Today, you've got to make love with words and music!
Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929) - watched 7/6/24
Director: Charles Reisner
Writers: Al Boasberg, Robert E. Hopkins, Joseph W. Farnham
Starring: Conrad Nagel, Jack Benny, Bessie Love, Buster Keaton, Marion Davies, Joan Crawford, too many to list!!
Available to watch: I’ll be real with you, I couldn’t easily find this one streaming anywhere in full except for what appeared to be a Russian version of YouTube. I won’t link it but I think it’s fine? Hopefully I’m not on some kind of list now. Anyway you can find DVD copies of this on Amazon and eBay, or just watch random clips on YouTube (I’ve even linked some for you!). You honestly don’t need to watch the whole thing in sequential order.
First Time Watch? Yes
Just because you're a love bird, don't think that you're a canary.
How does one even begin to summarize something that doesn’t really have structure or a plot? It’s really a shame that they didn’t have TVs in the 1920s, because this would have been perfect as a variety show.
The Hollywood Revue of 1929 is essentially two hours of musical numbers, dancing, and sketches performed by the era’s biggest stars. The show was co-hosted by Conrad Nagel, who made his debut as THE Laurie Laurence in the mysteriously missing 1918 version of Little Women, and the influential comedian Jack Benny. And when I say the stars came OUT for this one? Ooh, baby. We got Joan Crawford, Marion Davies, Buster Keaton, Laurel AND Hardy, Lionel Barrymore, Norma Shearer, Bessie Love, and on and on and on. I was trying to come up with examples of big movie stars of today coming together for a similar event to illustrate how wild it really was, but then I remembered that we don’t really have movie stars like we used to. Oop!
The film (it’s going to be very difficult for me to not call this a “show”) is split into two acts, with an intermission. The intermission is one thing this flick’s got going for it—I am pro-intermission! There’s something like 18 musical numbers out of 26 acts total, over the course of two hours. That’s… kind of exhausting, to be honest. Rather than going through and summarizing each act, because absolutely none of us have the time for that, here’s a list of the acts, and, in some cases, corresponding links so you can take a gander for yourself:
Act I
"The Palace of Minstrel" sung and danced by the chorus (I promise this is not as racist as it sounds)
"Masters of Ceremonies" Jack Benny introduces Conrad Nagel, with appearances from Charles King and Cliff Edwards
"Got a Feeling for You" by Joan Crawford
"Old Folks at Home" and “Old Black Joe” sung by the chorus (yeah, a bit racist with the lyrics here)
"Low-Down Rhythm" by June Purcell
"Your Mother and Mine" by Charles King
"You Were Meant for Me" sung by Charles King, lip synced for his life by Conrad Nagel
"Nobody but You" by Cliff Edwards as “Ukulele Ike”
"Your Mother and Mine" played by Jack Benny on his violin with interjections from Karl Dane and George K. Arthur
"Cut Up" comedy sketch featuring William Haines and Jack Benny
"I Never Knew I Could Do a Thing Like That" by Bessie Love
"For I'm the Queen" by Marie Dressler, and Polly Moran
"Magic Act" comedy sketch featuring Laurel and Hardy (their first appearance in a sound feature “film”)
"Military March" with Marion Davies singing "Oh, What a Man" and "Tommy Atkins on Parade" followed by military drill and dancing. The Brox Sisters conclude this number singing "Strike Up the Band"
Intermission - Performances of "Nobody But You", "Your Mother and Mine", and "I've Got a Feeling for You" by the orchestra
Act II
"The Pearl Ballet" sung by James Burrows, danced by Beth Laemmle and the Albertina Rasch ballet
"The Dance of the Sea", an "underwater" dance by Buster Keaton
"Lon Chaney's Gonna Get You If You Don't Watch Out" by Gus Edwards
"The Adagio Dance" with the Natova Company
"Romeo and Juliet" (in two-color Technicolor) with John Gilbert and Norma Shearer, and Lionel Barrymore
"Singin' in the Rain" by Cliff Edwards (aka Ukulele Ike), with The Brox Sisters
"Charlie, Gus, and Ike" with Charles King, Gus Edwards, and Cliff Edwards
"Marie, Polly, and Bess" with Marie Dressler, Polly Moran, and Bessie Love
"Orange Blossom Time" (in two-color Technicolor), sung by Charles King to Myrtle McLaughlin, danced by the Albertina Rasch Ballet Company
"Singin' in the Rain" reprise/finale, in two-color Technicolor, sung by entire cast
I've had plenty of balcony bees buzzing about me, but, you're just about the cookies for me, boyfriend.
