dance performed by Buster Keaton "Lon Chaney's Gonna Get You If You Don't Watch Out" sung by Gus Edwards "The Adagio Dance" with the Natova Company "Romeo and Juliet" (in two-color Technicolor) with John Gilbert and Norma Shearer, with Lionel Barrymore as director "Singin' in the Rain" introduced by Cliff Edwards, with The Brox Sisters "Charlie, Gus, and Ike" with Charles King, Gus Edwards, and Cliff Edwards "Marie, Polly, and Bess" with Marie Dressler, Polly Moran, and Bessie Love "Orange Blossom Time" (in two-color Technicolor), sung by Charles King to Myrtle McLaughlin, danced by the Albertina Rasch Ballet Company "Singin' in the Rain" (finale) (in two-color Technicolor), sung by entire cast Reception The film, which was shot in 25 days with a budget of US$426,000, was popular with audiences and critics alike, especially in its initial big-city engagements. "Brimming over with good fun and catchy music", Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times wrote. Variety called it "the top novelty film to be turned out to date....If the theater booths give it an even break, nothing can stop it." Film Daily reported, "A smash and a wow. Smart revue with plenty of comedy beautifully dressed and a cast that is gilt-edged." John Mosher of The New Yorker called it "the most extravagant and extensive musical comedy so far presented by the talking pictures, and is in itself a complete evening's entertainment." The film went on to make a profit of $1.1 million and was considered for the Academy Award for Best Picture (there were no official nominations at that point in Motion Picture Association of America history). Producer Rapf tried to follow it up with another revue, The Hollywood Revue of 1930, which was changed during production to The March of Time, and finally abandoned. Musical numbers already shot for the film were edited into M-G-M short subjects of the early 1930s. Alternate version Some sources list the original running time of Hollywood Revue of 1929 as 130 minutes. At least two sequences in the original roadshow version are missing from current prints: an opening recitation by the showgirls who are seen posing in the "Hollywood Revue" sign after the opening credits, and the appearance of Nils Asther, who assisted Jack Benny in introducing the final "Orange Blossom" number. Preservation The film survives intact with its original Technicolor sequences. It was released on laserdisc in the 1990s from MGM/UA Home