Hollywood Hotel (1938)

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Louella Parsons is among the celebrities of varying statuses that makes an appearance here. She was a popular columnist for Hearst at the time, notorious for gossipy notices like, "Who was that handsome Lothario seen at the Brown Derby last night escorting La-La Divoon?" She's a matronly woman. It's a curious experience watching her speak. Her fixed expression is a slightly open smile offering a glimpse of her upper teeth. The voice seems to emanate from that mouth without any sign of labial involvement. The painted lips remain the same, the slice of teeth immobile, and no tongue in evidence. She could be a ventriloquist's dummy.She's given a couple of cute lines though, as is just about everyone else in this romantic musical comedy. It's 1937 and the narcissistic star opens the newspaper and remarks, "Terrible about China (Pause) I haven't opened a picture there in a year." The tempo is pretty fast, and there's a brief but carefully choreographed bit of slapstick at a night club table involving Dick Powell and a waiter, good enough to have been done by Buster Keaton. You'll find a lot of folks who were on their way to the big time during the war that was around the corner, including James Ridgeley, whom you've probably never heard of, and Ronald Reagan who became, I believe, a politician. You get to see Perc Westmore as himself plying his trade.The plot is a parody of Hollywood and a story of mixed identities. As a parody, it lags behind "Singin' in the Rain." The story of identity confusion doesn't go back any farther in time than Shakespeare's first play, "A Comedy of Errors," or Plautus' "Menaechmi", which Shakespeare ripped off. The Hollywood movie star is played by Lola Lane and the shy waitress who is swept up in the impersonation is Rosemary Lane -- real sisters.Direction by Busby Berkeley but no marching feet stomping around on the stage and no overhead shots of flower petals opening, each to reveal itself as a pair of chubby thighs. Nope. There are several songs though. They're pleasant enough but lack the perverse kick of "Petting in the Park" with its demented midget dashing around with a can opener, and none of the tunes are likely to be found in the Great American Songbook.Still, it's diverting and a pleasant enough watch for an otherwise uneventful evening.

For my viewing taste...this is far better acting and story wise than Gold Diggers of 1935.A vocalist in Glen Miller's band gets a call to go to Hollywood. When he arrives, we get to see what actors get to go through to break into the business. When the vocalist arrives, within hours, he gets a call to be a big stars date at her world premiere. Problem is...she's a stand-n and he doesn't know it. After this we get a lot of shenanigans and really funny stuff throughout.You won't get any depth with any Busby Berkeley film but you will get style. Unfortunately there's very little musical or dance value in this one but that doesn't mean it hurts what it is. There are 2 numbers and the biggest is in the middle where the all the singing waiters and customers at a car hope have some fun. Not a lot of the Busby Berkeley extravaganza you're use to but thats not bad. You have to remember, by this time, Busby Berkeley and his style of films were on their way out and he was adapting so we get no masterpiece of choreographed dance and singing. We get a film with good actors and a pretty good script/idea.Flat out though, watch Bombshell with Jean Harlow, and notice the similarities. The spoiled brat star and her do nothing father and dumb/worthless sibling. Not far into this I was grinning. They tried "slightly" to take from a fine film like Bombshell but with some singing. It actually works quite well.Watch this to see Busby Berkeley segway into real mainstream non-musical stuff. I really enjoyed it. Lots of stars and painfully funny situations made me itch to write a review.

"Hollywood Hotel" is a fast-moving, exuberant, wonderfully entertaining musical comedy from Warners which is sadly overlooked. It should be remembered if only for providing the official theme song of Tinseltown -- "Hooray for Hollywood." The score by Richard Whiting and Johnny Mercer has a number of other gems, however, including the charming "I'm Like a Fish Out of Water," and "Silhouetted in the Moonlight." The best musical number is "Let That Be a Lesson to You," in which Dick Powell and company detail the misadventures of people who found themselves "behind the eight-ball," a fate which literally befalls slow-burning Edgar Kennedy at the number's end. The picture celebrates Hollywood glamour and punctures it all at once, as it gets a lot of comic mileage out of pompous and ego-maniacal actors and duplicitous studio executives. The cast includes a gaggle of great character comedians--Allyn Joslyn as a crafty press agent, Ted Healy as Dick Powell's would-be manager, Fritz Feld as an excitable restaurant patron, Glenda Farrell as Mona Marshall's sarcastic Gal Friday, Edgar Kennedy as a put-upon drive-in manager, Mabel Todd as Mona's goofy sister, and Hugh Herbert as her even goofier dad. The "racist" element mentioned in another review here is a ten-second bit where Herbert appears in black-face during a pseudo-"Gone With the Wind" sequence. It's in questionable taste, but it shouldn't prevent you from seeing the other delights in this film, notably the Benny Goodman Quartet (including Teddy Wilson and Lionel Hampton!) in what I believe is the only footage available on this incredible jazz combo. The "Dark Eyes" sequence goes on a bit too long and comes in too late, but otherwise "Hollywood Hotel" is a gem, well worth your time and certainly a film which should be considered for DVD release.

