Frank Lloyd’s Cavalcade (1933) last showed locally in 2006. It’s been brought back by the Hendersonville Film Society, owing to its recent restoration and appearance on Blu-ray. There’s no denying it looks better — probably as good as we’ll ever see it — but it’s equally impossible to deny that Cavalcade is more important from an historical standpoint than purely as entertainment. When it showed in 2006, I wrote: “Seeing Cavalcade for the first time since I was in high school, I was immediately struck that this best-picture Oscar winner from 1933 is a testament to the unkindness of time. Almost no one remembers the film today. Its director, Frank Lloyd (who also won the Oscar), was a big noise in his day, his movie receiving the coveted billing of ‘A Frank Lloyd Production’ (the 1930s equivalent of ‘A Film by’), yet he’s all but forgotten now, as are the film’s stars, Diana Wynyard (Oscar-nominated for her performance) and Clive Brook. Cavalcade is an impressive work with an impressive cast, but I could name a dozen far-better-remembered films from 1933. Yesterday’s prestige picture is often — rightly or wrongly — just yesterday’s news. Still, it’s nice, as with Lloyd’s film, to be reminded that sometimes yesterday’s news is worth looking at again. Indeed, Cavalcade plays better for me now than it did when I saw it 30-odd years ago on the late show.”
Full review is here.
The Hendersonville Film Society will show Cavalcade Sunday, Sept. 15, at 2 p.m., in the Smoky Mountain Theater at Lake Pointe Landing Retirement Community (behind Epic Cinemas), 333 Thompson St., Hendersonville.
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