User reviews

Hollywood HOTEL (Warner Brothers, 1937), directed by Busby Berkeley, capitalizes on the current trend of Hollywood stories made popular by David O. Selznick's dramatization of A STAR IS BORN. Even though films about Hollywood and the behind the scenes in movie making were nothing new by the time Hollywood HOTEL went into release, Warner Brothers spoofs Hollywood the best way it knows how, spotlighted by Dick Powell's singing, and the musical festivities by Benny Goodman and his Swing Band.

The plot revolves around Ronnie Bowers (Dick Powell), a saxophone player in Benny Goodman's band, winning a talent contest and a ten-week trip to Hollywood, leaving behind band vocalist and teary-eyed girlfriend, Alice Crane (Frances Langford) at the St. Louis Airport. After arriving in Hollywood, Ronnie is escorted by Bertie Walton (Allyn Joslyn), a studio press agent for All-Star Pictures, and Joe (Eddie Acuff), a photographer, to the Hollywood Hotel. The story then shifts over to Mona Marshall (Lola Lane), a temperamental movie star sharing the room with her wacky kid sister (Mabel Todd), her even more bewildered father, Chester (Hugh Herbert), and personal secretary, Jonesy (Glenda Farrell). Because another glamor girl was offered a part she wanted, Mona leaves Hollywood. With Mona's new film, GLAMOUR GIRL, opening that evening, Walton hires waitress, Virginia Stanton (Rosemary Lane), to impersonate her, having Ronnie accompany her to the premiere. When Mona finds she's been misrepresented in public, she arranges for both Virginia and Ronnie to be fired. With Fuzzy (Ted Healy), as his new press agent, Ronnie obtains work at Callahan's (Edgar Kennedy) drive-in eatery before being discovered by director Walter Kelton (William B. Davidson) of All-Star Pictures. Much to Ronnie's surprise, rather than an acting job, he's to have his singing voice dubbed in for Alexander DuPre (Alan Mowbray), Mona's hammy co-star for an upcoming production, LOVE AND GLORY.

Fine tunes in the Hollywood Hotel musical program include: "Hooray for Hollywood" (performed by Benny Goodman's Band, sung by Johnnie Davis, Frances Langford, cast); "I'm Like a Fish Out of Water" (sung by Dick Powell and Rosemary Lane); "Silhouetted in the Moonlight" (sung by Rosemary Lane at the Hollywood Bowl); "Let That Be a Lesson to You" (introduced by Johnnie Davis and played by Benny Goodman's Band, sung by Dick Powell, Rosemary Lane, Ted Healy, Mabel Todd, and drive-in patrons at Callahan's Eats, with occasional interruptions by the nervous Edgar Kennedy); Benny Goodman Band instrumental medley: "Sing, Sing, Sing" and "I've Got a Heartful of Music," "I Hitched My Wagon to a Star" (sung by Alan Mowbray, voice dubbing by Powell); "Silhouetted in the Moonlight" (sung by Jerry Cooper and Frances Langford); "Dark Eyes" (O Tchonia) A Russian folk song performed instrumentally by Raymond Paige and his Orchestra, participated by chorus humming the score; "I Hitched My Wagon to a Star" (sung by Powell); "Sing You Son-of-a-Gun" (sung by Powell and Rosemary Lane) and "Hooray for Hollywood" (sung by Johnnie Davis and cast).

Of the handful of songs heard, especially during the Orchard Room sequence, its only low-point is Jerry Cooper's rendition to "Silhouetted in the Moonlight," opposite Frances Langford. A Langford solo or duet with Powell would have been sufficient. In the motion picture soundtrack to Hollywood HOTEL, compliments of Hollywood Soundstage (1981), the record not only includes the entire musical segments, but outtakes featuring the complete version to "Silhouetted in the Moonlight" which, after Rosemary Lane's solo, existing in the final print, is joined in by the singing Powell with a duet conclusion. Another cut is Benny Goodman's Band playing to "I Got a Heart Full of Music" and "House Hop," portions that were used in the musical short, FOR AULD LANG SYNE (1938), a tribute to Will Rogers.

Hollywood HOTEL, under Busby Berkeley's supervision as director, is a musical of lavish scale, with none of his trademarks of surrealistic choreography for which he is famous. There's plenty of singing but no dancing, coming off like a 1940s musical, especially during the Benny Goodman's Band interludes consisting of future legends as Lionel Hampton, Harry James (on the clarinet), and Gene Krupa (drummer) performing. Ronald Reagan, another soon-to-be lead actor and future U.S. President is seen briefly as a radio announcer during the premiere of LOVE AND GLORY.

