whataboutbobbed
Film Forum’s 66 film – month long salute to ‘Hollywood’s Naughtiest, Bawdiest Year’ – 1933!!! continues…
Day 17’s pair of Oscar Winners of ‘33 – Cavalcade + The Private Life of Henry VIII
nothing like watching Academy Award winning films from yesteryear on Oscar day!
Frank Lloyd/Noël Coward‘s Cavalcade wouldn’t have been my choice for Best Picture of 1933 (my leading candidate, so far, is Lady For A Day), but it’s not necessarily a bad pick. Spanning 34 years in the lives of an upstairs couple (Clive Brook & Diana Wynyard), a downstairs couple (Herbert Mundin and the always batty, always amazing Una O’Connor), and their kin (John Warburton, Frank Lawton and Ursula Jeans), we get the usual roller-coaster ride thru life, death, love and war. Is all fair? Fair enough!
You can pretty much guess what Alexander Korda‘s The Private Life of Henry VIII is all about (although they skip the whole Catherine of Aragon part), but you probably have zero idea about how much scenery and food Charles Laughton chews through on his way to a rightfully deserved Best Actor win at the ’33 Academy Awards. Wow. Laughton is simply incredible as he tears thru 6 wives (and many chicken carcasses) in only 97 minutes. The picture hits its zenith when Elsa Lanchester as Anne of Cleves comes into the picture, and doesn’t strike the King’s fancy whatsoever. It’s particularly humorous since Laughton and Lanchester were married in real life, and here they are beyond appalled and repelled by one another. Long live the King!!