La festa di Santa Barbara

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.

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.

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.

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.