Hollywood HOTEL is a far cry from being the best of the Warner Brothers musical cycle, but in many ways it's a nostalgic look to its bygone golden age, giving a glimpse of makeup artist, Perc Westmore, appearing as himself, glamorizing the ordinary waitress Rosemary Lane into movie star quality. With the exception near the conclusion of the story, Rosemary hardly shares any scenes with her older but look-alike sister, Lola.

Interestingly, the one thing missing in Hollywood HOTEL which was common place in films about Hollywood on Hollywood is the use of major stars doing surprise guest bits. Imagine Dick Powell's Ronnie Bowers entering the Hollywood Hotel and coming across briefly such big named actors as Bette Davis, Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, or even the use of some inside humor in having him meeting up with Joan Blondell (Powell's off- screen wife). Instead, it uses radio announcers, Ken Niles and Duane Thompson, and newspaper columnist, Louella Parsons, appearing as themselves. Parsons, who was then a noted personality, is a far cry from being a natural performer.

As a spoof, Hollywood HOTEL purposely finds the temperamental Lola Lane overacting all over the place; Hugh Herbert "woo-wooing" in and out of scenes; and in a movie within a movie, the premiere of LOVE AND GLORY, a Civil War story, is noticeably a disguised version to Margaret Mitchell's then best selling novel "Gone With the Wind," with the central character called Captain Cutler (in place of Rhett Butler). Quite lengthy at 109 minutes, it's worthy screen entertainment. Look for it next time it plays on Turner Classic Movies. (***)

Louella Parsons is among the celebrities of varying statuses that makes an appearance here. She was a popular columnist for Hearst at the time, notorious for gossipy notices like, "Who was that handsome Lothario seen at the Brown Derby last night escorting La-La Divoon?" She's a matronly woman. It's a curious experience watching her speak. Her fixed expression is a slightly open smile offering a glimpse of her upper teeth. The voice seems to emanate from that mouth without any sign of labial involvement. The painted lips remain the same, the slice of teeth immobile, and no tongue in evidence. She could be a ventriloquist's dummy.

She's given a couple of cute lines though, as is just about everyone else in this romantic musical comedy. It's 1937 and the narcissistic star opens the newspaper and remarks, "Terrible about China (Pause) I haven't opened a picture there in a year." The tempo is pretty fast, and there's a brief but carefully choreographed bit of slapstick at a night club table involving Dick Powell and a waiter, good enough to have been done by Buster Keaton. You'll find a lot of folks who were on their way to the big time during the war that was around the corner, including James Ridgeley, whom you've probably never heard of, and Ronald Reagan who became, I believe, a politician. You get to see Perc Westmore as himself plying his trade.

The plot is a parody of Hollywood and a story of mixed identities. As a parody, it lags behind "Singin' in the Rain." The story of identity confusion doesn't go back any farther in time than Shakespeare's first play, "A Comedy of Errors," or Plautus' "Menaechmi", which Shakespeare ripped off. The Hollywood movie star is played by Lola Lane and the shy waitress who is swept up in the impersonation is Rosemary Lane -- real sisters.

Direction by Busby Berkeley but no marching feet stomping around on the stage and no overhead shots of flower petals opening, each to reveal itself as a pair of chubby thighs. Nope. There are several songs though. They're pleasant enough but lack the perverse kick of "Petting in the Park" with its demented midget dashing around with a can opener, and none of the tunes are likely to be found in the Great American Songbook.

Still, it's diverting and a pleasant enough watch for an otherwise uneventful evening.

Saxophonist Dick Powell wins talent contest and goes to Hollywood. There he gets mixed up in drama revolving around a movie star and her double, played by real-life sisters Lola and Rosemary Lane. Middling musical comedy from Busby Berkeley with a decent cast and backdrop. Dick Powell seems bored and I imagine he was after doing so many musicals prior to this. Nice to see two of the Lane sisters in the same movie. However, Lola is actually one of the worst parts of this. She plays a diva movie star in the most over the top manner possible. She plays to the rafters and it's just too much. The rest of the cast ranges in quality. Glenda Farrell is always good and a few years earlier she might have had the female lead. Sadly she was starting down the ladder by this time. Acquired comedic tastes Hugh Herbert and Ted Healy do their usual bits of business. If you're familiar with them, you'll know what I mean and whether or not you can stomach them. Speaking of Healy, this is one of his last films before his controversial death. Ronald Reagan has a bit part and gossip columnist Louella Parsons makes her acting debut. The songs are nice but only the opening "Hooray for Hollywood" number stands out. For a Berkeley musical, it's pretty restrained.

