Cavalcade

The story

A cavalcade of English life from New Year's Eve 1899 until 1933 is seen through the eyes of well-to-do Londoners Jane and Robert Marryot. Amongst events touching their family are the Boer War, the death of Queen Victoria, the sinking of the Titanic, and the Great War.

What critics & audiences say

Tomatometer62%Fresh#94 of 98 winners

IMDb5.76.8K votes#97 of 98 winners

Metacritic73/ 100#77 of 93 winners

TMDB5.5/ 10

Fun facts

1. Cavalcade was reportedly Adolf Hitler's favorite film. In 1934 he and Joseph Goebbels watched it twice, in March and May.Wikipedia · Critical reception
2. Cavalcade was one of the first films to use the words 'damn' and 'hell', which worried the Hays Office. The precedent was codified six years later, ahead of Gone with the Wind's famous 'damn'.Wikipedia · Production
3. Defending the mild profanity, Fox president Sidney Kent argued that anyone who could make a picture as good as Cavalcade 'might be justified in following the precedent.'Wikipedia · Production
4. Fox sent Movietone newsreel cameramen to London to film Noël Coward's original stage production as a guide for the adaptation.Wikipedia · Production
5. For years Cavalcade's only DVD was part of a Fox box set listing for nearly $500, leaving it the only Best Picture winner without a stand-alone Region 1 DVD. It finally got one in 2013 after topping a Fox online write-in poll.Wikipedia · Home media
6. Frank Borzage was originally going to direct, but he left for another project. Because of the English setting, Fox chief Winfield Sheehan wanted a British director and hired Lanarkshire-born Frank Lloyd.Wikipedia · Production
7. Besides several original Noël Coward compositions, the film uses more than fifty period songs, anthems, hymns and ballads, from 'Land of Hope and Glory' to 'Over There'.Wikipedia · Soundtrack
8. Cavalcade was the first Fox Film production to win Best Picture, and the only one before the studio merged with 20th Century Pictures in 1935 to form 20th Century Fox.Wikipedia · Awards and nominations
9. The story runs from New Year's Eve 1899 to New Year's Day 1933, with the Boer War, Queen Victoria's death, the Titanic sinking and World War I touching the characters' lives.Wikipedia · Introduction
10. Cavalcade was an instant hit, earning $3.5 million in worldwide rentals, including more than $1 million in the UK.Wikipedia · Box office