Hollywood Party (1934)

Best movie of this year hands down!

one of my absolute favorites!

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

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'.

I love it when Hollywood parodies itself. That's one reason I decided to watch this film, which depicts the unprecedented frenzy surrounding Hollywood of its time, with everyone wanting to become a movie star or at least be close to one, rich people investing money in movies for both profits and fame, film producers and cast willing to do anything for a profit and movie stars considered to be, both by the public and themselves, the most important persons in the country.The film shows all that by depicting a wild party in Hollywood thrown by movie star Schnarzan (as Tarzan), who wants to be some new, wild lions for his pictures because the public is bored of his old ones. There's not a sequenced plot, but rather a number of musical and humorous sketches, each directed by a different, always uncredited, director and with a different combination of actors appearing. There's even a short Technicolor cartoon presented by Mickey Mouse!Both the musical numbers and the jokes presented would probably be entertaining in 1934, but in this day and age seem rather outdated. The clever portrayal of Hollywood paranoia and great performance by Jimmy Durante as Schnarzan save the day, however, and movie fans who have a thing for classic and pre-Code films might enjoy it.The main reason I watched this movie is because I'm a Laurel and Hardy fan and I thought the boys were the stars. No such thing, however, as they appear only in two not-so-funny sketches, including one with Mexican bombshell Lupe Velez, and their screen time is about a mere ten minutes.The film is hard to find nowadays and you should just skip it unless you are a fan of similar pictures and, in general, films of this particular era. In that case it's probably worth a shot.

The film is a huge assemblage of near-stars and Laurel and Hardy--with lots of silly Busby Berkeley-style song and dance routines and a totally forgettable romance between Eddie Quillan and some lady about whose identity I could not care less. These people all come to a party at Jimmy Durante's home and Jimmy is trying to convince one of the guests to sell him his collection of lions.For film historians and fans of classic Hollywood comedy, this is a must-see film--even though the overall results are less than thrilling. That's because although the film lacked a decent plot and had many lulls, it still gives an interesting combination of Laurel and Hardy, the Three Stooges, Jimmy Durante AND Mickey Mouse. Talk about a strange group of party guests!!! Sadly though, Laurel and Hardy get top billing even though they don't appear until near the end AND their scenes are far from distinguished--in fact, they are downright dull. The Stooges don't have a lot to be happy about here, either. Mickey is okay. The only one who had good writing and came off well was Durante--who played an amusing and improbable role as "Schnarzan"--sort of like a hairier and uglier Johnny Weismuller.Overall, I'd give Jimmy Durante an 8, Stan and Ollie as well as the Stooges a 3, the romance a 1, the song and dance routines a 2 and the overall film a 4 for entertainment value and 8 for historical value. Using my complicated mathematical formula (known only to a select few), I'd give the film an overall score of 6--though this is being a tad charitable.FYI--According to the Leonard Maltin Guide, TV versions lack the Mickey Mouse and color Chocolate Soldier cartoons, but when this was shown on Turner Classic Movies this was indeed included.

I love this film! The storyline is cheesy & campy but just so much fun to watch! It's a parody on Busby Berkely's choreography, and there are so many inconsistencies it's a real kick to laugh at & just enjoy, after all, isn't that why it was Done in the first place? The early 30s was the heyday of the "Musical Novelty" genre, and this one puts it all together in one piece! Making fun of its own "stars" Jimmy Durante's "Schnarzan", Charles Butterworth's dry deadpan humor, (so bad that it's good!) Jack Pearl's doing his own character of Baron Munchhausen, and omigod!!! Polly Moran as a sex object, and her trying to sing!!! They're all making fun of themselves and each other, and all seemed to be having a whooping fun time doing the picture! But its saving-grace scene, which makes the whole thing worthwhile, Is Lupe Velez with Laurel & Hardy, the eggs-in-the-pants unspoken piece of shtick, with only the body English performing, is just hilariously beautiful! And when She starts laughing, and socks them both, they all start breaking up, the camera cuts away to the next shot, I'm convinced they ad-libbed the whole thing just for the hell of it, and broke down when they couldn't't hold back any longer, it's that funny! This is a true comedy classic, a welcome relief from the heavy dramas of the day, a real keeper in my book!