It was a hell of a job to grab a video tape of that movie, still but seldom shown on TV in the States, but invisible in France since it was contradictorily issued, in the late forties. Well, the beginning with the Goodman band's motorcade is a landmark, saluted by many critics as the sweeping entrance of the Swing Era in motion pictures. Lead by Benny and Johnnie Davis, plus Frances Langford (still alive in Florida and just re-married at 80), the band gives a tremendous start to a picture which soon looses its impetus, occasionally rewinded by the hilarious appearances of Hugh Herbert plus the wits of Glenda Farrell or Ted Healy. As a little pest, Mabel Todd is not convincing. After two syrupy tunes, we get a good staged crowd number at the Callaghan's restaurant, with allusions to Columbus, before the real gem comes, from the Orchid Room: the second part of SING, SING, SING (Christopher Columbus), with Krupa, Goodman and James at their best, unfortunately for just three minutes (but they weigh ten times more than the 5'30" of the same standard, as re-created in BENNY GOODMAN STORY. It's the difference between genuine music and re-heated soup). But Berkeley gets our pardon by setting immediately after a brilliant number with Benny's Quartet (HOUSE HOP, not I'M A DING DONG DADDY FROM DUMAS, as stated in IMDB's credentials). That makes five GREAT minutes for the millions of jazz fans still in love with swing. A second quartet number, GET A HEARTFUL OF MUSIC, was deleted by the production. Then the movie keeps moving, with an astonishing performance of DARK EYES, by Raymond Paige and his "battalion" of musicians and singers - what critics would call "jazz symphonique" - before everybody gets together for the finale,with SING, SING, SING, YOU SON OF A GUN. The 6.7 mark is severe, because the beginning and the five minutes of pure swing are invaluable. I urge TIME WARNER to issue this movie in video, for people who lack my courage to hunt for copies. henry caraso

A Warner musicomedy directed by Busby Berkeley. Unlike the usual Warner film choreographed by Busby, there's no stage dancing or military maneuvers. Instead, it's lots of singing, the majority concentrated at the end, as is typical of Busby's choreography when there is considerable stage dancing and military maneuvering. Unfortunately, only a little of the terminal music was of interest to me. Most of the best musical numbers occurred before this: "Hooray for Hollywood" at the beginning and again at the end, "Silhouette in the Moonlight", also sung twice and, my favorite: "I'm Like a Fish Out of Water". We have a variety of featured singers, such as Dick Powell, Rosemary Lane, Johnnie Davis, Francis Langford, and Terry Cooper. New songs were composed by the team of Richard Whiting and Johnny Mercer. Music by Benny Goodman or Raymond Paige Orchestras or the multiracial Benny Goodman quartet(Benny, Teddy Wilson, Gene Kruppa, and Lionel Hampton).

The screen play is decent, with a variety of character actors, as well as Dick Powell , contributing to the humor. The plot is mainly concerned with the impersonation of spoiled Hollywood diva Mona(Lola Lane) by a look-alike waitress in the hotel: Virginia(Rosemary Lane). Seems Mona had a temper tantrum about a casting decision, and refused to go to the premier showing of her latest picture. To avoid embarrassment, her producer ordered that a look-alike be found to take her place, squired by new recruit Ronnie(Dick Powell). This proved fortuitous, as Virginia and Ronnie, both singers, soon fell in love. There is no love-hate oscillations in this relationship, as in many musicals. However, Ronnie is confused for a while when he greets Virginia, a waitress, presumably as as Mona, then the real Mona, leading a retinue of dogs and dog walkers, shows up in the hotel. Ronnie gets slapped twice for acting fresh with the real Mona, before he finally learns the truth, and decides he likes Virginia, the waitress, much better. Ronnie is soon involved with another impersonation, when he is asked to dub the singing of Mona's costar for her new movie. This he does, but when the studio wants him to dub the costar's voice at a radio show, he balks. His friends arrange to take the costar elsewhere during the broadcast, so that Ronnie can show his face as the real singer.

