced byIrving Thalberg
Harry Rapf
StarringConrad Nagel
Jack Benny
CinematographyJohn Arnold
Max Fabian
Irving G. Ries
John M. Nickolaus
Edited byWilliam S. Gray
Cameron K. Wood
Music byGus 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]

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."[6] Billed as an "All-Star Musical Extravaganza", the film includes performances by once and future stars, including Joan Crawford singing and dancing on stage. (She later remarked, "Revue was one of those let's-throw-everyone-on-the-lot-into-a musical things, but I did a good song-and-dance number.").[7] Other segments feature 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 Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy as inept magicians, and a variety of musical performances. One of these is the debut of "Singin' in the Rain", performed initially by Cliff Edwards as "Ukulele Ike,'" and later performed at the end of the film by the entire cast. This latter all-star color sequence was a last-minute addition to the film, shot late at night on June 10, 1929, just ten days before the premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. The only major M-G-M stars missing from the revue are Greta Garbo, Ramon Novarro, and Lon Chaney, although Chaney is referred to by name in one of the songs performed and Garbo is spoken of during one of the introductory dialogues. Only one sequence was cut from the film: three songs by 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.

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

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", Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times wrote.[9] Variety called it "the top novelty film to be turned out to date....If the theater booths give it an even break, nothing can stop it."[10] 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[3] and was considered for the Academy Award for Best Picture (there were no official nominations at that point in Motion Picture Association of America history).[2] Producer Rapf tried to follow it up with another revue, The Hollywood Revue of 1930, which was changed during production to 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 Technicolor sequences. It was released on laserdisc in the 1990s from MGM/UA Home Video, and on DVD in 2009 through the Warner Archive Collection.

See also

References
  1. Holston, Kim R. (2013). Movie Roadshows: A History and Filmography of Reserved-Seat Limited Showings, 1911–1973. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 66. ISBN 978-0-7864-6062-5.
  2. Bradley, Edwin M. (2004). The First Hollywood Musicals: A Critical Filmography Of 171 Features, 1927 Through 1932. McFarland. p. 262. ISBN 978-0-7864-2029-2.
  3. The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles, California: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  4. "The 2nd Academy Awards". AMPAS.
  5. Green, Stanley (1999) Hollywood Musicals Year by Year (2nd ed.), pub. Hal Leonard Corporation ISBN 0-634-00765-3
  6. Silverstein, Harry; Rosenberg, Bernard (1970). The Real Tinsel. Macmillan. p. 189.
  7. Newquist, Roy; Crawford, Joan (1980). Conversations with Joan Crawford. Citadel Press. p. 70. 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. "Hollywood Revue of 1929". 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.
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