The Hollywood Revue Of 1929

The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929)

Runtime: 116 minutes

Directed by: Charles Reisner

Starring: Pretty much all of the talent under contract to MGM at the time, who were the ones that made this

This is a now obscure movie I saw late last night. I talk about it in my Letterboxd review below:

Back in September of '14 I saw The Show of Shows, a 1929 variety show by Warner Brothers which was 2 hours of most of the talent they had on contract doing a variety of skits and musical numbers, mainly to demonstrate the then new-fangled invention of “talkie pictures”. MGM was the first to do this and to show that this trend always existed in Hollywood, the other studios stole this idea and did their version. As this is hard to track down I couldn't turn down the chance to see it on TCM late last night, as that's how I also saw The Show of Shows.

As previously mentioned, this is a variety show with no plot to speak of. There are musical numbers, comedy bits, an acrobatic scene and a spoof of a dramatic scene with Norma Shearer & silent film star John Gilbert. The cast definitely is impressive considering those famous at the time and those who would be famous later: Joan Crawford, Bessie Love, Laurel and Hardy in their first sound film appearance, Marion Davies, Buster Keaton, & Marie Dressler, to list but a few people. It was hosted by Conrad Nagel and Jack Benny.

As expected, it's a mixed bag, with some bits and songs better than others. It's not the greatness that you'd see in those frothy musicals from the past, especially from MGM. At least the songs and choreography from all the dancers was fine. Still, even if I rate it average I am glad that I saw it and at least it's watchable. The highlights to me were seeing Laurel & Hardy in action, Buster Keaton pratfalling, the wonderous trio of Love, Dressler & Polly Moran, and the first time Singin' in the Rain was ever heard in a movie. There are also three segments that were in an early form of Technicolor.

While it's not a must-see in 2016, at the time I understand it was popular with both critics and the audience; that's probably why it got a Best Picture nomination, which does seem a little silly now.