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Cavalcade (1933)

Rate: 2
Viewed: 11/25

Cavalc
11/25: "Picture of the Generation"?

Yeah, sure...wake me up when somebody has actually heard of Cavalcade. It has to be the most obscure Best Picture winner in existence. No wonder why, according to Wikipedia, "with the DVD and Blu-ray releases of Wings on January 24, 2012, Cavalcade became the only Best Picture Oscar winner not available on a stand-alone DVD in Region 1."

Nothing works. Yes, good, carefully-constructed shots occur here and there, but many stagy scenes are inserted between historical references with paper-thin characters lost in the shuffle. There's so much jingoism involved that I'm glad WWII vanquished the British Empire completely. By the way, when the life preserver of the Titanic showed "Southampton" on the bottom, it should've been "Liverpool" because that's the location of the ship's registered port.

Diana Wynyard was Oscar-nominated for Best Actress? Please. Like everybody, she was looking at something far away behind the camera while saying her lines. In other words, it's superficial acting. There's no growth going on. Laughable is the airy script that's filled with lots of adverbs such as "heavenly," "terribly," and "marvelously."

All in all, serious completists of Best Picture winners will find Cavalcade very boring to watch.