Pirate Party on Catalina Isle

If you're a fan of Catalina Island as i am, you'll really enjoy this MGM short. Buddy Rogers' band is set up on the front of the late, great Hotel St. Catherine, which burned to the ground decades ago, and is now the Descanso Beach area and campgrounds. The great song, AVALON (Catalina's main tourist village), plays in the background. An earlier review already mentioned some of the mid 30s most famous stars, supposedly sitting near the water taking in all this entertainment, who squeeze out a smile for their day's wages. Chester Morris is rather annoying and way overdone as the blustery captain, but Becky Burgess is leggy and delectable as she and Johnny Long sing a nice little ditty, SMOOTH SAILING. The humor is 30s corn, but this is a time capsule, so that's forgiven. I always take this to Catalina with me to watch in my room at the Hotel Atwater (not shown here, but was in business at this time) and get a good feeling knowing this whole short was shot within two blocks of my snug little room. If you're going to Catalina this summer, first check out MURDER ON A HONEYMOON w/ Edna May Oliver, a splendid comedy/ mystery (also shot on the Island) and YOU'RE ONLY YOUNG ONCE, the second ANDY HARDY movie where the Judge's family head to Catalina for vacation. Over and out!

Just imagine you're sitting in a movie theater in 1935 waiting for the feature to come on and suddenly this thing explodes on the screen in Full Color oh my gosh what a mindblower! Yes there were two strip technical color films but they are simply awful to look at muddy dull fake the worst. Yes the whole thing is kind of dopey with all these people dancing and singing with the big band playing, and cameos of famous stars just hanging around and smiling to the camera. I wonder if they got paid anything to do this? Maybe a trip to Catalina Island in the summer with food drinking music was enough. This is spectacular look how it survives now! Sort of like the first time I saw Star Wars in 1977 in Dolby surround that was something.

Terrific historical document of Hollywood 1935. Not to be regarded for its entertainment value, necessarily, but a real 'curio' from MGM. It almost is a home movie, in a sense, and the close-ups of Randolph Scott and Cary Grant are priceless.

Here is another of the Lou Lewyn shorts in which various Hollywood celebrities dress up and attend a party. Lewyn had been doing sort of short since he had come up with the first successful property for Harry Cohan's CBC Pictures. 1920 was the year, and the idea was SCREEN SNAPSHOTS. After five years of that series, he was gone from what had become Columbia Pictures. He spent the next 15 years producing this sort of picture. Here, Metro is footing the bill for Technicolor, and the MGM performers get most of the screen time, except for Charles 'Buddy' Rogers. He was married to Mary Pickford, and you didn't annoy her, nor William Randolph Hearst, which explains why Marion Davies get good billing.

Some nice pictures, and ok musical numbers like "Smooth Sailing" round this out pleasantly.

Among the earliest Technicolor films using the Three-Color process are a set of promotional films made in the mid-1930s. They all supposedly show the stars in their off hours hanging out at a nightclub sort of setting...during which various adequate acts entertain.

In this one, Chester Morris is the emcee and he introduces the acts and points out the movie stars. A few of the stars hanging out on this beachfront nightclub DURING THE DAY is Mickey Rooney, Errol Flynn, Leon Errol, Cary Grant and Randolph Scott*. Most of the acts aren't very good, but their rendition of "We're in the Money" is very catchy. The theme is pirates and the acts mostly sport Hollywood versions of pirate costumes.

This is the sort of film that would appeal to folks who adore old Hollywood. Otherwise, it will be tough going as the film does come off as very staged and silly.