La grande festa

Hollywood Party is a strange film to be coming out of that Tiffany of studios MGM. Louis B. Mayer's operation specialized in high gloss drama and sophisticated comedy. This product would have been more like something from RKO or Hal Roach. Paramount with its Big Broadcast series and International House was also far more likely to have made a film like Hollywood Party.

But make it they did and Hollywood Party has that same surreal quality of International House. With about eight directors and about six writers involved it would have been guaranteed to be surreal like. There's no real plot to it, Hollywood's number one heart throb, the body beautiful from those Schnarzan films throws a blowout and invites whom he can. The body beautiful, the one and only Schnarzan is of course Jimmy Durante.

You know a film like this is going to be lots of fun. When you get the great Durante, the Three Stooges, and Laurel&Hardy in one film, the great stone face of New Hampshire will chuckle.

My favorites in this are Stan and Ollie who are dealers in wholesale jungle animals and crash the party to collect their bill from Jack Pearl as Baron Munchausen. The two of them get involved with an angry Lupe Velez who's been cut off by the bartender and they get into a slapstick duel. Can you imagine the Mexican Spitfire with Stan Laurel, turn that one over in your minds.

Charles Butterworth and Polly Moran play a nouveau rich oil millionaire and George Givot plays a fake baron/gigolo trying to promote himself with Moran. Lupe is also Jane to Durante's Schnarzan which audiences today might not get the whole gist of that joke since she was married to Johnny Weissmuller then.

All in all it's great fun and at the very end you'll see why the film has the surreal quality it does. No plot, just a lot of good gags and many laughs. This is one you can't go wrong with.

The hilarious Jimmy Durante, known for making fun of his own large schnozzola, sings his signature song in this film, "Inka Dinka Doo." Along the way some great songs by Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart (before Rogers teamed with Oscar Hammerstein II to create some of America's greatest musicals), including the title song performed by Frances Williams, "Reincarnation" performed by Durante, and "Hello" performed by Durante and Jack Pearly. --Musicals on the Silver Screen, American Library Association, 2013

I thought this Golden Oldie was great fun. Puzzling how it gets short shrift from IMDb reviewers, as it sustains itself throughout the 75 minutes with a consistently high level of humor and music. It is also puzzling how few people have actually seen it in comparison to the goodly number of reviews.

In any case, I love Laurel and Hardy and Charles Butterworth always adds a great deal to any picture with his befuddled 'Tom Smothers' brand of humor. The main star is old reliable Jimmy Durante doing his familiar schtick, and there are a couple of good musical numbers, especially one with Eddie Quillan and June Clyde called "I've Had My Moments", and also the title song written by Rodgers&Hart.

It is a fast-moving 75 minutes, too fast and too entertaining for such a low IMDb rating. If you're a fan of movies, especially old movies, I recommend this one. And there's no 'message' here; it's just old-fashioned entertainment, accent on the 'old-fashioned'.

This is really a scrapbook of bits linked together by the word "party."

If you have ever wondered why The Three Stooges are so called, it is because they began life in vaudeville as the butt of Ted Healy's gags. In this film we see a rare instance of Healy and his stooges in action.

Classic is the piece where Lupe Velez teams up with Laurel and Hardy. A battle begins, which has since been quoted in a number of compilation films.

Perhaps the piece which steals the show is the colour cartoon by Disney. I have never ever seen it shown on Disney programmes, even though it is one of his best sequences.

It's worth watching just for these three features.

Jimmy Durante spoofs Johnny Weismuller's Tarzan by playing a jungle film star who throws a lavish party for his Hollywood friends (complete with Zeigfeld style musical numbers). Lupe Velez (the real life Mrs. Weismuller) spoofs Maureen O'Sullivan's "Jane" character (controversial at the time for "Jane's" skimpy outfits). Durante is annoying but Velez shines with the best bit teaming her with Laurel & Hardy. The Three Stooges appear as autograph seekers. This MGM musical features an appearance by Mickey Mouse who spoofs Durante and introduces the Disney color cartoon "Hot Chocolate Soldiers." The 70 minute plot is a mess with the parts being better than the sum, however a must for fans and collector's of the aforementioned appearances.