Stand-In is a formulaic studio film from the 1930s that still manages to hold up well today due to some fine performances, some well-timed situational comedy, and a story that doesn't take itself too seriously. Leslie Howard plays Atterbury Dodd, an accountant sent west to Hollywood to turn around a failing movie studio or close it down. In the process he finds a girl for a love interest, a producer for a partner, and learns a deep, meaningful lesson about seeing through cold facts to people's hearts. It is a bit cheesy but still some good fun. Joan Blondell is Howard's main foil and she is very warm and likable. Character actor Alan Mowbray is also very good and very funny as a Russian director who has made a disastrous jungle epic that will be the studio's ruin unless Howard and his producer cohort, played by a scene-stealing Humphrey Bogart, can salvage it. Fans of Howard and Bogart will remember their pairing in the classic The Petrified Forest, and their chemistry works in this long over-looked film as well. Bogart, in particular, prior to his achieving true leading man status, seems almost unrecognizable in a supporting role. Blondell manages to generate some genuine pathos from her stock role, that of the girl who goes unrecognized by a single-minded man, and she does so without going over the top. The frustration Howard finds when he tries to conduct business in a normal manner, only to be told "That's Hollywood" wears a little but is still amusing. The most humorous aspect is the illustration of how Hollywood has always spoofed itself, dating back to its origins and continuing throughout its history.