Music Hall Parade | |
---|---|
Directed by | Oswald Mitchell |
Screenplay by | Oswald Mitchell Con West |
Produced by | Oswald Mitchell |
Starring | Glen Raynham Richard Norris Charles Sewell |
Cinematography | Geoffrey Faithfull |
Edited by | Daniel Birt |
Music by | Percival Mackey (musical director) |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Butcher's Film Service (UK) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 80 min. |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | £11,700 [1] |
Music Hall Parade is a 1939 British musical film directed by Oswald Mitchell. [2] The film featured Glen Raynham, Richard Norris (actor), and Charles Sewell. Sid Palmer also had a role. The story is about a daughter who works to keep her father's music hall going after his death. [2] The film was reissued in 1940 as Cavalcade of Variety. [3] The film was produced at the Walton on Thames studios. [4] Renown Pictures released a digitally remastered edition of the film in 2011.
Billy Cotton and his Band perform in the film. [5]
TV Guide called it above average with a thin plot but fun acts. [6] Monthly Film Bulletin gave a similar assessment, praising the variety acts and noting the slim plot. [7]
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Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Britain between bold and scandalous music hall entertainment and subsequent, more respectable variety entertainment differ. Music hall involved a mixture of popular songs, comedy, speciality acts, and variety entertainment. The term is derived from a type of theatre or venue in which such entertainment took place. In North America vaudeville was in some ways analogous to British music hall, featuring rousing songs and comic acts.
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