Crashing Hollywood (1938)

Thanks for the memories!

Brilliant and touching

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Crashing Hollywood has recently released from prison Paul Guilfoyle and moll Lee Patrick meeting aspiring screenwriter Lee Tracy on the train. As Tracy is writing about crime Gulfoyle decides he needs a collaborator for a little realism.Guilfoyle's material is based on his time with the gang of the infamous criminal known as The Hawk still at large and still unknown to the public. But he does look a whole lot like ham actor Bradley Page.Crashing Hollywood is based on a flop play Lights Out which only ran 12 performances in 1922. Back in the day studios bought all kinds of material even stuff that flopped on stage because they needed dialog for those new fangled talking pictures. In this case there was a silent version which seems to have disappeared into obscurity.Dwarfed by the much larger budgeted Boy Meets Girl over at Warner Brothers also about zany studio goings on, Crashing Hollywood does have its moments. Bradley Page is great in the dual role of the Hawk and the ham. Tom Kennedy is always funny and here's the Hawk's thick as a brick trigger man. Richard Lane however steals the show as the zany head of the studio, Wonder Pictures where Lucille Ball would work in The Affairs Of Annabel.Tracy is good, but almost subdued here for him. Crashing Hollywood will be enjoyed by fans who liked Boy Meets Girl like me.

"Crashing Hollywood" from 1938 is the story of a screenwriter (Lee Tracy) who meets the right -- or maybe it is the wrong - people on a train en route to Hollywood.The people he meets are Herman and Goldie Tibbets (Paul Guilfoyle and Lee Patrick). Herman, recently released from prison, is interested in becoming a duck farmer, while Goldie thinks one more robbery isn't a bad idea. When they meet Michael Winslow (Tracy) they are under the impression that he has $50,000 in a briefcase when they overhear him trying to insure it.Determined to get it away from him, they befriend him. Michael, meanwhile, is trying to make time with an actress (Joan Woodbury) whom he literally fell into earlier. Winslow shows Herman and Goldie that the $50,000 is his script. When Herman looks it over, he tells him that a lot of details are wrong - it concerns an actual bank robbery, and Winslow takes him on as a collaborator. He's unaware that Herman is giving him the names of a real crook and the actual true details of the robbery.When the real crook (Bradley Page) sees the film starring a lookalike (Bradley Page) -- he heads out to Hollywood before there are any other films featuring him, "The Hawk."Amusing film with a nice turn by Page as an arrogant actor and and a tough guy. Lee Tracy is his usual fast-talking, energetic self, and Lee Patrick is funny as Goldie, as is Guilfoyle.This is a B picture. Many of these actors went on to careers in television. Page quit films in 1943.This is a fast, fun movie.

Just watched Crashing Hollywood after having saved it on my DVR from a TCM airing. I like Lee Tracy but did not have high expectations. He was a big star early in his career but his personal life derailed his career. Crashing Hollywood is a short film at only around 60 minutes which is not always a bad thing. Lee Tracy was more reserved than when I had seen him a couple of his older films. The supporting cast provided more of the screwball humor. The story held some interest from the start and towards the end of the film it escalated into a wild screwball comedy with mistaken identities and chase scenes. This is not an Academy Award movie but a good choice if you want to spend an hour being entertained and having a few laughs.

A couple (Paul Guilfoyle and Lee Patrick) of ex-crooks stumble into Hollywood and manage to make it big. Although the film starts with them, later it switches emphasis to their partner screen writer (Lee Tracy) and his lady love (Joan Woodbury)--though this relationship seems a bit unreal. After all, they barely know each other, yet it's the clichéd "love at first sight" sort of rot--especially for Tracy.This film is highly reminiscent of Jimmy Cagney's exceptional film, LADY KILLER. Both films are about criminals who move to Hollywood and make it big making gangster films because they know best how to play themselves. There are a few changes, as the criminal couple are collaborators to a screen writer and there are a few other twists and turns, but otherwise it's the same plot--though Cagney clearly did it better and did it first. My advice is see the Cagney version and only CRASHING Hollywood if you are curious. Much of it was because Cagney was so great and part of it was that I usually find Lee Tracy about as welcome as a minor headache--though he's less annoying here than usual.