Cavalcade benefitted for years from not being available to be seen. As a result, this Oscar-winning Best Picture was known primarily by reputation -- a reputation that did not survive the film's release to home video in the 1980s. The film is what could be called "high-quality boredom." The production values are first-rate and it has a classy look, but the characters are tedious and empty, with the spark and passion of a corpse. The film's one memorable scene is set aboard the Titanic, but even there the producers back away from the event. The acting is stiff and uninteresting, as though the performers were reciting lines from a pageant in which they were required to pretend emotional involvement. Part of the awkwardness of the actors may be due to the film's poor sound engineering.