Hugh Herbert who played Mona's goofy father, and Mabel Todd, as Mona's goofy sister, tried to be funny in their usual ways, but usually fell flat for me.

Currently available as part of the Busby Berkeley DVD Collection

The better of the two Busby Berkeley musicals from 1937, thanks in large part to just having a lot of great music from the likes of Benny Goodman and Johnny Mercer. Like Varsity Show, the bit players are the ones that leave more of an impression. Mabel Todd was just precious; and Glenda Farrell, though stuck with a mostly thankless secretarial role, does the best she can. Ted Healy was...Ted Healy. Unfortunately, there was practically none of Berkeley's famously intricate choreography. Also, I want whatever drug Hugh Herbert was on when he made this. Dude was on some other planet the whole time.

"Hollywood Hotel" is a fast-moving, exuberant, wonderfully entertaining musical comedy from Warners which is sadly overlooked. It should be remembered if only for providing the official theme song of Tinseltown -- "Hooray for Hollywood." The score by Richard Whiting and Johnny Mercer has a number of other gems, however, including the charming "I'm Like a Fish Out of Water," and "Silhouetted in the Moonlight." The best musical number is "Let That Be a Lesson to You," in which Dick Powell and company detail the misadventures of people who found themselves "behind the eight-ball," a fate which literally befalls slow-burning Edgar Kennedy at the number's end. The picture celebrates Hollywood glamour and punctures it all at once, as it gets a lot of comic mileage out of pompous and ego-maniacal actors and duplicitous studio executives. The cast includes a gaggle of great character comedians--Allyn Joslyn as a crafty press agent, Ted Healy as Dick Powell's would-be manager, Fritz Feld as an excitable restaurant patron, Glenda Farrell as Mona Marshall's sarcastic Gal Friday, Edgar Kennedy as a put-upon drive-in manager, Mabel Todd as Mona's goofy sister, and Hugh Herbert as her even goofier dad. The "racist" element mentioned in another review here is a ten-second bit where Herbert appears in black-face during a pseudo-"Gone With the Wind" sequence. It's in questionable taste, but it shouldn't prevent you from seeing the other delights in this film, notably the Benny Goodman Quartet (including Teddy Wilson and Lionel Hampton!) in what I believe is the only footage available on this incredible jazz combo. The "Dark Eyes" sequence goes on a bit too long and comes in too late, but otherwise "Hollywood Hotel" is a gem, well worth your time and certainly a film which should be considered for DVD release.

Fake show biz, courtesy director Busby Berkeley. Saxophone player from the East is called out to Hollywood for work in the movies (though we have no idea why or how this brainstorm transpired); he's immediately set up as a pigeon, taking a lookalike-starlet to a lavish premiere--but when the real actress gets wind of the deception, she orders the greenhorn be fired (and the studio dutifully complies, though the date was their idea!). Ridiculous musical-comedy padded with Big Band numbers and pop-ups from buxom columnist Louella Parsons (touted as "The Queen of Hollywood"). Dick Powell has an ingratiating manner and a handsome profile, but we never learn anything about his character except that he's easily fooled. The Johnny Mercer-Richard Whiting songs run the gamut from fine ("Hooray For Hollywood", "I'm Like a Fish Out of Water") to awful ("Sing, You Son of a Gun"), while the point of the whole thing seems to be: no matter how big of a star you might be, you can always be replaced. ** from ****

When we talk Hollywood Hotel we could be talking about one of three things, the actual hotel, the radio program, and this film which was partially inspired by the first two. Dick Powell was the host of the Hollywood Hotel program on CBS radio network in which Louella Parsons dished out the weekly scoop on the stars.

Powell and Parsons debuted the Hollywood Hotel program in 1934 so by 1937 it had its fair share of the radio audience. Powell hosted, sang, and kibitzed with Louella and her movie star guests. With the power she had with her column, she was able to get the various stars to go on and plug their latest films for nothing.

Then the American Federation of Radio Artists stepped in and demanded she pay wages accordingly and they won the case. That ended the Hollywood Hotel program in 1938. Of course both Powell and Louella went on to other radio venues. The whole story is covered in the Tony Thomas book, The Films Of Dick Powell.

