The Hollywood Revue of 1929
AKA [The Hollywood Revue]
(1929) American
Color/B&W : Twelve reels / 11,669 feet / 120 minutes
Directed by Charles F. Reisner

Cast: Conrad Nagel, Jack Benny, John Gilbert, Norma Shearer, Lionel Barrymore, Joan Crawford, Buster Keaton, Marion Davies, Cliff Edwards, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, George K. Arthur, Bessie Love, Renée Adorée, William Haines, Anita Page, Nils Asther, Marie Dressler, Charles King, Polly Moran, Gus Edwards, Karl Dane, Gwen Lee, Beth Laemmele, the Brox Sisters, Ernest Belcher’s Dancing Tots, the Albertina Rasch Ballet, Natacha Natova and Company, the Rounders, the Biltmore Hotel Orchestra

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Corporation production; distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Distributing Corporation. / Produced by Harry Rapf. Screenplay by Al Boasberg and Robert E. Hopkins. Skits by Joe Farnham. Music and lyrics by Gus Edwards, Joe Goodwin, Nacio Herb Brown, Arthur Freed, Dave Snell, Louis Alter, Jessie Greer, Ray Klages, Martin Broones, Fred Fisher, Jo Trent, Avy Rice and Ballard MacDonald. Art direction by Cedric Gibbons and Richard Day. Costume design by David Cox. Choreography by Sammy Lee. Cinematography by John Arnold, Irving G. Ries, Maximilian Fabian and John M. Nickolaus. Sound recording by Douglas Shearer. Edited by William S. Gray and Cameron K. Wood. Music score by Arthur Lange. / © 23 September 1929 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Corporation [LP800]. Premiered 15 June 1929 at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Limited release in Los Angeles in June 1929 and in New York in August 1929. General release, 23 November 1929. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.37:1 format. Technicolor two-strip color process sequences. / Reshot German language version entitled Wir Schalten um auf Hollywood (1929). / Full-sound film.

All-star revue.

Synopsis: Hosted by Nagel and Benny; Gilbert and Shearer play Romeo and Juliet; Dressler sings with Moran; Nagel sings; Keaton dances; Davies sings and dances; Cliff Edwards sings; Laemmele dances; Laurel and Hardy comedy routine; King sings; Cliff Edwards, King and Gus Edwards sing; Dressler, Moran and Love sing together; Crawford sings and dances.

Survival Status: Print exists [16mm reduction positive].

Keywords: Color cinematography - Synchronized sound film

Listing updated: 18 July 2007.

References: Bardèche-History p. 318; Basten-Technicolor p. 170; Bohn-Light p. 184; Dardis-Keaton pp. 176, 294; Kerr-Silent p. 336; Limbacher-Feature p. 111; Quirk-Crawford pp. 16, 70, 115; Shipman-Cinema pp. 104-105; Skretvedt-LaurelHardy pp. 168-170, 171; Taylor-Hitchcock p. 103; Vermilye-Twenties p. 225; Weaver-Twenty pp. 28, 143 : ClasIm-221 p. 16.