Sunday Night at the Trocadero

Sunday Night at the Trocadero (1937)

*** (out of 4)

MGM short has Reginald Denny hosting three musical acts including Louis & Celeste, The Three Brian Sisters and Medina & Mimosa. The acts are singing inside the Trocadero, which has many famous faces including George Hamilton, Groucho Marx, Frank Morgan, Frank McHugh, Robert Benchley and Dick Foran. If you're a fan of any of these actors then you might want to check this out if you must see everything they've done but there are a lot of weaknesses here. For starters, the sound quality is very poor and I don't think this is an issue with the print shown on TCM. It really appears that the sound was recorded poorly and this leads to the issues. Another problem is that the comedy is just downright bad. The musical numbers are certainly worth listening to as are seeing the famous faces.

I can't think of a worse musical short I've seen from Metro, hosted by REGINALD DENNY, the distinguished looking British actor. He's seen at a nightclub called the Trocadero, taking candid photos of the various celebrities enjoying a night out.

The soundtrack is appallingly bad, with none of the dialog understandable for the average viewer and full of name dropping remarks from Denny as he acknowledges the famous faces from the '30s.

Movie buffs will easily recognize some of them: Arthur (Dagwood) Lake, Dick Foran, John Howard, Chester Morris, Robert Benchley, Connie Boswell, Groucho Marx, Frank Morgan, Eric Blore, Glenda Farrell, and Frank McHugh.

The music performances are way below par. A trio of sisters is the worst act of all and the bandwagon of George Hamilton is so-so. Boswell's voice is fine but her choice of numbers is questionable, to say the least.

Pretty bad considering it coasts on its musical talent and it sounds as though it's coming from outer space, so bad is the soundtrack. Picture quality is fine though, but you might as well have a tin ear as far as the music is concerned.

Peter Lind Hayes as a hopeful picture discovery doing some imitations and mugging his way through bad material, at least shows promise as a standup comedian that he became later on.

A vintage short from the 1930's, Sunday Night at the Trocadero is far from anything special. A typical short musical / comedy with no big stars to the cast. A handful of 30's eye candy is showcased at the fictional dinning club called the Trocadero. A group of well to do producers and self made men have dinner and share conversation as the room around them is alive. A group of girls sing and dance throughout the hall to gain attention. A struggling bell boy / wanna-be actor performs every five minutes to get hired on the Big Producer's next movie. Everyone in the cast seems to be working for food, let alone a pay check. For 21 minutes, the short provides beautiful musical numbers and quick "no so funny" one liners that really isn't worth watching for an audience member in the 21st century. To appreciate this movie, you need to be from the generation or know one of the actors in the film. All in all, an interesting vintage short that is like most short musicals of its time. Quick, simple, and worth the price of admission for its time, which was 10 cents.

Just watched this rarity on the A Night at the Opera DVD. It takes place at the title nightclub with many celebrities in attendance. One of them was Groucho Marx, here with then-wife Ruth Johnson, who's seen without his trademark greasepaint mustache and eyebrows. There are also much enjoyable music and dancing depicted. Connee Boswell provides an enjoyable number and then when The Brian Sisters develop stagefright, she also does a nice teaming with them. Unfortunately, there's also an unfunny impressionist and I mean unfunny both in who he impersonates and what lines he gives. Actually, many reviewers here also complained about how low the volume seemed to be so maybe that was my problem as well. Anyway, Sunday Night at the Trocadero is worth a look for the rare chance to see Groucho on film as he really looked off-screen during this period.

Here's one of those "Hollywood stars" shorts. While some studios had specialty series like this -- particularly Columbia with its "Screen Snapshots", most studios dabbled, and when they dabbled in the 1930s, they called Lou Lewyn. He had cut his teeth on "Screen Snapshots", followed through with "The Voice of Hollywood" for Tiffany-Stahl, and then Paramount's "Hollywood on Parade." After that he went independent, with stars and aspiring players from every studio and rank.... and a couple of people of particular interest to fans of old movies, like Gaylord Carter, for decades the dean of silent film organists.

Anyway, it's some good music, some nice production numbers, and some stars in mufti. See if you recognize Groucho Marx without his painted-on eyebrows and mustache.