Uhhhh? Okay. It’s becoming very evident to me that people in the 1920s just kind of wanted movies to be theater. And they really loved showing off what they could do with sound. This isn’t too unusual or unexpected—even today, whenever we develop a new technology, or improve upon an existing technology for film, we tend to over-index on it. We had the 3-D boom in the 1950s and a resurgence in the 1980s. More recently it felt like you couldn’t get away from drone shots. And now, harrowingly, we have AI technology to contend with. So I get it. Sound was new, sound was exciting, and sound needed to be flaunted! Keeping that in mind, it makes sense why a 1929 audience would be dazzled by The Hollywood Revue.
I’ll start with my positives: I was genuinely charmed by a few of the segments here. The highlight for me was Bessie Love’s performance of “I Never Knew I Could Do a Thing Like That,” including the very fun and adorable introduction performed with Jack Benny. I’m officially a Bessie Love stan now, I am absolutely enamored with her and will seek out as many of her performances as I can (I’m in luck, considering she starred in Best Picture winner The Broadway Melody, and makes an appearance in Reds). I’ve watched this clip no less than eight times now? I love the 1920s version of twee on display here. Need to get me a tiny lady with a squeaky voice that I can keep in my pocket. Nothing problematic about that thought at all!
I also highly enjoyed the Romeo and Juliet comedy sketch, starring Norma Shearer, John Gilbert, and Lionel Barrymore. The only clip I was able to find of this sketch doesn’t do it justice, as it cuts off right before getting to the actual funny part. The first half of the sketch is Norma Shearer as Juliet and John Gilbert as Romeo, performing the balcony scene totally straight, as it’s written. Lionel Barrymore, playing the director, cuts them off with a telegram from the studio instructing them to change the name and the dialogue to better suit a modern audience. Shearer and Gilbert then start the scene over again, this time eschewing Shakespeare’s dialogue and replacing it with some positively delightful 1920s slang. Now this is the shit I like!!! One could very easily see this sketch played out in a similar fashion today, except not nearly as funny or charming, with Juliet saying something like “Oh Romeo, you’ve got mad rizz, but it’s highkey a red flag that you’re a Montague.”
I also found Conrad Nagel and Jack Benny to be effective, entertaining emcees. They had an ease about them that was refreshing, and it never felt like they overstayed their welcome during any of their segments.
Now for the negative: This just got tiring. There were more dud segments than good ones, and after a while they all started to look and feel kind of the same. I wasn’t crazy about the Laurel & Hardy or Buster Keaton segments (it’s really such a shame that men aren’t funny). And of all the things that are more than two hours long, this movie perhaps needs to be over two hours the least. Sorry, sorry, I know I talk about runtime a lot, it’s just that—I love a tight 90! We only have so much precious time on Earth, if you’re going to take so much of it away from me, make it count!
I do think, though, gun to my head, that I’d slightly prefer watching this one again over, say, The Racket or Alibi. What’s nice about The Hollywood Revue is that, despite the lack of a plot, the film at least showcases a lot of great, talented women, whereas the former films don’t do nearly as much as they should with their female characters and the great actresses who play them. Women… they simply make movies better.
Just like a woman… You can never tell what pocket you’re gonna find her in.
Quick Facts:
Nominated for one Academy Award (and lost, obviously)
Apparently, John Gilbert’s career tanked after audiences heard his voice for the first time in the “Romeo and Juliet” sketch. His high-pitched voice and awkward delivery of Shakespearan dialogue may have inspired the main plot line of Singin’ in the Rain. Personally, I don’t think his voice sounds that weird.
First “talkie” for many silent film stars, including Joan Crawford and Laurel & Hardy. Buster Keaton is notably not singing along with the cast during the final number, since he was still considered a silent film actor.
My Rating: ⭐️⭐½
Next Up: In Old Arizona (1928)