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Pete Smith worked for the shorts division of MGM and often narrated how-to films. Well, I cannot stand the guy's narration, as it comes off as very self-satisfied...and annoying. Smith makes jokes, most of which fall completely flat and the notion of less being more never occurred to the guy! Because he narrates this short, it clearly knocks off a few points...especially when he speaks Spanish in a rather dopey and insulting manner.

The film is a self-promotion film, the type MGM often filmed in color during this time. The purpose was to highlight a variety of their stars and thinly veil it in a visit to Santa Barbera for a yearly festival. During the course of the film, you see cameos by Warner Baxter, Harpo Marx, Ted Healy, Judy Garland, Gary Cooper*, Gilbert Roland, Leo Carillo, Robert Taylor, Andy Divine and many more. Several were likely chosen because of their Mexican-American heritage (Carillo and Roland) and no doubt Baxter was chosen since he'd already played The Cisco Kid in several films. The most interesting cameo to me was Ida Lupino, as this was before she became a star and underwent a HUGE makeover. In fact, you can't even recognize it's her until they say her name.

The overall film is extremely colorful (since these shorts were among the few pictures MGM made in full color), festive and plot less. For the average viewer, they'd be a bore but for old time movie fans they are a great opportunity to see many of your favorites.

*I have no idea why Gary Cooper keeps appearing in these films, as he worked mostly for Paramount and Columbia Studios. Maybe he just liked hanging out with the MGM starlets.

Louis B. Mayer actually splurged for color in this Pete Smith short, La Fiesta De Santa Barbara. The short revolves around MGM's recreation of the famous celebration in Santa Barbara, California with a number of MGM's contract players and others making a brief appearance.

Seen in the audience are such luminaries as Robert Taylor, Gary Cooper, Gilbert Roland, Edmund Lowe, and a whole lot more. In her only film appearance with her sisters, Judy Garland appears with them under her real name of Frances Gumm singing La Cucaracha.

Highlight for me is Andy Devine fighting a couple of guys in a bull's costume as per the Hispanic tradition of the Fiesta. Capping the whole thing off in the end is Leo Carrillo riding in something very much like the native costume he wore when playing Pancho on the Cisco Kid. This is real though for Leo Carillo actually was a descendant of the earliest settlers in California.

It's a pleasant enough short, especially for those who like to stargaze.

Okay... I realize that the average film buff is more interested in Judy Garland's appearance (singing 'La Cucaracha' complete with the marijuana fumar' references) or the fact that this is one of MGM's earliest attempts at 3-strip Technicolor. But the bang for my TCM dollars is in seeing TOBY WING in that red cowboy shirt... she is the best argument I've ever seen for human cloning. There's also a protracted bit with Andy Devine and Buster Keaton (Was he happy to be out of Educational Pictures and back at MGM? Who can tell?) that involves bullfighting two guys in a cow suit, quick shots of folks like Gary Cooper, Warner Baxter and a very un-PC Leo Carrillo exhibiting a shocking lack of handgun safety. Also look for Ted Healy re-arranging a party crasher's nose (he's just not the same without the Stooges). For Toby Wing's appearance alone this is worth seeing... the typically hypo-nasal Ted Smith's least intrusive narrations and the production values make this a top notch mid-30's short.

Dozens, if not hundreds of movie players, as well as a ballerina and singer or two, gather in from of the El Paseo Mexican Restaurant in Santa Barbara for another of Louis Llewyn's movies of the type. He had begun filming these in the early 1920s as SCREEN SNAPSHOTS for Columbia. With the coming of sound, he had moved to other studios. Here he is working for for MGM and in Technicolor.

There's an off-handed construction to the movie. It results in usually polished screen comics like Buster Keaton and And Devine not being very funny. But excellence is not the goal here: the point is to show you as many players as possible.

I just decided to watch all Judy Garland's movies. That's a short film so it's easy to look at but I don't really understand the plot. I rated 6 for all dances and songs.

One of the most pleasant surprises of this early 3-strip Technicolor short was that a ballet dancer that appears here was named Maria Gambarelli! I half wondered if Blake Edwards was naming the character played by Elke Sommer in A Shot in the Dark after this now-forgotten performer (though the spelling of the Sommer character's surname was actually Gambrelli). I watched this on YouTube mainly to see an early Judy Garland appearance as we watch her in profile with her two older sisters singing "La Cucaracha". That was the highlight for me which otherwise showed some dances (like that of Ms. Gambarelli) that were enjoyable and some lame comedy between Andy Devine as a great bull-fighter (yeah, right!) and Buster Keaton as a bull owner who provides one that is obviously a man in animal costume. Only funny part of those two is when they cry-with Buster providing handkerchief to "bull"-during the sad part of "La Cucaracha". Also lame was seeing Ted Healy without his stooges dealing with a crasher who keeps mistaking Healy for other movie stars. (Healy himself didn't know Zeppo had left The Marx Brothers since he puts "Four" between "The" and "Marx"!) Speaking of a Marx, it was interesting seeing Harpo without his wig though he is wearing a hat to hide his bald head. Also interesting was seeing Ida Lupino among the cowgirls in the beginning though I also recognized Toby Wing from her part in Murder at the Vanities last year (at least when announcer Pete Smith identified her). Oh, and Smith himself wasn't funny with his wise-guy narration. Other famous stars you may or may not recognize are also in cameos and not all are M-G-M contract players either! So with all that said, La fiesta de Santa Barbara is worth a look for anyone curious about Judy Garland's early film appearances or the early use of 3-strip Technicolor.

