MGM was one of the last studios to convert from silent to sound movies. To break the ice for the stars' talkie transformation, studio executives felt if they dipped their collective toes on a sound stage these silent movie actors and actresses wouldn't be so scared to hear their recorded voices for the first time. The June 1929 "The Hollywood Revue of 1929" proved to be a grab bag of MGM performers mixing song-and-dance routines with comedic acts. The movie served as a predecessor to television variety shows such as 'Ed Sullivan Show,' while at the same time harkened back to those earlier vaudeville days.
The 'moving camera' of the later silent movie era was all but discarded for a stationary one anchored just behind the orchestra pit in the audience seats. Additional cameras captured close-up and two shots. But the majority of scenes took in all the stage action in one wide frame. The two-hour length of "The Hollywood Revue of 1929" served as an entire evening's entertainment to those not used to seeing huge Broadway musicals. Despite being contained on one stage, the movie still cost over $400,000 to produce, and was filmed over a 25-day period.
The revue, billed as an "All-Star Musical Extravaganza," was well received by the curious public. Stars not known for their singing and dancing, such as Marion Davies and Bessie Love, were given quick lessons in both to showcase their limited musical talents. Joan Crawford, a previous dancer, said "the revue "was one of those let's-throw-everyone-on-the-lot-into-a musical thing, but I did a good song-and-dance number." The feature film had so many fans flocking to those theaters wired for sound to hear their silent film stars vocalize on film for the first time that MGM earned an enormous $1 million profit. "The Hollywood Revue of 1929" was nominated Outstanding Picture, the only revue movie ever to be considered for the Academy Awards Best Picture.
The many acts were tied together by emcees Conrad Nagel and Jack Benny, appearing in his first film. As a vaudeville and stand-up comedian beginning in 1911, Benjamin Kubelsky (stage name Jack Benny), along with his trusty violin, bounced around the country for years. His agent, Sammy Lyons, approached MGM's Irving Thalberg, and asked the producer to give Benny a look-see at the local Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. Thalberg liked Benny so much he sign him to a contract, beginning with "The Hollywood Revue of 1929." Not only was Benny a co-anchor to the show, he came up with the special effects introducing actress Bessie Love by taking a miniature version of her out of his pocket and placing her on the stage. She quickly grows larger like the Wonder Bread commercial boy. To achieve such an effect, the actress was in front of a black velvet curtain while the camera moves in.
The movie is also noteworthy for the performance of actor John Gilbert, who plays Romeo in a tongue-in-cheek sketch with Thalberg's wife, Norma Shearer. Claims of Gilbert possessing a high, shrill voice aren't found in the color clip where his deliberate pacing isn't as bad as film historians claim it was in his later films. Additionally, one of the highlighted comedic acts was delivered by the Laurel and Hardy team, who had just released the pair's first talkie a few weeks earlier in "Unaccustomed As We Are."
In another skit where the song "Lon Chaney Will Get You if You Don't Watch Out," viewers are introduced to the Chaney character played up by actor Gus Edwards. Chaney inked a three-picture a year deal with MGM. The actor wanted "The Hollywood Revue of 1929" to count as one of those films, even though his appearance would be only five minutes of reel time. The studio balked at the expense of paying Chaney for the short performance, which would eat up a good portion of the film's planned budget. It flatly refused. The actor wasn't happy to find out the song about him was going forward. But the untimely death of Chaney a few months later forced MGM to cut the song while in theaters that summer. The studio did put the sequence back into the motion picture when re-released years later.
Director Charles Reisner got MGM to film the last-minute inclusion of the grand finale with the song 'Singin' in the Rain.' The sequence was shot 10 days before the movie's premier at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. The Technicolor ending included those stars who appeared in the previous acts to report to the studio stage to film late into night. Movie critics in the day appreciated the final coda with the New York Times praising "the most extravagant and extensive musical comedy so far presented by the talking pictures, and is in itself a complete evening's entertainment."
The 'moving camera' of the later silent movie era was all but discarded for a stationary one anchored just behind the orchestra pit in the audience seats. Additional cameras captured close-up and two shots. But the majority of scenes took in all the stage action in one wide frame. The two-hour length of "The Hollywood Revue of 1929" served as an entire evening's entertainment to those not used to seeing huge Broadway musicals. Despite being contained on one stage, the movie still cost over $400,000 to produce, and was filmed over a 25-day period.
The revue, billed as an "All-Star Musical Extravaganza," was well received by the curious public. Stars not known for their singing and dancing, such as Marion Davies and Bessie Love, were given quick lessons in both to showcase their limited musical talents. Joan Crawford, a previous dancer, said "the revue "was one of those let's-throw-everyone-on-the-lot-into-a musical thing, but I did a good song-and-dance number." The feature film had so many fans flocking to those theaters wired for sound to hear their silent film stars vocalize on film for the first time that MGM earned an enormous $1 million profit. "The Hollywood Revue of 1929" was nominated Outstanding Picture, the only revue movie ever to be considered for the Academy Awards Best Picture.
The many acts were tied together by emcees Conrad Nagel and Jack Benny, appearing in his first film. As a vaudeville and stand-up comedian beginning in 1911, Benjamin Kubelsky (stage name Jack Benny), along with his trusty violin, bounced around the country for years. His agent, Sammy Lyons, approached MGM's Irving Thalberg, and asked the producer to give Benny a look-see at the local Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. Thalberg liked Benny so much he sign him to a contract, beginning with "The Hollywood Revue of 1929." Not only was Benny a co-anchor to the show, he came up with the special effects introducing actress Bessie Love by taking a miniature version of her out of his pocket and placing her on the stage. She quickly grows larger like the Wonder Bread commercial boy. To achieve such an effect, the actress was in front of a black velvet curtain while the camera moves in.
The movie is also noteworthy for the performance of actor John Gilbert, who plays Romeo in a tongue-in-cheek sketch with Thalberg's wife, Norma Shearer. Claims of Gilbert possessing a high, shrill voice aren't found in the color clip where his deliberate pacing isn't as bad as film historians claim it was in his later films. Additionally, one of the highlighted comedic acts was delivered by the Laurel and Hardy team, who had just released the pair's first talkie a few weeks earlier in "Unaccustomed As We Are."
In another skit where the song "Lon Chaney Will Get You if You Don't Watch Out," viewers are introduced to the Chaney character played up by actor Gus Edwards. Chaney inked a three-picture a year deal with MGM. The actor wanted "The Hollywood Revue of 1929" to count as one of those films, even though his appearance would be only five minutes of reel time. The studio balked at the expense of paying Chaney for the short performance, which would eat up a good portion of the film's planned budget. It flatly refused. The actor wasn't happy to find out the song about him was going forward. But the untimely death of Chaney a few months later forced MGM to cut the song while in theaters that summer. The studio did put the sequence back into the motion picture when re-released years later.
Director Charles Reisner got MGM to film the last-minute inclusion of the grand finale with the song 'Singin' in the Rain.' The sequence was shot 10 days before the movie's premier at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. The Technicolor ending included those stars who appeared in the previous acts to report to the studio stage to film late into night. Movie critics in the day appreciated the final coda with the New York Times praising "the most extravagant and extensive musical comedy so far presented by the talking pictures, and is in itself a complete evening's entertainment."