Sunday Night at the Trocadero

In the 1930s, MGM made quite a few short films designed to promote their B-list actors. Ostensibly, the film is set at some sort of nightclub and these lesser known actors and actresses supposedly hang out there and the cameras catch them 'as they really are'...or, at least as the publicity department WANTS them to be perceived. However, unlike many of them, this one is in black & white and there really are very few of the bigger stars of the day (whereas the other films usually had a handful of A-listers in addition to the up and coming B and C-listers). The biggest stars you see in this one are Groucho Marx, Robert Benchley, Chester Morris and Frank Morgan. In addition, like "Starlit Days at the Lido", the leading man in this one is Reginald Denny--who introduces some of the acts.

In addition to the mostly uninteresting cameos, you've got some nightclub performers--several of which really stink (especially the guy who was doing impersonations) or are only passably entertaining...at best. Oddly, there also is a bizarro fashion show featuring some of the strangest outfits I have ever seen! It all comes off as weird...and not especially entertaining. Only of interest to folks who want to see the stars...even if it is all staged.

By the way, the sound quality of this short is rather poor...making there one more reason not to watch.

Kind of hokey, but some fun songs and dance numbers in here. George Hamilton is the emcee, and we start off with "Cuban Pete". The picture quality is quite good, but the sound is TERRIBLE... muted.. it stops and starts. some silly bits in between the dance numbers. Lots of big stars from the day popping up here and there... it was 1937, after all. "Anything but Love, Baby" by Connee Boswell, which is a VERY different version than we hear in ""Bringing up Baby". and some real silly, goofy bits, which may have been amusing at the time, but are pretty dated at this point. Fun to see some big names like Groucho Marx, Robert Benchley, Bert Wheeler, Eric Blore, and more. This one has some fun, old time big stars, but it's almost painful to sit through, with the poor sound quality. I would have turned it off, but I did want to see the film that came on after this. Shown in-between films on Turner Classic Movies. Directed by George Sidney, who had directed some biggies. Viva Las Vegas with Elvis, Scaramouche, Bye Bye Birdie, and Harvey Girls. interesting, for history's sake.

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.

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.

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.