It Happened in Hollywood
Director: Henry Lachman
Year: 1937
Rating: 5.5
It Happened in Hollywood is a gentle warmhearted film with no villains and
no moments of real drama. Just a genial look back at the film industry when
it was transforming from the silent period to the talkies. This may be one
of the first films to cover this period. There were casualties as many actors
could not make the transition - some had thick foreign accents that just
could not be understood, others had voices that did not match their film
personas and some just could not act well enough to deliver their lines in
a realistic manner. The studios went in search for new actors - many coming
from the theater and within a few years Hollywood had a new slate of actors
working and very few of the stars of the silent period lasted for long. There
were exceptions of course. Some like Jean Arthur were found to have very
appealing unique voices and it was that characteristic that contributed to
making them a star (though it took Arthur a few years until Capra took her
career in hand). One particular result of the move to sound was the demise
of the Western for a few years until the technology could catch up with it.
That is where this film comes it. Tim Bart is a huge Western star - always
playing the good guy to the cheers of the children in the audience. He is
doing a train tour around the country to promote his latest film visiting
children's hospitals and other places when he hears the news of the move
to sound and that he is wanted back in Hollywood for a test. He and his girlfriend
Gloria Gay take the test - she passes, he fails and the studio releases him.
Bart takes it all well - no star attitudes - he is as nice off the set as
he is on it with his ah shucks talk and cowboy hat. A bit of a Star is Born
takes place as he sinks to poverty and Gay becomes a star. But not really
in a tragic way and you know a happy ending has to be in there somewhere.
Bart is played by Richard Dix who in fact was a star in the silent days -
usually playing the hero in adventures and lots of Westerns - and though
he actually did reasonably well in the talkies with his deep modulated voice
that could have played God, he slowly sank to B movies (the Whistler series
where I got to be a fan of his) caused as much by the introduction of new
younger actors as his alcoholism that killed him at 56 years old in 1949.
Gloria Gay is portrayed by the glorious Fay Wray looking quite ravishing
here. As famous as Wray is for one role if you look at her resume it is mainly
of titles that you have likely never heard of. But she had one wonderful
run of five straight films that are still popular today - Doctor X, The Most
Dangerous Game, The Vampire Bat, Mystery of the Wax Museum and of course
King Kong. Quite the scream queen for her time. Oh - and the film also had
Charlie Chaplin. Mae West, W.C. Fields, Greta Garbo and others - ok not really
- but impersonators of them at a party - you would think Columbia who produced
the film could have gotten some real actors to show up! Also, as a note of
interest - the script is co-written by Sam Fuller - one of his first credits.
The film runs 67 minutes.
