Alicia I love this movie so much

Steineded How sad is this?

Pluskylang Great Film overall

BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

alexanderdavies-99382 "Hollywood Party" is one of those films that has no plot and a few famous faces thrown in. The film is a right shambles and pretty boring. That is except for the cameo made by Laurel and Hardy. They make "Hollywood Party" worth it, thanks to a few marvellous sketches. They play a couple of lion sellers who turn up at the party in question to collect their money from the owner of the house. Once Laurel and Hardy leave the film, it is time to stop watching.

jz1360-923-780671 Watching this film reminded me of the story of Buster Keaton's descent as an actor/director/producer. His stock company was dissolved in the late 20s and he eventually went in "all softened up" with drink and signed a contract with MGM, who promised him the moon. He managed to make one great picture with them, "The Cameraman" before succumbing to MGM's comedy "machine." They surrounded him with "funny" producers, directors and production workers who ignored Buster's natural comedic genius. He became depressed, due to drink, personal problems and MGM's incompetence with comedy, to make one sad picture after another through the 30s and 40s, and even appeared drunk on film. MGM almost ruined his career, if it wasn't for a resurgence having to do with television and film in the 50s and 60s.Before launching into my critique and utter confusion as to what the rest of the commentators found funny in Hollywood Party, I'd like to make an observation about comedies in general. They are very, very hard to make. That is why there are so very few memorable comedies. Many of them fall flat and are soon forgotten. In my opinion, there are less than 5 funny films that are truly funny per decade.With that in mind, MGM's "comedy touch" is on full display with Hollywood Party. That is, they have none. Their comedy by committee, led by LB Mayer, falls incredibly flat here. That no director actually took credit for this excessive, putrid mess signals the genesis of the "Alan Smithee" idea.It seems this film attempted to make a star out of Jimmy Durante by solely featuring him and his antics. He is very annoying. His Schnarzan one-joke character falls flat and like in the picture, the public (and the audience) quickly tires of his fake lions and what follows. Schnarzan, MGM's self-promoting spoof on its Tarzan series, turns out to be nothing but a dream...a sure sign of the producer throwing up his hands and copping out.This Lollapalooza film with no comic material wastes talent like Laurel and Hardy and Ted Healy and The Three Stooges, although the L&H sequence with the ill-fated Lupe Velez was outstanding in comparison. Many have made light of an all-star cast but most of the cast was actually anonymous. A clip of Greta Garbo was thrown in to add star power...Marie Dressler and Joan Crawford were mentioned, but didn't appear in the film. The rest of the "stars" included Jack Pearl, Polly Moran, Charles Butterworth, Arthur Treacher and Robert Young. The color Walt Disney short, The Choc-late Soldiers is well done but incredibly weird and sick. It has to do with a bunch of soldiers made out of chocolate going to war. In keeping with Disney's bizarre obsession with death and mayhem, many of them come back at the end of the short in a parade, many with broken off limbs.I love comedies and especially films from the 30s. But this was an overblown stinker and it shows MGM's complete lack of a comedic touch.

gary olszewski I love this film! The storyline is cheesy & campy but just so much fun to watch! It's a parody on Busby Berkely's choreography, and there are so many inconsistencies it's a real kick to laugh at & just enjoy, after all, isn't that why it was Done in the first place? The early 30s was the heyday of the "Musical Novelty" genre, and this one puts it all together in one piece! Making fun of its own "stars" Jimmy Durante's "Schnarzan", Charles Butterworth's dry deadpan humor, (so bad that it's good!) Jack Pearl's doing his own character of Baron Munchhausen, and omigod!!! Polly Moran as a sex object, and her trying to sing!!! They're all making fun of themselves and each other, and all seemed to be having a whooping fun time doing the picture! But its saving-grace scene, which makes the whole thing worthwhile, Is Lupe Velez with Laurel & Hardy, the eggs-in-the-pants unspoken piece of shtick, with only the body English performing, is just hilariously beautiful! And when She starts laughing, and socks them both, they all start breaking up, the camera cuts away to the next shot, I'm convinced they ad-libbed the whole thing just for the hell of it, and broke down when they couldn't't hold back any longer, it's that funny! This is a true comedy classic, a welcome relief from the heavy dramas of the day, a real keeper in my book!

Neil Doyle For film buffs, this one has real curiosity value. There are plenty of reasons for today's fans to be turned off by the poorly staged musical interludes--but movie buffs will appreciate seeing Lupe Velez, The Three Stooges, Laurel & Hardy, Mickey Mouse and Jimmy Durante all doing their best to liven things up. The script is a mess and somebody came up with the idea of having all the creaky episodes turn out to be a dream that Jimmy Durante wakes up from for the final scene, a device that may have been well ahead of its time.Durante is his old irrepressible self but the highlight of the film is when he interacts with an animated Mickey Mouse, who then proceeds to steal the film by introducing a color short from Disney called "Hot Chocolate Soldiers".The cartoon sequence is the only valid reason for paying attention at this point. Amusing, clever and maybe astonishing is the word when you consider Disney made this little color cartoon in 1934, before his studio was capable of the kind of stuff they did later on.Well worth watching for Mickey alone!