Hollywood Hotel Reviews

A delightful spoof, HOLLYWOOD HOTEL has more than a few interesting sidelights: Ronald Reagan does a bit as a radio announcer, Susan Hayward is seen briefly, as is Carole Landis, and Louella Parsons plays herself. This was Warner Brother' last big musical of the era, completing a cycle that began with 42ND STREET. Appropriately, Busby Berkeley directs this film. Taking its title from a successful CBS radio show, the film features Dick Powell as Ronnie Bowers, a saxophonist who wins a talent contest that brings him to Hollywood where he thinks he is going to squire movie star Rosemary Lane but winds up with her stand-in (Lola Lane, Rosemary's real-life sister). Powell goes on Parsons' radio show and, naturally, is a hit. Although there isn't really much more than this to the plot, the sidebar satires are often hysterical (for example, a film studio called Miracle Pictures has a sign above the entrance that reads: "If It's a Good Picture, It's a Miracle"). A number of terrific tunes were provided by Johnny Mercer and Richard W. Whiting, including the motion picture industry anthem, "Hooray for Hollywood," which has some of Mercer's best lyrics. Other songs include: "Let That Be A Lesson To You," "Sing, You Son Of A Gun," "I'm Like A Fish Out Of Water," "I've Hitched My Wagon To A Star," "Silhouetted In The Moonlight," "Can't Teach My Heart New Tricks," and "I'm A Ding Dong Daddy From Dumas" (Phil Baxter) as well as "Blue Moon" (Rodgers and Hart).