Alice in Movieland

Joan Leslie wins a screen test, but loses the audition. She sticks it out thanks to the words of Nana Bryant.

Miss Leslie was 15 when this short subject came out, but was already in her fourth year of working in the movies. Her career was about to take off, with featured roles for the next couple of years, although her stardom would begin to fade towards the end of the decade. For the moment, she was a hopeful ingenue, doing imitations of Zasu Pitts and Katherine Hepburn, and dreaming this will be the start of something big. It's a sort of anti-A STAR IS BORN, with Miss Leslie somehow gifted with a singing range wider than Deanna Durbin.

I liked this short even though some may find it a bit too sappy and old fashioned. However, I like it because it's a wonderful eye into the idea of Hollywood from 1940--not the real city, but the way it was viewed by the wide-eyed public and how Hollywood packaged itself. Joan Leslie stars as "Alice Purdee"--a country girl who wins a local contest whose reward is a Hollywood screen test. In so many ways, this short is like a condensed version of A STAR IS BORN minus the Norman Main character. I find the whole thing very charming, as would anyone who is a fan of Hollywood's Golden Age. My bet is that newer, younger audiences will probably find it all a bit silly and over-done, but considering what the film was intended to portray, the "schmaltziness" is actually a big plus--it helps you to understand the dreams of thousands, if not millions of girls across the nation.

Not exactly a bunch of A listers for this airbrushed show biz dream that TCM annoyingly keeps using as hamburger helper to fill out half hour gaps in their schedule instead of coming up with new original programming. Let's see, you've got Alexis Smith, hubby Craig Stevens, Alan Hale, and the Reagans looking like they're already contemplating divorce. This thing feels more like a nightmare episode of the Ed Sullivan show and bears about as much resemblance to Mulholland Drive as does Lincoln Blvd.

Alice in Movieland (1940)

*** (out of 4)

Two-reeler from Warner about a small town girl (Joan Leslie) who arrives in Hollywood hoping to become a star but she suffers one disaster after another. When she finally gets a bit part in a film she lets her dreams go too far and this here leads to another embarrassment. This is an interesting little short for a number of reasons but the biggest is because of how painful and rather embarrassing it treats the main character. A lot of shorts were made about young girls coming to Hollywood but this one here is rather painful to watch because Leslie is so good in her role that we really start to care for it and it's rather sad seeing some of the jokes pulled on her. The film manages to have some nice backbone to it and it really has some great drama. Leslie is terrific in her role as the dreamy kid and we even get Clarence Muse as a train porter who gives her some sound advice. Alan Hale, Ronald Reagan, Craig Stevens, Alexis Smith and Jane Wyman appear in a brief scene at a club where Leslie is about to act. It's obvious the stars were filmed at other times and just edited into this film but it's still nice seeing them. Fans of older movies will certainly want to check this one out as there's a lot more soul and heart than you'd normally see in a film like this.

I never complain seeing the wholesomely-beautiful Joan Leslie, even if its just a 21-minute "short" like this one. She looked absolutely spectacular, too, in this 1940 film.

Here, Joan plays "Alice Purdee," the winner of a local beauty contest for girls, the top prize being a chance "for fame in Hollywood!" We go along with her, seeing her trials and tribulations in attempting to become a movie star.

For classic movie fans, this is terrific. Not only do we see glimpses of Hollywood (the town) circa 1940 but quick glances at couples' Alexis Smith and Craig Stevens, Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyatt, and Alan Hale. All are in the audience (supposedly) watching "Alice" make her talent show debut. Frank Faylen, by the way, plays the emcee of the talent show.

This whole thing was well-done, with some wonderful close-up photography and beautifully directed by Jean Negulesco, who went on to direct some pretty famous movies. So far, it is the best short I've seen, although it does get a bit corny the last 5-6 minutes....but a nice kind of corny.

This short film was part of the "Warner Night At the Movies" feature on "Sea Hawk" DVD. I guess they felt that appropriate since one of the first lines of this feature was, "....and don't you fall for one of those movie stars like Errol Flynn!"