Hollywood Party (1934)

(On Cable TV, October 2019) I have an increasing fondness for some movies of the early 1930s, a time when sight and sound were available, the repressive Production Code wasn’t yet in effect and Hollywood hadn’t yet ossified in its traditional forms. Anything and everything was possible, and narrative cohesion wasn’t yet the all-ruling norm. That’s when you ended with films such as Hollywood Party, which weren’t much more than theatre variety shows put on film, taking advantage of available celebrities, the power of multiple takes to present fully polished material, and going quickly from one number to another. Hollywood Party does have a framing device as sorts, as a forty-something Jimmy Durante plays a movie star best known for Tarzan parody “Schnarzan the Conqueror.” Throwing a lavish party in the hope of securing a new gimmick for his film series, he ends up hosting comedians and singers in a series of numbers. Some of them are more amazing than others: Laurel and Hardy both drop by to engage in an egg-cellent battle of wits with the luscious Lupe Velez (it’s actually kind of gross). The Three Stooges are hit on the head musically. Mickey Mouse is there to introduce a colour animated musical number about a war between sweets that would be horrifying if it weren’t so oddly charming. The title song is a standout dance number featuring a fantasy version of glitzy telephone operators in form-fitting metallic outfits. Polly Moran and Charles Butterworth play an older couple hilariously eager to have extramarital affairs. Musical number “I’ve had my moments” is slyly suggestive of two promiscuous people coming together. (Pre-Code Hollywood is so cool.)  Durante has visions of his nose on various characters and animals (there’s a lot of phallic imagery even in the cartoon). Lions eventually wreak havoc on set. Hollywood Party is not what I’d call a terrific musical, even by the era’s standards—it’s a collage of various segments from various directors and it’s suitably inconsistent. (The ending is the only logical one that fits.)  But even as a loose collection of musical and comedy sketches (which are invariably more interesting than the rare musical moments), it brings together a bunch of then-known stars, and still offers an intriguing glimpse in early Hollywood. I enjoyed it quite a bit even despite its issues.