But before the plug was pulled this film came out from Powell's home studio of Warner Brothers inspired by the radio program. Powell plays a singer/saxophonist with the Benny Goodman band who gets signed to a Hollywood contract. But when he gets out to Hollywood he gets himself tangled up with an egotistical film star Lola Lane, her lookalike double real life sister Rosemary Lane, and a ham actor in Alan Mowbray.

When Mowbray is called upon to sing in a Civil War epic he's making with Lola Lane, it's Powell's voice they use. Then Mowbray develops a Lina Lamont problem when he's asked to go on the Hollywood Hotel radio program, broadcast from the Hollywood Hotel. That's got the studio in a tizzy. Let's say the problem isn't solved the way it is Singing In The Rain, but Powell's manager Ted Healy proves to be resourceful.

Richard Whiting and Johnny Mercer provide a really nice score for the film. The big hit song comes right at the beginning as the Benny Goodman band with scat singing Johnnie Davis sing Hollywood's anthem, Hooray for Hollywood. My favorite however is Powell and Rosemary Lane singing, I'm Like A Fish Out Of Water. Just listening to Johnny Mercer's lyrics about Ginger Rogers running the Brooklyn Dodgers or Sally Rand without her fan, it's a compendium of American popular culture in the Thirties.

Busby Berkeley does the choreography here and while the film doesn't have the soaring imaginary stuff that his earlier work with Warner Brothers has, the numbers are well staged. Berkeley's big moment is in a drive-in eatery where Powell and Healy have been forced to take jobs. The number starts with Benny Goodman broadcasting from the Hollywood Hotel doing Let That Be A Lesson To You and then at the drive-in Powell, Lane and the entire place start joining in song to the exasperation of owner Edgar Kennedy. And you know what you can expect from Edgar Kennedy exasperation.

Benny Goodman gets to show why he was named the King Of Swing when the band with drummer Gene Krupa and xylophonist Lionel Hampton as part of his ensemble. That together with Frances Langford singing as well. And possibly the last surviving cast member of the group was a fellow who had a small bit as a radio announcer. He died in 2004, but not before he became the 40th President of the United States. Ronald Reagan always credited Dick Powell and Pat O'Brien as being the two guys on Warner Brothers who were the most helpful to an eager young player looking to make his mark.

Hollywood Hotel is one delightful and entertaining motion picture, dated, but charmingly so.

Saxophonist Ronnie Bowers (Dick Powell) wins a studio contract and goes to Hollywood. He stays at Hollywwod Hotel (of course). At the same time big egotistical star Mona Marshall (Lola Lane) has a tantrum and refuses to attend the premiere of her new picture. In a panic the studio hires lookalike Virginia (Rosemary Lane) to impersonate her and have Bowers take her to the premiere NOT telling him it's not Marshall. Naturally they fall in love. You can pretty much figure out the rest of the plot yourself.

The plot is old (to put it nicely) but Powell and Rosemary Lane make a very likable pair and have beautiful singing voices. The score is good (highlighted by "Hooray for Hollywood") and director Busby Berkeley shows off his unique visuals in a really fun drive-in musical sequence (with Edgar Kennedy doing his patented slow burn). Also Glenda Farrell has a few funny bits as Monas sister Jonesie.

Still the movie isn't that good. The rest of the cast mugs ferociously and most of the humor is just not funny. Lola Lane especially is just lousy trying to play Mona for comedy. Also there is racism--a stereotypical black maid is played for laughs and there's some truly appalling racist "humor" at one point. That's probably what keeps this off TV most of the time. I realize it was accepted at the time but it comes across as revolting today.

All in all a so-so movie with some serious problems helped by a good cast and some great songs. I give it a 7.

A sprawling, huge, hot mess of a musical from Busby Berkeley and the last of his cycle of features for Warners; not to mention the only one that doesn't contain any dedicated dance routines. Dick Powell is the center of attention, playing a small town saxophonist with the Benny Goodman Orchestra (?) who heads off to Hollywood to work a short stint at a movie studio he has won in a contest, only to take the fall for a stunt involving a stand in for a major star who discovers the ruse and has them both fired. He does fall for the girl, and he doesn't lose her this time, but simply makes himself scarce at points. Along the way we hear some fine, and not so fine, Johnny Mercer and Richard Whiting penned production numbers, and Benny Goodman does make it back into the picture somehow, though that is not explained, and he and his fabulous 1937 orchestra and quartet provide the film with its finest moments. And just in time, as by February of 1938 the orchestra as it is here was basically disbanded.

