Hollywood Revue (1929)

This is a strange bird, but then many of the early sound films are. This is what Singin' In The Rain gets so right -- some of the early comical attempts to figure out how to use sound.

Hollywood Revue isn't really a movie. It's a commercial for MGM to show off its stars, and that many of them could use sound well. There is no plot, just a procession of musical numbers and other bits. Conrad Nagel and Jack Benny are the MCs, and Benny does show off his comic timing.

The oddest bit for me features John Gilbert and Norma Shearer performing the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet, and then being told the dialogue is out of date so performing it a second time throwing out Shakespeare's language for a modern translation.

The best sequence is easily Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy performing as magicians. None of the comic bits are surprising, but their comic timing is so dead on that I laughed out loud.

Unfortunately, most of the rest of the film just blends together. One big problem is that this is one of the early sound films where the camera is just bolted to the ground. This gives a sameness to all of the performances. While there is some pleasure early, the two hour running time ends up too long.

So the film is interesting as a curio. I'm glad I saw it. But it has dated pretty badly. I doubt I will revisit it.

Grade: C