The Hollywood Revue Reviews

A mind-boggling lineup of MGM talent in what is essentially a Broadway revue on film, this extravaganza features enormous production numbers, musical and Technicolor sequences, ballet, Shakespeare, slapstick comedy, special effects (a miniature version of actress Bessie Love climbs out of comedian Jack Benny's pocket), showgirls, snappy repartee and novelty numbers like "Lon Chaney Will Get You," in which a dozen pajama-clad chorus girls are menaced by dancing men in spooky masks. A showcase for MGM's enormous stable of stars, HOLLYWOOD REVUE was at least in part designed to prove that MGM's stars could talk (and sing) with the best of them, since the studio was a bit slow to get on the sound-technology bandwagon. Individual sequences vary wildly in quality, but overall it's an astonishing time capsule of early motion-picture talent, much of which fell by the wayside in the '30s. The following year, Paramount released PARAMOUNT ON PARADE and Universal released THE KING OF JAZZ, similar revue-format compilations of talent.