Hollywood Party

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.

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.

This film is excellent if you take it for what it is - a thin but pleasant comical storyline as an excuse for what turns out to be practically a revue of MGM's lesser stars of the day, plus two great stars - Laurel and Hardy - that didn't even work for the studio. However, Hal Roach did distribute his films through MGM, thus the boys do show up in a couple of MGM films of this era. Also, Disney's Mickey Mouse shows up for a comedic bit. I'd love to know how MGM ever worked that out with Walt.

The jist of the plot is that Schnarzan (Durante) is losing his audience for his jungle jaunt movies since the death of his original lion. People think that the subsequent lions he wrestles in his films are flimsy excuses for courageous carnivores and box office receipts are beginning to drop. His producer says that he can guarantee a hit if Durante can procure one or more of the lions of the famous Baron Munchausen who is a renowned hunter of wild beasts. Durante decides to wine and dine the baron at his mansion and give a big party in his honor.

There are a couple of very good precode musical numbers in this film including the title song featuring scantily clad chorus girls in various states of undressing/dressing and singing and dancing telephone operators dressed up in weird metallic outfits. At the party Lupe Valez spars with Laurel and Hardy, the Three Stooges put in an appearance back when they were still with Ted Healy, and there is an early musical cartoon number involving chocolate soldiers with music by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown. Finally there are Charles Butterworth and Polly Moran as a wealthy oil magnate and his wife who have some hilarious moments.

If you don't know who any of the people I just mentioned are, you are probably not going to like this film. If you know who all or most of them are you are sure to enjoy it as one of the last pre code films made, released just one month before strict enforcement of the code began.

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.

That romantic & devilishly handsome movie star, Jimmy Durante, decides to throw the HOLLYWOOD PARTY every celebrity in town will want to attend. And he does, with somewhat mixed results.

This nonsense film (no directors are credited, but several important ones were involved) was an excuse for MGM to show off, somewhat ostentatiously, its comedy talent. Enough talent, indeed, to waste. Laurel & Hardy show up for a scene with Lupe Velez and it is hilarious. The ubiquitous Polly Moran, Charles Butterworth & Arthur Treacher are generally worth watching. Ted Healey & The 3 Stooges, Jack Pearl & Eddie Quillan are hampered by inadequate material. Even Robert Young appears for a few moments, playing himself and looking a wee bit silly.

Apparently having wandered over from another studio, Mickey Mouse shows up unexpectedly, in animated form & voiced by Walt Disney. He proves he can hold his own in trading wisecracks with Durante and then introduces a fairly good Disney Technicolor cartoon, `Hot Chocolate Soldiers' and it's enjoyable.

If you get invited to this party, try hanging out with Stan & Ollie, or The Mouse. They're where all the fun is.