Hollywood HOTEL (Warner Brothers, 1937), directed by Busby Berkeley, capitalizes on the current trend of Hollywood stories made popular by David O. Selznick's dramatization of A STAR IS BORN. Even though films about Hollywood and the behind the scenes in movie making were nothing new by the time Hollywood HOTEL went into release, Warner Brothers spoofs Hollywood the best way it knows how, spotlighted by Dick Powell's singing, and the musical festivities by Benny Goodman and his Swing Band.The plot revolves around Ronnie Bowers (Dick Powell), a saxophone player in Benny Goodman's band, winning a talent contest and a ten-week trip to Hollywood, leaving behind band vocalist and teary-eyed girlfriend, Alice Crane (Frances Langford) at the St. Louis Airport. After arriving in Hollywood, Ronnie is escorted by Bertie Walton (Allyn Joslyn), a studio press agent for All-Star Pictures, and Joe (Eddie Acuff), a photographer, to the Hollywood Hotel. The story then shifts over to Mona Marshall (Lola Lane), a temperamental movie star sharing the room with her wacky kid sister (Mabel Todd), her even more bewildered father, Chester (Hugh Herbert), and personal secretary, Jonesy (Glenda Farrell). Because another glamor girl was offered a part she wanted, Mona leaves Hollywood. With Mona's new film, GLAMOUR GIRL, opening that evening, Walton hires waitress, Virginia Stanton (Rosemary Lane), to impersonate her, having Ronnie accompany her to the premiere. When Mona finds she's been misrepresented in public, she arranges for both Virginia and Ronnie to be fired. With Fuzzy (Ted Healy), as his new press agent, Ronnie obtains work at Callahan's (Edgar Kennedy) drive-in eatery before being discovered by director Walter Kelton (William B. Davidson) of All-Star Pictures. Much to Ronnie's surprise, rather than an acting job, he's to have his singing voice dubbed in for Alexander DuPre (Alan Mowbray), Mona's hammy co-star for an upcoming production, LOVE AND GLORY.Fine tunes in the Hollywood Hotel musical program include: "Hooray for Hollywood" (performed by Benny Goodman's Band, sung by Johnnie Davis, Frances Langford, cast); "I'm Like a Fish Out of Water" (sung by Dick Powell and Rosemary Lane); "Silhouetted in the Moonlight" (sung by Rosemary Lane at the Hollywood Bowl); "Let That Be a Lesson to You" (introduced by Johnnie Davis and played by Benny Goodman's Band, sung by Dick Powell, Rosemary Lane, Ted Healy, Mabel Todd, and drive-in patrons at Callahan's Eats, with occasional interruptions by the nervous Edgar Kennedy); Benny Goodman Band instrumental medley: "Sing, Sing, Sing" and "I've Got a Heartful of Music," "I Hitched My Wagon to a Star" (sung by Alan Mowbray, voice dubbing by Powell); "Silhouetted in the Moonlight" (sung by Jerry Cooper and Frances Langford); "Dark Eyes" (O Tchonia) A Russian folk song performed instrumentally by Raymond Paige and his Orchestra, participated by chorus humming the score; "I Hitched My Wagon to a Star" (sung by Powell); "Sing You Son-of-a-Gun" (sung by Powell and Rosemary Lane) and "Hooray for Hollywood" (sung by Johnnie Davis and cast). Of the handful of songs heard, especially during the Orchard Room sequence, its only low-point is Jerry Cooper's rendition to "Silhouetted in the Moonlight," opposite Frances Langford. A Langford solo or duet with Powell would have been sufficient. In the motion picture soundtrack to Hollywood HOTEL, compliments of Hollywood Soundstage (1981), the record not only includes the entire musical segments, but outtakes featuring the complete version to "Silhouetted in the Moonlight" which, after Rosemary Lane's solo, existing in the final print, is joined in by the singing Powell with a duet conclusion. Another cut is Benny Goodman's Band playing to "I Got a Heart Full of Music" and "House Hop," portions that were used in the musical short, FOR AULD LANG SYNE (1938), a tribute to Will Rogers.Hollywood HOTEL, under Busby Berkeley's supervision as director, is a musical of lavish scale, with none of his trademarks of surrealistic choreography for which he is famous. There's plenty of singing but no dancing, coming off like a 1940s musical, especially during the Benny Goodman's Band interludes consisting of future legends as Lionel Hampton, Harry James (on the clarinet), and Gene Krupa (drummer) performing. Ronald Reagan, another soon-to-be lead actor and future U.S. President is seen briefly as a radio announcer during the premiere of LOVE AND GLORY.Hollywood HOTEL is a far cry from being the best of the Warner Brothers musical cycle, but in many ways it's a nostalgic look to its bygone golden age, giving a glimpse of makeup artist, Perc Westmore, appearing as himself, glamorizing the ordinary waitress Rosemary Lane into movie star quality. With the exception near the conclusion of the story, Rosemary hardly shares any scenes with her older but look-alike sister, Lola. Interestingly, the one thing missing in Hollywood HOTEL which was common place in films about Hollywood on Hollywood is the use of major stars doing surprise guest bits. Imagine Dick Powell's Ronnie Bowers entering the Hollywood Hotel and coming across briefly such big named actors as Bette Davis, Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, or even the use of some inside humor in having him meeting up with Joan Blondell (Powell's off- screen wife). Instead, it uses radio announcers, Ken Niles and Duane Thompson, and newspaper columnist, Louella Parsons, appearing as themselves. Parsons, who was then a noted personality, is a far cry from being a natural performer.As a spoof, Hollywood HOTEL purposely finds the temperamental Lola Lane overacting all over the place; Hugh Herbert "woo-wooing" in and out of scenes; and in a movie within a movie, the premiere of LOVE AND GLORY, a Civil War story, is noticeably a disguised version to Margaret Mitchell's then best selling novel "Gone With the Wind," with the central character called Captain Cutler (in place of Rhett Butler). Quite lengthy at 109 minutes, it's worthy screen entertainment. Look for it next time it plays on Turner Classic Movies. (***)