One wants to draw comparisons with "A Star is Born," released by the Selznick studio in April of 1937, and this may have been intended as an upbeat answer to the very downbeat Selznick picture. It opens with a rousing, energy filled sequence with Powell, Goodman, Frances Langford and Johnny "Scat" Davis introducing the song "Hooray for Hollywood" which has since become a theme song for Tinseltown of sorts, even if the movie it came from isn't particularly well remembered. There is a nice and useful montage of the facades of some of the most famous Hollywood restaurants, all demolished now. Then this leads into a very, very long second chapter, setting up the premise, and this part of the film seems to take forever; it is quite some time before we make it to another song. While there are no dance routines, there are large scale co-ordinations of action, particularly in a complex sequence in Callahan's Drive In involving carhops, Powell, Ted Healy, Edgar Kennedy, a studio executive, customers and crashing dishes. It's emblematic of the whole film; Berkeley has all of these balls up in the air -- the Benny Goodman and (over the top) Raymond Paige Orchestra, Powell, duplicitous studio executives, Lola Lane as a snooty, self-absorbed star and real life sister Rosemary Lane playing her double, the antics of Hugh Herbert, a parody of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (or "Gone with the Wind," or both) as part of a film within a film, a radio show with Louella Parsons (who is not at all comfortable on screen), celebrity radio hosts, songs etc. But these elements don't really shake hands; things happen because they happen. We see Frances Langford, dewy-eyed, singing Dick Powell away to the train station at the start and later she returns to sing on the radio program that Dick Powell makes his way onto, but we don't know why or how she got there. "Hollywood Hotel" throws all manner of things at us to impress us, but ultimately it's Benny Goodman and "Hooray for Hollywood" that stays with you; as a film, and story, nothing seems to stick together very well here.

There is some dated, and unfortunate, racial humor of the kind that doesn't travel well with post-modern audiences, but mercifully such scenes are brief. And, in a sense, being able to see Lionel Hampton and Teddy Wilson as the stars and expert musicians they are in Goodman's quartet makes up for that, though this sequence was placed as it is deliberately so that it could be lifted out of the film when it played the South. It seems that with any 1930s film that Warner Bros. sensed was in trouble they'd find a way to drop Hugh Herbert into the mix; a mixed blessing. Here, he is abysmal. I do not object as much to Mabel Todd's character as some of the other commentators here, but I agree that she is not the film's strongest asset. Powell soldiers on through his typically wide-eyed boy character from earlier Berkeley musicals, but here you get the sense he is running out of patience with the role and is playing him as a stock. Both Healy and Alan Mowbray are funny; though this was not Healy's last picture, it was the last to open in his lifetime -- he died the day after its Hollywood premiere. There is an amusing subtext about the vagaries of dubbing pictures, and several nice shots of Hollywood landmarks of the past. One may argue that there is not enough of Glenda Farrell, and at least one musical number was cut from the picture, but more is not necessarily what one wants from this film; even at a minute short of two hours, it feels really long. "Hollywood Hotel" is worth seeing for Goodman, and some of the songs; otherwise, this one must have given Busby Berkeley no end of headaches. With all that's going in "42ND Street," every action and every character links together. It just doesn't happen in "Hollywood Hotel;" the rooms are over-booked.

This is an entertaining enough Warner Bros. musical. It's got some behind-the-scenes Hollywood satire. Lola Lane gives a great comedic performance as a melodramatic Hollywood diva. Her sister Rosemary Lane plays her waitress look-alike, hired to "play" the actress at a public appearance after one of her fits. The hero of the story is Dick Powell as a wide-eyed Hollywood newcomer who falls for the waitress, thinking she is the movie star. Ted Healy plays Powell's "manager", Hugh Herbert plays Lola Lane's daffy father, and Alan Mowbray plays a star with an inflated ego.

Directed by Busby Berkeley, this musical has a few dance sequences, but nothing as out-of-this-world as Berkeley's choreography earlier in the 1930s. The real highlights of this film are the amazing big band performances by the great Benny Goodman and Raymond Paige orchestras. There are some long scenes of great swing music played by excellent musicians, and they are a treat for both the eyes and ears. The legendary drummer Gene Krupa just goes crazy in one set. The songs written for the movie are alright, with none more memorable than the opening tune "Hooray For Hollywood".

