Alice in Movieland
 
 

Director: Jean Negulesco
Year:  1940
Rating: 6.0


This is rather a fun curiosity. It is a short of 21 minutes produced by Warner Brothers that acts as both a promo for Warner Brothers and as an introduction to audiences of Joan Leslie. Leslie was only 15 at the time and had appeared in a few tiny uncredited roles but Warner's had hopes for her. In this short Alice Purdee (Leslie) wins a beauty contest and the prize is a try out in Hollywood. The whole town turns out to see her off. The short tells of her experiences in tinsel town trying to break in and manages a few quick cameos of Ronald Reagan, Alan Hale, Alexis Smith, Craig Stevens, Jane Wyman and mentions of Bette Davis, Ann Southern, Ida Lupino and a few more. All Warner contract players.

Leslie shines in the film with a smile that radiates and within two years had appeared in High Sierra, The Wagons Roll at Night, Sgt. York, Yankee Doodle Dandy and went on to a fine if not spectacular career. Of note also is the director, Jean Negulesco, who was a good director with The Mask of Dmitrios, Humoresque, How to Marry a Millionaire, Three Coins in the Fountain, Daddy Long Legs and many others to his credit. He moved to the USA from Europe in 1927 and got into the film business but first as an art director, then Assistant Director and then directing shorts for four long years until he finally got his chance with Dimitrios.