The March of Time (film)
1930 unfinished film directed by Charles Reisner
The March of Time is the title of an unreleased 1930 American pre-Code musical film directed by Charles Reisner. The film was originally scheduled to be released in September 1930 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) but was shelved. The March of Time would have been one of the many musicals partially filmed in two-color Technicolor.
Production
The unfinished film was originally titled Hollywood Revue of 1930 and was conceived by producer Harry Rapf as a follow-up to MGM's The Hollywood Revue of 1929, which he had also produced. The film was retitled The March of Time, as it was to consist of three sections which featured past performers from the stage and the vaudeville circuit, then-present-day performers and up-and-coming performers. Production began in Fall 1929, but by October 1930 MGM had decided to shelve the project as interest for musicals or musical revues had waned.
Among the performers who filmed scenes for The March of Time were Joe Weber and Lew Fields of the Weber and Fields comedy team, Gus Edwards, Fay Templeton, Marie Dressler, Van and Schenck, DeWolf Hopper Sr., Buster Keaton, Albertina Rasch and her dancers, Polly Moran, Cliff Edwards, Benny Rubin, Ramon Novarro performing "Long Ago in Alcala," Bing Crosby performing "Poor Little G-String,"the Duncan Sisters performing "Graduation Day," Barney Fagan performing a soft shoe routine, and Raquel Torres performing "The Story of An Old Spanish Clock".
In order to salvage the $750,000 ($14.5 million in 2025) that had already been spent on the film, MGM announced plans to use the footage in a planned project starring Jimmy Durante that was to be released in 1932. That project was also abandoned. Footage from The March of Time later found its way into the musical shorts The Devil's Cabaret (1930), Crazy House (1930), Nertsery Rhymes (1933), Hello Pop!
“The March of Time (film)” enters the record as 1930 unfinished film directed by Charles Reisner. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what March, Time and film can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7750289. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1930, 1929, 2025 and 1932.
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