With a ten-week contract in his pocket, Dick Powell leaves Benny Goodman's band to go Hollywood. But its conclusion leaves him at loose ends, with only Rosemary Lane as a girlfriend, and Ted Healy as a manager.

Busby Berkeley's movie is most successful for its introduction of "Hooray For Hollywood" and the sheer number and variety of actors, skits, and musical groups playing everything from Stephen Foster to an orchestral version of "Dark Eyes". It's always on the verge of being too much, and then something pulls it back, like Goodman's band playing "Sing Sing Sing" followed by Goodman and Krupa vibing with Lionel Hampton and Teddy Wilson -- placed so it could be clipped for the more sensitive "whites only" houses down South. Clearly we are at the end of the cycle of Warners musicals begun in 1933. This all-star version is too large to be great, although editor George Amy does keep it moving forward like a juggernaut.

I totally believe in not rewriting history, and it is always interesting to see how minorities were treated in films. However, the blackface scene in this movie made me cringe.

That out of the way, Hollywood Hotel is pleasant enough. Ronnie Bowers (Dick Powell) is a saxophone player in Benny Goodman's band, He wins a talent contest and the prize is a ten-week trip to Hollywood. Once there, he is brought to the Hollywood Hotel.

We then meet a real diva, Mona Marshall (Lola Lane), her sister (Mabel Todd), her father Chester (Hugh Herbert), and her secretary (Glenda Farrell).

Angry that she didn't get a role she wanted, Mona leaves the city even though a new film of hers opens that night. A waitress who resembles her, Virginia (Rosemary Lane) is hired to impersonate her, and Ronnie escorts her to the premiere.

When Mona finds out, she's livid and has Virginia and Ronnie fired. Ronnie gets a job as a waiter. He's discovered, but it's to dub for the male star of Mona's new movie.

Lots of music, good performances. Nothing special.

Ronny Bowers (Dick Powell) is a sax player in Benny Goodman's band. He wins a contest and a contract with a film studio. He's headed for Hollywood. He goes to a premier with Virginia Stanton (Rosemary Lane) who is a stand-in to diva movie star Mona Marshall (Lola Lane). Gossip columnist Louella Parsons has a program called "Hollywood Hotel" in real life and in this movie.

This is best remembered for its opening with Hooray for Hollywood and a lot of placards of Hollywood stars. It is Benny Goodman music and a couple of Lane sisters. Dick Powell is being that guy. I like when the sisters get confused together. It's a light comedic inside take on Hollywood that doesn't really hit that hard. It is Hooray for Hollywood after all. The song is the best part of the movie and that makes it iconic.

Hollywood Hotel was the last movie musical that Busby Berkeley directed for Warner Bros. His directing style had changed or evolved to the point that this film does not contain his signature overhead shots or huge production numbers with thousands of extras. By the last few years of the Thirties, swing-style big bands were recording the year's biggest popular hits. The Swing Era, also called the Big Band Era, has been dated variously from 1935 to 1944 or 1939 to 1949. Although it is impossible to exactly pinpoint the moment that the Swing Era began, Benny Goodman's engagement at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles in the late summer of 1935 was certainly one of the early indications that swing was entering the consciousness of mainstream America's youth. When Goodman featured his swing repertoire rather than the society-style dance music that his band had been playing, the youth in the audience went wild. That was the beginning, but, since radio, live concerts and word of mouth were the primary methods available to spread the phenomena, it took some time before swing made enough inroads to produce big hits that showed up on the pop charts. In Hollywood Hotel, the appearance of Benny Goodman and His Orchestra and Raymond Paige and His Orchestra in the film indicates that the film industry was ready to capitalize on the shift in musical taste (the film was in production only a year and a half or so after Goodman's Palomar Ballroom engagement). There are a few interesting musical moments here and there in Hollywood Hotel, but except for Benny Goodman and His Orchestra's "Sing, Sing, Sing," there isn't a lot to commend. Otherwise, the most interesting musical sequences are the opening "Hooray for Hollywood" parade and "Let That Be a Lesson to You" production number at the drive-in restaurant. The film is most interesting to see and hear Benny Goodman and His Orchestra play and Dick Powell and Frances Langford sing.

