Watch Hollywood Hotel For Free

Memorable, crazy movie

Absolutely brilliant

A lot of fun.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

It's a little naive to have to mention that the black face scene with Hugh Herbert was racist. Trying to shame history is futile and silly at best. We can learn from our past but not change it. It's like still blaming the South for slavery which hasn't existed since the 1800s. The movies at the time reflected the social mores of our society and nothing more. They were never meant to be guidelines for the future. I, personally, am a big Jolson fan and anyone knows who has read his biographies that he was far from a racist and aided many black performers in furthering their careers. Black face was a performing art for its time and was even performed by many famous black performers including the great Bert Williams. The Hollywood Hotel is a very charming movie and well worth watching. It is loaded with great stars and especially those adorable Lane sisters. I hope that someday that critics of vintage movies will leave out their comments about the shame of a black face appearance as if it has anything to do with our current issues.

With Black History Month starting tomorrow, I feel a need to point out that this vintage movie of the '30s has a couple of interesting contrasts concerning race relations at the time. When Hugh Hubert does a blackface scene in a filming segment taking place in the 19th century South, this was something that was considered humorously accepted by much of the American public though it would cause an uproar today. But the rare sight of African-American musicians Teddy Wilson and Lionel Hampton performing alongside Caucasions Gene Krupa and Benny Goodman on film (this was supposedly the first instance of this happening) is something that would be taken for granted today. For me personally, I tolerated the former and very much loved the latter especially the xylophone sequence. The story, about the Dick Powell character trying to get a break in movies, is quite satirical and very funny with many exaggerations of the way things were then. My main interest in seeing this was because of Ted Healy who once was the boss of who are now known as The Three Stooges. He can be overbearing but I laughed just the same. Also of interest, the future President of the United States-Ronald Reagan-as an announcer which was his initial foray in show business. Plenty of wonderful songs abound like the classic "Hooray for Hollywood" though I was surprised to hear the name "Donald Duck" retained in the lyrics as this was a Warner Bros. picture and Donald's a Disney character! So on that note, I highly recommend Hollywood Hotel.

Hollywood Hotel was the last movie musical that Busby Berkeley directed for Warner Bros. His directing style had changed or evolved to the point that this film does not contain his signature overhead shots or huge production numbers with thousands of extras. By the last few years of the Thirties, swing-style big bands were recording the year's biggest popular hits. The Swing Era, also called the Big Band Era, has been dated variously from 1935 to 1944 or 1939 to 1949. Although it is impossible to exactly pinpoint the moment that the Swing Era began, Benny Goodman's engagement at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles in the late summer of 1935 was certainly one of the early indications that swing was entering the consciousness of mainstream America's youth. When Goodman featured his swing repertoire rather than the society-style dance music that his band had been playing, the youth in the audience went wild. That was the beginning, but, since radio, live concerts and word of mouth were the primary methods available to spread the phenomena, it took some time before swing made enough inroads to produce big hits that showed up on the pop charts. In Hollywood Hotel, the appearance of Benny Goodman and His Orchestra and Raymond Paige and His Orchestra in the film indicates that the film industry was ready to capitalize on the shift in musical taste (the film was in production only a year and a half or so after Goodman's Palomar Ballroom engagement). There are a few interesting musical moments here and there in Hollywood Hotel, but except for Benny Goodman and His Orchestra's "Sing, Sing, Sing," there isn't a lot to commend. Otherwise, the most interesting musical sequences are the opening "Hooray for Hollywood" parade and "Let That Be a Lesson to You" production number at the drive-in restaurant. The film is most interesting to see and hear Benny Goodman and His Orchestra play and Dick Powell and Frances Langford sing.

Too bad the high-point comes so early. It's a rousing performance of that zippy tune "Hooray for Hollywood" with Benny Goodman's marching band comin' at ya. The remaining 100 minutes is best taken as a spoof on Hollywood's over-sized ego's and cut-throat film industry, which would work fine except too many of the scenes go on too long, way past the point of diminishing returns. Do we really need 12 minutes of Lola Lane acting the pampered, self-centered movie goddess. But then I gather she was dating the movie's producer, Hal Wallis. Then too, poor Dick Powell gets one of his sappier roles, all wide-eyed grin and much too foolish for even a spoof like this.The best moments are Goodman's numbers which are nevertheless too few to compensate. They do, however, include a good look at vibraphonist Lional Hampton and premier drummer Gene Krupa, along with a quick peek at jazz trumpeter Harry James. On the other hand, the Raymond Paige version of "Dark Eyes" amounts to a textbook example of gaudy over-orchestration. Still, it gives legendary director Busby Berkeley a chance to swoop his camera around in trademark fashion. The drive-in musical bash is both well staged and unusual, with a few clever touches (the falsetto-voiced thug), but again goes on too long. And of course Berkeley does keep everybody in motion, so if some of the routines get wearisome, at least they never drag. But then he's got to work in a lot of second-rate comedy acts (Herbert, Todd), most of which may raise a chuckle but not much else.No, in my book, it's a disappointing movie, both patchy and undistinguished, except for the knock-out title tune and a winsome Rosemary Lane. Then again, what other film of the day provided a role for movieland's queen of gossip, Louella Parsons, with a cheerless smile that never seems to fade. Somehow, that seems fitting.