Review of Hollywood Party (1934) by Christopher B — 08 Aug 2016

Really, really weird.

This 1934 pre-Code delightfully demented cinematic confection features Jimmy Durante as a screen Tarzan who among other things goes through successive reincarnations as a butterfly, Adam, and Paul Revere's horse, while trying to save his film career by buying lions from Baron Munchausen, Laurel and Hardy getting into an egg fight with Lupe Velez, who is wearing a dress so daring it would be hard to get away with even today, and Mickey Mouse introducing a mini-epic cartoon about a war between Chocolate Soldiers and Gingerbread Men. Well, I warned you it was weird. Also included are some Busby Berkley-like elaborately camp production numbers and a Fred-and-Ginger-like young couple dancing their way into love. In short, one of the great neglected early talkies, and sort of a perhaps unintentionally surrealist minor classic. Cinematography by James Wong Howe adds a touch of class. The Warner Archive DVD is of good quality, though it seems the original print isn't very pristine.