(1937)
2.5
Craig Butler
Hollywood Hotel is a silly film, but it's the fizzy kind of silly and thus comes out as a slightly more-than-middling musical. In other words, you can have fun with Hotel while never once thinking you're seeing a really good film. Busby Berkeley directed it, which is both obvious and curious: obvious because it has a nice amount of razzle dazzle to it, curious because there are none of the famous Berkeley geometric dance routines, and really not much dance to speak of. There's movement, however, with Berkeley running his camera every which way, especially during the opening number. That number is a corker, the immortal "Hooray for Hollywood, with its delightful Johnny Mercer lyrics and effervescent Richard Whiting music. The tunesmiths provide a number of other catchy numbers, and Benny Goodman is on hand to add a rousing, glorious "Sing, Sing Sing" as well. Dick Powell is fine as the protagonist and Rosemary Lane and Lola Lane are enjoyable as the women around him, but the best performances come from supporting players like Ted Healy, Hugh Herbert and Alan Mowbray, and from vocal contributions from Johnnie Davis and Frances Langford. The script is so much nonsense, and there's some uncomfortable blackface humor, but otherwise Hotel is a genial way to waste some time.
Hollywood Hotel on AllMovie
Hollywood Hotel (1937)
