What clever lyrics to open this wonderful Busby Berkley musical about a rising singer signed to a studio contract and the screen double he falls in love with thinking she is the real deal. Dick Powell is first seen leaving for the airport where his band serenades him with the title song accompanied by trucks with clever banners of how the great female stars will react to his "charisma". "Garbo, I Tank You'll Love Him!" one banner says. Sung by the wonderful Frances Langford and Benny Goodman's band, "Horray For Hollywood!" has become one of the screen's great anthems. Of course, there are fictional movie stars with somebody named Mona Marshall getting mentioned amongst the real life stars, most of them Warner Brothers contract players. A fictional studio, All-Star, is the setting for the goings on here.
Once out in Hollywood, Powell meets Rosemary Lane, the extra standing in for the temperamental Lola Lane at a movie premiere, claiming illness with "Oh, My Thyroids!". Rosemary and Dick hit it off at the premiere, performing the delightful "I'm a Fish Out of Water". Lots of wonderful performers appear including Alan Mowbray as a hammy "Lothario", Mabel Todd as movie star Lane's dizzy sister (who allegedly suffers from anemia, but I think today's doctors would refer to it as something else), Hugh Herbert as the star's flighty father, Glenda Farrell as the wisecracking assistant, slow-burning Edgar Kennedy as a temperamental diner manager and Louella Parsons as herself. Even Ronald Reagan gets briefly into the act as the announcer at a premiere.
The film slightly bogs down at the end with an extended sequence at the Hollywood Hotel' Orchid Room (Powell and Lola Lane re-enacting scenes from the film within-the-film), but for the most part, it is complete fun. A musical number at the diner ("Behind the Eight Ball") is the choreographic delight, although there are none of the signature Berkley overhead shots within the film. A black-face sequence with Herbert appears to be in bad taste, but in placing him amongst a group of black extras, this only shows how ridiculous the practice was in the first place. The extras all seem to know it, too, judging by the looks on their face, and a couple of them are having a difficult time keeping a straight face due to Herbert's silly antics. This hardly matters because the film is so filled with fun that you too will want to try your luck, you may be Donald Duck. Horray For Hollywood!
Once out in Hollywood, Powell meets Rosemary Lane, the extra standing in for the temperamental Lola Lane at a movie premiere, claiming illness with "Oh, My Thyroids!". Rosemary and Dick hit it off at the premiere, performing the delightful "I'm a Fish Out of Water". Lots of wonderful performers appear including Alan Mowbray as a hammy "Lothario", Mabel Todd as movie star Lane's dizzy sister (who allegedly suffers from anemia, but I think today's doctors would refer to it as something else), Hugh Herbert as the star's flighty father, Glenda Farrell as the wisecracking assistant, slow-burning Edgar Kennedy as a temperamental diner manager and Louella Parsons as herself. Even Ronald Reagan gets briefly into the act as the announcer at a premiere.
The film slightly bogs down at the end with an extended sequence at the Hollywood Hotel' Orchid Room (Powell and Lola Lane re-enacting scenes from the film within-the-film), but for the most part, it is complete fun. A musical number at the diner ("Behind the Eight Ball") is the choreographic delight, although there are none of the signature Berkley overhead shots within the film. A black-face sequence with Herbert appears to be in bad taste, but in placing him amongst a group of black extras, this only shows how ridiculous the practice was in the first place. The extras all seem to know it, too, judging by the looks on their face, and a couple of them are having a difficult time keeping a straight face due to Herbert's silly antics. This hardly matters because the film is so filled with fun that you too will want to try your luck, you may be Donald Duck. Horray For Hollywood!