Actually, this one doesn't start off too badly – it just gets worse and worse as it progresses. Comedian Nat Carr plays a studio head who makes all the wrong business guesses and murders the English language in the process. There's a limit to the amount of humor that can be wrung from a take-off on Sam Goldwyn, and Carr reaches that limit about 20 minutes in, forcing the screenwriter to bring the film to a climax by rehashing that old gag of something going wrong in the projection booth causing women's voices to issue from men and vice versa. This is played through at excruciating length. It's hard to believe that this feast of incompetence was directed by Mark Sandrich who did such a good job on the Astaire-Rogers pictures at RKO. The leading actress, Australian-born Fay Marbe, was the star of an Austrian feature, Dorine and Her Downfall (1938), but aside from a brief appearance in the 6th edition of The Voice of Hollywood, she made no more movies after this miss. Or should I say "mess"? Admittedly, for a few moments there it looked like the movie might turn into a fully-fledged musical. Indeed it could be condensed into a reasonably entertaining two-reel musical short. But no such luck. Mr Carr swamps all comers except Tom O'Brien, who likewise over-plays his role as an inebriated projectionist. Available on an excellent Alpha DVD.
Review of The Talk of Hollywood
