If gathering a huge group of talents together in one place was enough to make a great movie, Hollywood Party would be a masterpiece. It was produced by Howard Dietz and Arthur Freed, later to make their respective marks with the classic '50s MGM musicals The Band Wagon and Singin’ in the Rain. It had music and lyrics by famed '30s songwriters Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart (at least until much of their contribution was scrapped). It had a grand total of eight directors (though, as actor Eddie Quillan pointed out in Randy Skretvedt's L&H biography, none of them would take credit for it -- and not because of undue modesty). And it had every star that MGM could drum up for it -- including Laurel and Hardy, on a four-day loan-out from Hal Roach.
But even if you have all of the ingredients for a light souffle, if you don’t cook it right, you still end up with a gooey mess -- here personified in a silly story starring Jimmy Durante as an ersatz Hollywood Tarzan who holds a huge party for a certain Baron Munchhausen so that he can get a good deal on the Baron's lions for his new movie.
Laurel & Hardy are squeezed into this thing as the previous owners of the lions, purchased by the Baron with a check for "50,000 tiddly-winks." When Stan and Ollie have trouble cashing the check, they crash the party to retrieve their lions.
At least, that's what the plot tells them they were supposed to do. Fortunately, they had the good sense to make fun of their assigned storyline and then jettison it for a confrontation with a burly butler (Tom Kennedy) and a tit-for-tat egg-breaking routine with a spoiled-brat starlet (Lupe Velez). The filmmakers obviously knew what side their bread was buttered on; they gave Laurel & Hardy's all-too-brief scenes top billing over Durante’s hammy part.
Warner Bros.' two-DVD "L&H Collection" includes only the Laurel & Hardy segments from Hollywood Party. Even for non-L&H buffs, that might well be the best way to watch it.
(C) 2006, Steven Bailey.
