Pick a Star (1937)

Director:

Edward Sedgwick

Writers:

Richard Flournoy (original story and screenplay) and
Arthur V. Jones (original story and screenplay) ...

Release Date:

21 May 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical

Plot:

A Cinderella story of a young country girl who comes to Hollywood and achieves movie stardom with the help of a publicity man.

Plot Keywords:

Hollywood | Film Making

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Patsy Kelly	...	Nellie Moore
Jack Haley	...	Joe Jenkins
Rosina Lawrence	...	Cecilia Moore
Mischa Auer	...	Rinaldo Lopez
Lyda Roberti	...	Dagmar
Stan Laurel	...	Stan
Oliver Hardy	...	Ollie
Charles Halton	...	Mr. Klawheimer
Tom Dugan	...	Dimitri Hogan
Russell Hicks	...	Mr. Stone
Cully Richards	...	Night Club M.C.
Spencer Charters	...	Judge
Sam Adams	...	Sheriff
Robert Gleckler	...	Head Waiter
Joyce Compton	...	Newlywed

Also Known As:

Movie Struck (USA) (reissue title)

Runtime:

69 min | West Germany:76 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

West Germany:6 (video) | Finland:S

Company:

Hal Roach Studios

Movie Connections:

Featured in 100 Years of Comedy (1997) (V)

Soundtrack:

I've Got It Bad

Enjoyable musical comedy.

This is your standard musical comedy from the '30's, with a big plus that it features some well known '30's actors in small fun cameo's.

There is not much to the story and basically the movie is all about its fun and 'no-worries' overall kind of atmosphere, with a typical Hal Roach comedy touch to it. Appereantly it's a 'Cinderella story' but I most certainly didn't thought of it that way while watching the movie. The story gets very muddled in into the storytelling, that features many different characters and also many small cameo appearance, when the main characters hit the Hollywood studios.

Of course the highlight of the movie is when Laurel & Hardy make their appearance and show some of their routines. It's like watching a movie and getting a Laurel & Hardy short with it for free. Also Laurel & Hardy regular Walter Long makes an appearance in the routine and James Finlayson (without a mustache this time) as the director of the short.

It's certainly true that all of the cameo's and subplots distract from the main plot line and character but in this case that is no problem, since its all way more fun and interesting to watch than the main plot line and the shallow typical main character.

The movie is most certainly not any worse than any of its other genre movies from the same time period, though the rating on here would suggest otherwise.

7/10