Hollywood Bound

Hollywood Bound (1928)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This here isn't a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination but it's actually worth viewing. Elmer Frisby (James Bradbury, Jr.) is a hotel clerk in a small PA town where he thinks way too highly of his looks. He plans on winning a contest that's going to send him to Hollywood where he'll have sexy women falling all over him. Hollywood BOUND has a pretty simple plot but I must admit that it's technically very well made considering the era and I also thought the lead performance was excellent. This character, and the film's entire joke, is rather unattractive but he thinks he's the greatest thing ever. Bradbury actually did a very good job playing this type of person who obviously doesn't know as much as he thinks he does. The performance actually carries the film and especially during a sequence where he tells off his boss. Gladys Brockwell actually gets her name above the title but I'm really not sure why considering she's only in the film for a very short time.

Hotel clerk James Bradbury Jr. Is the leading candidate to win a popularity contest in his small town. The prize is a trip to Hollywood, where, he tells everyone in the barber shop, he intends to become a major star and clean up.

Bradbury plays an obnoxious young fellow, and the audience is led to believe his downfall is mandated by the format of this short. I found the jokes and characterizations min this Vitaphone short, directed by Bryan Foy, to be uninteresting even by the standards of the time.

James Bradbury Jr. stars as Elmer. Elmer imagines that he'll show up in Hollywood and will be adored. And, much of the film is exactly what you see. However, it all turns out to be a dream and the ending isn't exactly what Elmer had imagined.

The actors in this campy but occasionally funny one-reeler from Vitaphone are a rather sad bunch. James Bradbury Jr. starred in this and appeared in a few films in the 1930s but killed himself at only 41 due, in part, to his stalled career. This is very ironic, because here he stars as a guy who is starstruck and has ambitions of going to Hollywood and making it big. One of his co-stars is Gladys Brockwell-- who died of peritonitis the year after this was made!

This isn't always successful but for such an early sound film, it's pretty good comedy.

This Vitaphone comedy sketch is built around a character actor named James Bradbury, Jr., a skinny and rather fey young gentleman with a gaunt, pale face. Bradbury plays a hotel clerk named Elmer Frisby, a rube with a very high opinion of himself, who lives in a town called Pratt Falls, Iowa. (Pratfalls, get it?) The central joke is that, despite his rather unappetizing appearance, Elmer believes he's an exceptionally good-looking and talented fellow. He has entered a contest and is certain he will take the prize: a trip to Hollywood and a studio contract. Although the winner hasn't been chosen yet, the silly boy is already making like a star and giving the high-hat treatment to everyone at the hotel.

While watching this amusing short I tried to recall where I'd seen Bradbury, whose face is distinctive to say the least. Afterward I checked his credits and found that although the bulk of his screen work consisted of bit roles in generally minor films, he did appear in the 1935 horror classic Mark of the Vampire alongside Bela Lugosi. There's a well-known still from that film featuring Lugosi, Caroll Borland, Bradbury and another actor, all gazing through a giant cobweb with suitably undead expressions. It's ironic to note that in this short comedy Hollywood Bound our flawed hero Elmer Frisby dreams of going to Hollywood to become big star, while in reality the actor who played him did indeed go to Hollywood, but wound up in oddball bit roles. Bradbury comes off rather well in this short, even though his role is quite unsympathetic and one-dimensional, and it's too bad his talents were not better utilized in other films.

Bradbury's co-star is Gladys Brockwell, who receives star billing above the title despite her comparatively brief contribution. Miss Brockwell made her screen-acting debut in 1913 when she was still a teenager, and appeared in several popular silent features, but her top billing in this short is misleading since Bradbury is very much the center of attention. Even so, she makes a nice impression as an actress who throws herself at Elmer Frisby in a melodramatic fashion. I enjoyed the moment when she corners Elmer in her opulent apartment, locks the door, then drops the key down her bodice and announces that there is no way out for him but to GET the key! Nice work if you can get it.

Considering that this short was a very early talkie, released in the summer of 1928, it's surprisingly well made. The pacing and editing are better than one usually finds in Vitaphone specials from this period, and although the story is simplistic the players put it across with gusto. I was saddened to learn that both Bradbury and Brockwell died young in tragic circumstances. There's no hint of off-screen tragedy here. In Hollywood Bound they each give spirited performances, and their collaboration in this short is still amusing when viewed today.