An early Technicolor short. It's about a purportedly annual festival held in California to celebrate Mexico...or something like that. There is no plot really--this is just a chance to see some actors in color and some novelty acts. Andy Devine and Buster Keaton do a truly horrible "comic" routine about bullfighting. Wait till you see the bull Devine has to fight! There's a somewhat cute song called "Last Roundup"; Ida Lupino and Mary Carlisle are two cowgirls; you see Robert Taylor, Harpo Marx, Gary Cooper and Ted Healey (without the Stooges) and Judy Garland before she hit it big with her sisters (they're billed as the Gumm Sisters). Bright, breezy and colorful. It's only about 20 minutes long and pops up on TCM in a beautifully restored print. Worth catching.

After an opening Mexican dance and parade, this turns into a Hollywood revue. Hollywood stars join a Mexican-themed celebration in Santa Barbara. I'm sure that there are some actual Mexican performers. They have plenty of extras and dancers. They introduce five beautiful babes which includes Ida Lupino. There is a comedic fake bullfight. It is vaudevillian. It is Technicolor. It actually got an Oscar nomination for short. It does look brightly colored, but I wouldn't call it award worthy. I would be more impressed if this is a documentary about a real Mexican-American celebration with real world people. This is just a Hollywood creation.

Fiesta de Santa Barbara, La (1935)

*** (out of 4)

As the titles says, this short shows us the Fiesta of Santa Barbara but the story of this is just hogwash since the real reason to see this short is due to all the famous stars. Warner Baxter, Ida Lupino, the Garland Sisters, Edmund Lowe, Robert Taylor, Harpo Marx, Pete Smith, Buster Keaton, Gary Cooper, Jim Thorpe and countless other stars make cameos here so this cast alone makes this worth watching. Shot in Technicolor and received an Oscar nomination.

If you're interested in seeing this short then Turner Classic Movies shows it quite often.

By the time this short was filmed the Gumm/Garland Sisters act was all but disbanded as Judy was coming more and more to the spotlight. This was an early MGM experiment with 3 strip technicolor and they pulled out a lot of stops to have stars of MGM in this short. The Garland Sisters perform " La Cucaracha" in Mexican-type garb but they are rather hard to see as they (especially Judy) were filmed almost entirely in profile. You just don't get a good enough look at Judy here. It's fun history trivia, the first appearance by Judy on a "Hollywood" picture, but for a better early performance by Judy in a short, see her with Deanna Durbin in "Every Sunday".

La Fiesta de Santa Barbara was filmed in 1935 at a former mission in SB, now a restaurant called the EL PASEO. Since it was a mission, they've named it a historical 'treasure' or whatever term they use when it can no longer be torn down. The fun part for me is something I didn't realize until I'd viewed the short probably a dozen times. Much of the dancing and such is performed on a stage that i'VE PLAYED ON A DOZEN TIMES and still looks exactly the same! The El Paseo hired my classic rock band, THE REVOLVERS many times to play on Friday and Sat. nights for the late diners and dancers in the late 90s. What a thrill for me to realize it's the same stage. I heartily agree with another reviewer who says the bright spot is TOBY WING climbing out of a covered wagon. It appears most of the girls are braless (I'm sure a director's choice) and it flatters some of the girls like Toby, but doesn't do much for others like Ida Lupino, who was never what I'd call a cheesecake actress, though in her early days it appears so. The short is funny, in beautiful color and worth catching on TCM occasionally.

This film short came up on my DVD with Me and My Gal. This film is about Santa Barbara and their annual festival. It's an all star cast but you wouldn't know it because there are just so many people and not enough time to get to all of them. The music was average. The fiesta part was really to show Santa Barbara and the annual tradition to the world out there in color. I was surprised to see it on the DVD. While you get only a glimpse of the major stars, you do try to find out what is going on. There doesn't seem to be a story or a purpose to it. The colors are great because it's in color and not black and white. Maybe TCM would air this short in between longer movies. But I just didn't get it what it was all about. Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention to it.