Hollywood Scrapbook (film #40 in the Documentary section of Movieflix). [Category: Hollywood]

In this 30s featurette, we see a bunch of random clips of stars engaging in various sports and recreational activities, narrated in a boring style by a guy who sounds like he’d rather be someplace else. The footage is blurry, most of the stars are minor and nearly unknown today, and the glimpses you get of them are brief. I think they could have tried harder with this one.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.

Hollywood on Parade (track #1 on Studio Snapshots (Kino Video, 1998)). [Category: Hollywood]

Uh, I don't know what this is supposed to prove. This was supposed to be a "screen magazine", but the only magazine it resembles is one after it has been attacked with a pair of scissors by a collage artist. It features lots of Hollywood stars and also-rans doing lots of, well, stuff. The only requirement for each segment seems to be that it fill a certain amount of screen time. Some of it is rather silly, some of it is weird, a few segments have disturbing implications (Gary Cooper flirting with a chimp?!), some are lame, and many are inexplicable. It does solve one mystery, though––it is in this film that Bela Lugosi tells Helen Kane, "You have booped your last boop!" Leaves you scratching your head.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.

Hollywood Extra Girl (film #39 in the Documentary section of Movieflix). [Category: Hollywood]

This charming short tells the story of a female extra and how she is given her big chance by Cecil B. DeMille during the filming of The Crusades. Memorable scenes include hearing the thoughts of various extras and why they keep doing it even though their chances of stardom resemble a snowball’s chance in hell, and hearing DeMille bawl out the hairdresser for letting an extra through with one of the latest 1930s hairstyles. The film is both encouraging and discouraging of ordinary peoples’ dreams of stardom, which is par for the course for this sort of thing. There’s a real charm to this, though, and despite its romanticized view of Hollywood there’s still a somewhat realistic “behind the scenes” feel to the proceedings. This film typifies the sort of thing I like to see in the Hollywood category.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: *****.

For the Birds (Audio Commentary) (extra on Monsters, Inc. DVD (Disney-Pixar, 2002)). [Category: Hollywood]

Commentary is provided by Jim Eggleston, the director of the short. He gives us a few interesting tidbits about the short's production, but there's not enough time for him to say much.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: *. Weirdness: *. Historical Interest: ***. Overall Rating: **.

For Orphans 3 (film #5 on Open Source Movies). [Category: Hollywood]

This consists of silent footage of a Dutch film premiere and milling-around festival and a guy in a tux announcing the premier of Mr. Deeds Goes to Town in Dutch. Now, I can’t speak Dutch, but it really sounds like he says that the Dutch title of the film is OK, Mr. Deeds. Mostly, though, this is pretty standard, but it does give you some idea of what European movie theater ephemera was like in the 30s.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.

Famous People at Play (film #30 in the Documentary section of Movieflix). [Category: Hollywood]

I expected this newsreel featurette, made in 1935, to be filled with footage of Hollywood stars in relaxed moments. There's some of that, but it's really more of a general survey of famous people from the 30s, including sports heros and European royalty. Most poignant are the scenes of the royal figures pursuing various sports and recreational activities, seemingly unconscious of the looming shadow of WWII. Most amusing is a scene of W. C. Fields goofing around on trapeze rings, obviously being held up from the bottom. This is a lot better than I thought it would be. It has a great deal of historical interest, particularly in terms of it being a snapshot of pre-war Europe.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ***. Weirdness: ***. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.

The Costume Designer (recorded off of Turner Classic Movies). [Category: Hollywood]

This 30s film straightforwardly shows how costumes were designed for the movies during the old studio system. The designer is the only woman in the creative team, of course, but she looks like she could hold her own in any fight. Lots of different kinds of costumes are shown, making this a real treat for clothes-horses, but their claims of "historical accuracy" are a little farfetched. This is a great slice of 30s pop culture.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness: **. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ***.

Back of the Mike

The production of a live radio western is shown here, and we get to see how they do all the sound effects and stuff. We get to see such things as one guy doing both voices in a conversation, an adult do a very convincing impersonation of a child's voice, guys playing cowboys impersonating the sound of conversing while riding by playing "horsie" while reading their lines, and all the weird stuff used to make sound effects. It's all quite interesting, especially from a historical perspective.

Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.