Introduction"The Hollywood Revue of 1929" is a pioneering American Pre-Code motion picture which showcased the skills of the entire Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) stable of stars at the time. The movie was directed by Charles Reisner and produced by Harry Rapf. Acting as a vaudeville-style revue, the film had no unified story, rather going with several entertaining acts.
Plot and ThemeThe film showed the wide range of skills within MGM through a series of tune, dance, comedy, and drama sketches with intermittent performances by comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. Typically pointed out as a traditional example of a revue film, "The Hollywood Revue of 1929" is an early example of the ambitious musical extravaganzas that were popular throughout Hollywood's Golden Age. The film's main draws are both its ingenious use of two-strip Technicolor and its outstanding lineup of MGM stars, which included iconic names like Marion Davies, Norma Shearer, Conrad Nagel, and John Gilbert.
Performances and HighlightsThe film included a number of notable performances. These included Joan Crawford's rendition of the tune "Got a Feeling for You", ballet sequences by ballet star Albertina Rasch, and a funny sketch involving a lion performed by leading comics Laurel and Hardy. Likewise unforgettable was Buster Keaton's comedic play on Romeo and Juliet. The film concluded with a reprise of a few of the musical numbers, followed by a grand Technicolor ending, mostly thought about as the film's emphasize. This finale involved a homage to the prominent MGM Studio, and starred most of those who had performed earlier, dressed in dazzling white against a brilliant, colored background.
Technical AspectsFor a 1929 film, "The Hollywood Revue" was relatively sophisticated highly. It utilized two-strip Technicolor sequences, which were a novelty at the time. The film also featured sound, which was a relatively new innovation in filmmaking. The film was amongst the very first few to successfully use the new sound-on-film strategy, guaranteeing its status as a prominent 'talkie'. The sound and color were strong experiments at a time when the movie industry was in a transitional phase from quiet to sound films.
Reception and ImpactThe movie was a business success, becoming the 3rd highest-grossing film of 1929. It was likewise well-received critically and was chosen for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Nevertheless, the absence of a cohesive story in favor of isolated acts, which was the movie's primary theme, didn't appeal to everybody. In spite of its industrial success, the revue format didn't catch on and fell out of favor shortly after.
Conclusion"The Hollywood Revue of 1929" remains a substantial movie in the history of cinema, not only for its display of MGM's star power and emerging technological trends, but likewise for its status as an early example of a large-scale musical revue-- a kind of phenomenon that would soon end up being a staple of Hollywood's Golden Age.
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