1932-33:Cavalcade

“(Your parents) had a better chance in the beginning…Things weren’t changing so quickly and life wasn’t so restless” – Edith Marryot, Cavalcade

“In this hurly burly of insanity, our dreams cannot last long,” – Fanny Bridges, Cavalcade

Cavalcade, the last of the split year Oscar winners, is the story of key moments in early twentieth century as experienced through two British families. It is also one of the worst Best Picture winners I have seen thus far in Operation Oscar.

The story begins on New Year’s Eve 1899 in the home of Jane and Robert Marryot (Diana Wynyard and Clive Brook). The celebration is tempered by the fact Robert will soon be shipped off to fight in the Boer War. Also being drafted is the Marryot’s butler, Alfred Bridges (Herbert Mundin), leaving behind his worrywart wife and family maid, Ellen (Una O’Connor). After much fretting, fawning and overacting, the men leave, only to apparently return the next day, the war won and no one much worse for the wear. And then the queen dies. 1900 was a very busy time, apparently.

We then jump ahead to 1908. Alfred and Ellen now own a bar and Alfred is a professional drunk and louse. Alfred’s boozing leads to his death (by carriage) and one would think this would turn the tides of the working class Bridges for the worse, but apparently Alfred was just holding the family back. Daughter Fanny (Ursula Jeans) becomes a professional singer of national renown.

Meanwhile, the Marryot’s children have grown up. Edward (John Warburton) marries long time family friend Edith (Margaret Lindsay) and wouldn’t you know it, the two opt to honeymoon on the Titanic. This leaves poor Joe Marryot (Frank Lawton) an only child. When not making eyes at Fannie, Joe fawns over the possibility of a quick, exciting war, which as my Western Civ teacher and All Quiet on the Western Front taught me, was the prevailing attitude of Europe prior to World War I. Joe goes to the war but dies literally days before the armistice. The film ends on New Year ’s Eve 1932 as the elderly Marryot’s discuss their lives in the early twentieth century. Showing the classic British stiff upper lift, Robert seems not to overly mourn the loss of his children, while Jane at least lets a hint of sadness creep through. And we’re out.

There was a lot I didn’t like about this movie. First off, the acting was very, very melodramatic with lots of tears and fainting and overall scenery chewing. Secondly, while the idea of how fast and sudden the first two decades of the twentieth century seemed to have happened is fascinating, I don’t think the movie pulled it off particularly well. Like I said, people got drafted into the Boer War, then they came home. The queen died, people were sad. One of the most impactful moments on the family is the Titanic, which while quite famous, doesn’t really hold a historical candle to things like the Boer War or World War I. The movie also feels quite dated if you consider what was going to happen in the next two decades of the twentieth century.

The film was based on a play by Noel Coward and wears its origins on its cinematic sleeve. Most scenes appear to be shot on a theater stage with a lot of talking heads and very little actual showing of these monumental historic events (All we get of the Titanic is a rail and life saver with the boat’s name on it.) The rapid onslaught of history and its seemingly ever-increasing pace is a pretty fascinating topic for historians and could be the source of a good movie (I guess Forrest Gump tackles this idea is a different way). Unfortunately, Cavalcade does not move nearly as fast nor as impactfully as the events it presents.

Movie Trivia: Cavalcade is one of the most obscure Best Picture winners and the only winner currently not available on DVD. Interested watchers have to track down a VHS copy through eBay.

Oscar Trivia:  The Oscars decided to sync up their year with the calendar, so the 1932-33 awards had a 17-month eligibility period. As a result, ten movies were nominated for Best Picture, a record that stood until 2009, although the traditional five Best Picture nominees were established until a few years later.

1932-1933: Grand Hotel

“Grand Hotel… always the same. People come, people go. Nothing ever happens” – Doctor Otternschlag, Grand Hotel

Grand Hotel, the fifth Best Picture winner, was one of the first all-star cast films, with five major (for the time) actors all appearing in inter-cut stories, the type of films we see today in Love, Actually or Freddy Vs. Jason. Ironically, of the five big stars, three aren’t particularly well remembered today and one who is, Joan Crawford, is more known for her scandalous personal life and laughably bad bio-pic (Mommie Dearest) than her actual movies. Regardless, having the Barrymore brothers, Greta Garbo, Crawford and Wallace Beery all appearing in the same movie was apparently quite the big deal in 1932.

The film revolves around a day in the life of the Grand Hotel, the most glamorous hotel in all of Berlin, and five people who are staying there. Wallace Beery is Mr. Preysing, the director of a troubled manufacturing plant, is trying to sweat his way through a doomed merger or else watch the company go bankrupt. Joan Crawford is Flaemmchen, Preysing’s abused stenographer who he eventually propositions to become his “kept woman” and travel with him as his secretary. Lionel Barrymore is Otto Kringelein, an anonymous bookkeeper at Preysing’s factory who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness and has decided to spend his last days spending his life savings and living the luxurious life. John Barrymore is the Baron, a broke con-man who is trying to make some quick cash by stealing jewelry from Greta Garbo’s Grusinskaya, a suicidal ballerina staying at the hotel. However, the Baron and Grusinskaya fall in love and he plans to run away with her…if only he can find the money he owes the men who were backing his robbery operation.

Like most of these stories of interconnected lives, the movie ebbs and flows with how interesting each particular character is. In this case, I found the Baron to be the most likeable and interesting of all the characters. Kringelein is obviously supposed to be a sympathetic character but he comes off as more clingy and feeble than anything. Frankly, I was annoyed by him at times and sided with the Baron with latter decided to steal from the man (the Baron, whose heart is apparently bigger than mine, gives the money back.) Joan Crawford’s character and storyline were positives in the film as Crawford showed her desperation and why she’d submit to the loathsome Preysing. As for the movie’s villain, Beery tended to overact and chew the scenery as the unlikeable blowhard and really his business negotiations are some of the most boring aspects of the movie.

Finally there is Garbo, who was the biggest star of them all and whose line “I want to be alone” has become an iconic representation of the film and the reclusive actress herself.  Her ballerina is not particularly likeable although Garbo imbues her with a tragic air, particularly in her doomed romance with the Baron, and is such a master actress at working with the camera that she makes her scenes, even the boring ones where she is dancing around the room humming, very captivating.

I saw Grand Hotel many years ago when I was 11 or 12 and was really bored with it. Twenty years later I was surprised by the adult undertones of the movie and subtleties I was too young to understand before. Grand Hotel was made on the edge of the “Hays Code” era of Hollywood where all sexual references were censored from movies and storylines – like Beery’s propositioning of Crawford – had to be written around and only hinted at.

Trivia Note: Grand Hotel is the only movie to win Best Picture without being nominated for a single other award, thus making it the ultimate example of a movie that is, as critics might say, “greater than the sum of its parts.”

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