Cavalcade (1933)

Sigh.

Last night I started watching the 1933 Best Picture winner Cavalcade. It starts out with some fanfare and musical overtures as films from that era tend to do. Then the actual movie started. And I cringed. It felt as if the director took some actors who were previously in the silent pictures and moved them into the talkies. Well, that's only partly true. The two men where fine, if stiff. The two women were horrible overactors. The lady who was probably the female lead had this terrible habit of starting her line facing the male lead, then twirling to face the camera and deliver the rest of her line. The supporting actress, a maid, insisted on using theatrical hand gestures to her face to show her distress. Big gestures.

I lasted fifteen minutes. I think I need to hand in my "movie geek" card now since I obviously cannot respect the classics, but Cavalcade did not hold up after seventy years. I know that's a long time and movies have come a long way and I should be happy I'm even getting the chance to see this movie, but I don't have the time to watch something that I find so dreadfully dull and overacted.

I gave Cavalcade the old college try, but it was not worth my time. I don't think this is just a case of the acting of the era, at least I hope not since I do have a couple of Best Pictures from that era left to watch. I wonder what else came out in 1933.