Hollywood Party (1934)

Director:

Roy Rowland

Writers:

Richy Craig Jr. (comedy dialogue)
Howard Dietz (writer)

Release Date:

1 June 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical

Plot:

Jimmy Durante is jungle star Schnarzan the Conqueror, but the public is tiring of his fake lions. So...

Plot Keywords:

Party | Part Animated | Inanimate Object In Cast Credits | Piano | Revue

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Stan Laurel	...	Stan
Oliver Hardy	...	Ollie
Jimmy Durante	...	Himself / Schnarzan
Jack Pearl	...	Baron Munchausen
Polly Moran	...	Henrietta Clemp
Charles Butterworth	...	Harvey Clemp
Eddie Quillan	...	Bob Benson
June Clyde	...	Linda Clemp
Mickey Mouse	...	Himself
Lupe Velez	...	The Jaguar Woman / Jane in Schnarzan sequence
George Givot	...	Liondora aka Grand Royal Duke
Richard Carle	...	Knapp
Tom Kennedy	...	Beavers

Also Known As:

Hollywood Revue of 1933 (USA) (working title)
Star Spangled Banquet (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

70 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor) (Animated sequence only) | Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Louis Lewyn Productions

Trivia:

In a 1933 press release, Clark Gable, Wallace Beery, and Buster Keaton were scheduled to film cameo appearances, while Jean Harlow and Joan Crawford were to perform musical numbers written by Rodgers & Hart ("Prayer", which later became "Blue Moon", and "Black Diamond, respectively). But none of this materialized. Crawford allegedly filmed her number, which was then cut, and was reinstated in Sadie McKee (1934), where sources say it was also deleted.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Bullfighters (1945)

Soundtrack:

Inka Dinka Doo

A very mixed affair thats more curiosity than anything else

Big budget movie concerning Jimmy Durante throwing a party so that Baron Munchhausen will let him use his killer lions in an up coming entry in his Schnarzan series. Various stars show up and sing and dance.

Scatter-shot- and I do mean scatter-shot musical comedy showcasing many of MGM's lesser stars. Its a good segment followed by a poor, a great throw away line followed by a poor one. Huge production numbers are done to mediocre songs. Its an odd ball affair that I picked up on a used VHS tape because its the only film I know that has both Laurel and Hardy and the Three Stooges (who were still working with Ted Healy). Stan and Ollie, who's pictures are on the sleeve of the tape don't show up until about 55 minutes into the film. They are very good, but no match for Lupe Valez who runs over them and everyone else she comes in contact with. She is the best human in the film.(She was a great actress with the right part).The Stooges show up about 35 minutes in and play autograph hounds trying to get signatures.they are good but their bit is simply too short to really work.

Of real interest (and the best thing besides Velez) is the appearance of Mickey Mouse. This is a cantankerous Mickey who gets into a fight with Durante before singing a song which leads into an animated segment called Hot Chocolate Soldiers.This is a light song about a chocolate soldier army going to war against gingerbread people.The images are rather dark and nasty and had I been a kid the whole thing might have given me nightmares.(or not since the darkness comes from knowing what war is, which as a child I wouldn't have understood as well.) Its an strange piece that like much of the film doesn't fit with anything else.(It also seems more like a Fleischer or Van Buren cartoon as opposed to a Disney one.

Worth a look on TV, but not as something to search out, odds are anyone loving old movies or cartoons will find something to like (even as they find much to dislike). 5 out of 10 for the good and the bad.