Directed by Busby Berkeley, the movie is about a saxophonist in Benny Goodman's band who wins a talent contest and gets a 10-week contract with a film studio. Lots of misunderstandings lead to the opportunity for Dick Powell and Rosemary Lane to put on a great show. The film is best remembered for the featured song "Hooray for Hollywood" by Johnny Mercer and Richard A. Whiting, sung by Johnnie Davis and Frances Langford, with Goodman and His Orchestra. Ironically, the satirical song became a standard part of Tinsel Town glamour and is still hauled out regularly for award shows and celebrations, even though Mercer's lyrics contain numerous references to the phoniness of the movie industry and film stardom. This is one of the best Warner Bros. musicals of the 1930s. --Musicals on the Silver Screen, American Library Association, 2013

This is really a lemon of a musical from Warner Bros. with DICK POWELL as a boy singer who wins a contest that sends the naive guy to Hollywood where he ends up escorting a movie star imposter (ROSEMARY LANE) to a Hollywood premiere. Seems Rosemary is impersonating a temperamental diva (LOLA LANE), who overacts in awful style the role of a spoiled movie star who refuses to attend the premiere of her latest musical.

None of the songs are the least bit memorable but occasionally director Busby Berkeley gets to improvise and put some of his touches on the camera-work and choreography of assorted group numbers. Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra with Gene Krupa on the drums and a visible Harry James as a member of the band, gets to have a couple of big band segments, and Frances Langford gets to do a brief song with Dick Powell. Raymond Paige and his orchestra do a nice job on a Russian number with chorus and orchestra. These are the film's only highlights.

Comedy relief is supplied by Hugh Herbert, Ted Healy, Edgar Kennedy, Allyn Joslyn, Curt Bois, Glenda Farrel and Grant Mitchell, weak as it is. You can catch a glimpse of Ronald Reagan as the MC at the premiere of a new film, Carole Landis as a hatcheck girl in the background of a scene with Hugh Herbert, and Louella Parsons plays herself as a columnist who thinks she's getting the scoop on things. It's a good thing she didn't give up her day job.

On the plus side, ROSEMARY LANE is lovely and has a nice singing voice, DICK POWELL does a passable job on some innocuous songs, and GLENDA FARREL has a winning way with some sharp wisecracks. ALAN MOBRAY is painfully bad as an overbearing actor that Powell is hired to sing for, and just about all of the comedy efforts are handicapped by a bad script.

LOLA LANE overdoes the diva bit to an almost irritating degree at the start of the film and it all goes downhill from there.

Good camera-work, some nice B&W photography of plush interiors, and a few nice touches by Busby Berkeley can't compensate for a cliché-ridden story of boy meets girl in Hollywood, set to some "moon and June" songs that can hardly be called inspired.

Summing up: Disappointing musical.

"Hollywood Hotel" is a nice bit of nostalgia that gives you a chance to see Hollywood of the past. You'll see glimpses of the Brown Derby restaurant, the Hollywood Bowl, Louella Parsons playing herself and see a fictionalized story of a young talent (Dick Powell) being discovered and made a star. It's all pretty good fun...but it's FAR from a perfect picture. That's because there are several characters that are absolutely dreadful. You know it's got some terrible characters when Hugh Herbert and Ted Healy are NOT among the most unlikable and obnoxious folks in the film (and they are unlikable and obnoxious)! The most obvious and rather embarrassing performance is Lola Lane parodying an obnoxious and overrated actress. There's a fine line between being funny and just being obnoxious--Lola, unfortunately, is not funny in this role and the director (Busby Berkeley) did a lousy job of getting a believable performance out of her. But, the absolutely WORST is Mabel Todd who plays a cretin--an absolutely horrid and unfunny character that is MUCH less subtle than Jerry Lewis' characters from the 1950s. She is simply a cancer on the film and every second she's in the movie is dreadful. Fortunately, she's only in a few scenes here and there but it's amazing just how easy I found it to hate her. Now you might think I am being too harsh--see the movie yourself and I can almost guarantee you'll agree with me.

It's all such a big shame, as there are a lot of things to like about the film. You get to see Benny Goodman and his orchestra in their prime, a VERY young Ronald Reagan in one of his first films (and, you'll probably notice how different his voice is) and a couple decent performances by Powell and Rosemary Lane (Lola's real-life sister). It's also an interesting film because in many ways the plot is like the one later used in "Singing in the Rain". It's so similar that fans of this later film should be fascinating due to the parallels.

By the way, there are a couple cringe-worthy and politically incorrect moments to look out for if you see the film. There's the very gay fashion designer as well as when Hugh Herbert is in black-face (uggh).