Pick a Star

Although the Hal Roach films were released by MGM and featured MGM prominently on the title screens, this was an independent studio...albeit a small one that specialized in comedy shorts up until the late 1930s. And, like bigger studios like MGM ("The Hollywood Revue of 1929") and Twentieth Century-Fox ("The Goldwyn Follies"), this smaller studio decided to make a star-studded musical comedy featuring their talent much like theirs in some faux 'behind the scenes' skits. But since they had lesser stars than the big studios, the best Roach could offer were Laurel & Hardy (a hot duo), Patsy Kelly & Lyda Roberti (a not so hot duo who also made shorts for the studio and here they don't play a team) as well as a few familiar character actors such as James Finlayson, Charlie Hall and Walter Long. The only major stars in the cast not usually associated with Hal Roach are Jack Haley and Mischa Auer.

The story begins with Cecelia (Rosina Lawrence) winning a talent show. However, the guy in charge, Mr. Stone, turns out to be a crook....and he just ran off with the proceeds. As a result, Cecelia cannot go to Hollywood like she planned. But the emcee, Joe (Jack Haley), feels partly responsible and he sells his business and heads to Hollywood to make money to bring Cecelia and her sister (Kelly) there as well. What follows is Cecelia's long journey towards stardom as well as a lot of distractions along the way...all the while, Joe's pretending he's made something of himself while he's just a lowly busboy.

So is this any good? After all "The Goldwyn Follies" was pretty terrible and "The Hollywood Revue of 1929" wasn't much better! Surprisingly, although I wouldn't consider "Pick a Star" a great film, it IS better than the big studio versions. Much of this is because the film has only a few cameos...whereas the other films had too many and they seemed to take the place of plot! This film, in contrast, seems to have more plot and less detours. Aside from an enjoyable couple of bits with Laurel & Hardy* and a quick appearance by Alfalfa Switzer, the film lacked these many cameos. Overall, a nice time-passer but not a film which will change your life in any way.

*If you do see "The Hollywood Revue of 1929", Laurel & Hardy and Buster Keaton are in this one. I guess since Hal Roach films were distributed by MGM they were loaned to MGM for this one.

Director Edward Sedgwick, an old hand at visual comedy, successfully leads this Hal Roach road show which tenders a fast-moving and adroit scenario and excellent casting, employing a large number of Roach's reliable performers. Although the film was originally plotted as a vehicle for Patsy Kelly, sunny Jack Haley stars as Joe Jenkins, a young Kansan who sells his auto repair business and journeys to Hollywood, where he attempts to wangle a screen role for the girl he loves, star-struck Cecilia (Rosina Lawrence). Sedgwick, who prefers using the entire M-G-M studio as his set, does so here as Cecilia, always ready for an audition, is treated by a would-be paramour, cinema star Rinaldo Lopez (Mischa Auer), to behind-the-scenes action of, naturally, a musical comedy, featuring Broadway headliner Lyda Roberti. Laurel and Hardy provide several enjoyable interludes, including their well-known skit involving a tiny harmonica, and we watch fine turns by such as Joyce Compton, Russell Hicks and Walter Long. On balance, one must hand the bays to Mischa Auer, who clearly steals the picture as an emotional movie star, a role which he largely creates, and to the director for his clever closing homage to Busby Berkeley's filmic spectacles.

A quiz question rather than a film. Notable solely for James Finlayson (minus his false moustache) as a director filming a sexily-attired chorus line and then a barroom fight with bottles between Walter Long and Laurel & Hardy (with Charlie Hall as Finlayson's assistant) and for featuring two Tin Men (Hardy, who played him in 1925, and Jack Haley, soon to take on the role in MGM's 1939 classic).

As usual it perpetuates the old myth that all scenes in movies are shot in long shot with the director throughout never getting out of his chair. Apart from the boys, the funniest people in it are predictably Patsy Kelly and Mischa Auer (the latter playing a Latin lover named Rinaldo Lopez).

I only really watched this movie to catch Laurel & Hardy and, to be honest, they and Mischa Auer as a randy movie star are the only things about this movie worth watching. Too bad that L&H's screen time amounts to little more than five minutes, and Auer has to play second fiddle to lesser talents like Patsy Kelly and Rosina Lawrence (whose final US movie this was before retiring to get married). Kelly is especially annoying at times as she seemingly labours under the misapprehension that if she SHOUTS HER LINES they're bound to be even funnier. Even Jack Haley, soon to be the Tin Man in THE WIZARD OF OZ, is unremarkable as a love-struck car mechanic who moves to Hollywood to win his sweetheart a screen test. The movie is only 70 minutes long but, until Stan & Ollie make their belated appearance, it seems a lot, lot longer.

A wonderful movie. Rosina Lawrence is beautiful, charming, great personality. Patsy Kelly is as always funny. She is truly one of the great female comedians. She is a unsung comedian legend. Without Patsy the movie wouldn't have been much. Lyda Roberti is excellent, another comedian who doesn't get the honor she deserves. I bet Patsy and Lyda are a great laugh together in the films they appeared in. Whatever happen to movies. What happen to the great songs and simple but breathtaking entertainment? The guy in the nightclub scene that is entertaining that Jack Haley intrudes on and almost ruins his show but the audience enjoys is hilarious. What is his name? This isn't the greatest movie but good entertainment. This is a must.