Tonight's movie was a gem from the pre-code era, "What Price Hollywood"? (1932), in which the industry examines itself. The story takes aim at the perils of being in the motion picture business. Constance Bennett stars as "Mary Evans", a waitress at The Brown Derby restaurant. Very quickly I must mention that the actual original Brown Derby on Wilshire Boulevard, the one that looked like a hat, was used as the location. Man, that was so cool to see, and what a historic piece of footage to have it in this movie all the way back in '32, 87 years ago. The early 30s, though, with the art deco stylings were so modern looking that, rather than seeming old, they almost seem futuristic. But now I am going off on a tangent, so I shall nip it in the bud.
The Brown Derby caters almost exclusively to studio executives and creative personnel, so Mary, an aspiring actress, keeps herself primed and ready every night on her shift, in case she waits on a Bigwig who might give her an audition. One night, the legendary (and fictional) director Max Carey pulls up in his limousine and walks tipsily into the restaurant. He is the hottest director in Hollywood, also an eccentric and a total alcoholic. But he's got maximum clout, and because Mary has pizzaz, even just being his waitress, and because she is the blonde Kewpie Doll type that early Hollywood was so fond of, he takes a liking to her.
Carey is hammered by the time he leaves the Derby, so he asks Bennett to see him home.
The next thing you know, she has slept over - on the downstairs couch, so don't worry - and he wakes up not remembering the previous night whatsoever.
She prompts him to remember that he offered her a part in his latest movie, which has already begun shooting. Soon they are both on set and we see the big Hollywood machine in action, a movie being filmed with the entire crew present on an enormous sound stage. Constance Bennett as "Mary" tries to play her one scene, but her line delivery is horribly amateurish. Director Carey (played by early actor Lowell Sherman) wants to let her go but relents after she promises to do better the next day.
Back home, she practices her lines and her stage directions all night, and the next morning she nails her scene. Carey watches in the screening room, but he is drunk as always and about to nod off. The producer, however, is ecstatic. "Who is dat girl?! Get her back here immediately"!, he exclaims in his Russian/English. He is played by an actor named Gregory Ratoff, as the cliche manic and madcap Eastern European Hollywood Producer of the Golden Era, full of ideas for hit movies and talking a mile a minute.
All of a sudden, "Mary" the waitress is going to be given the full force of the studio's promotional department to turn her into an overnight movie star. We now jump-cut a couple of years into the future. She has indeed become one of the biggest female stars in the business, with several hit pictures to her name. Meanwhile, Max Carey, the director who gave her her first big break continues to spiral downward. The producer fires him from his latest film for going awol. He turns up drunk and in jail for writing a bad check.
By now, Mary is shooting her latest movie at a Polo Club in Santa Barbara. There she will meet a man from a different type of High Society, a polo player from New York (played by Neil Hamilton aka "Commissioner Gordon" of "Batman" fame). Hamilton is a mannered snob from old money who looks down on Hollywood and it's celebrity culture. Nevertheless, he is smitten by Constance Bennett, a cutie in the Carol Lombard mold, if you threw in a little Lucille Ball on the side. Bennett was a big star in real life, and as a side note I must mention that her own personal car - a custom stretch limo - is on display at the Nethercutt Museum in Sylmar, right here in the Valley. I've been to the Nethercutt many times and have photographed many of the cars there. In fact, I may have taken a pic of Ms. Bennett's car too. It might be in one of my photo albums from 2012 to 2014. If it isn't, I will go back and take a picture of it soon. It's a pretty awesome ride.
Back to the movie, once Mary is introduced to Neil Hamilton, her whole life changes. He is a high pressure Type A Male, who in the movie is abusive to Mary in ways that are played as "men being men" but in today's society would never be accepted. He isn't brutal, but he forces her to do anything he wants to do. In one instance, he drags her to a fancy dinner, bodily. This is played as farce comedy, but because it is pre-code, we can see the women's rights issues sticking through the surface. Bennett nails the facial expressions of a woman who is putting up with an asshole man, and is doing so in order to stay in the game and advance her place in the world. You see, even though she is a huge star, she still feels inadequate. Neil Hamilton uses this against her psychologically to get her to marry him, by convincing her that - beyond her movie stardom - there is something even bigger : East Coast Class.
Man what an a-hole. You can tell this marriage ain't gonna last, and it starts to fall apart when Hamilton makes her choose between staying in Hollywood to make movies and moving back east to live with him in "proper society". She likes her Hollywood friends, though, so he loses and so does their marriage. Mary has a special place in her heart for director Max Carey, who by this point in the 88 minute movie is nearly homeless. He can't stop drinking and his career is over.
She leaves her highbrow husband to try and save Carey, her director friend who gave her her first big break.
From there, the plot will spin out into disarray, though I shant tell you in which direction.
I will say that Lowell Sherman, whom I had never heard of before tonight, should've been nominated for an Academy Award for his performance as "Max Carey".
It is also very interesting to see the facility some of these early actors have with the transition into the sound era. I know that by 1932, we were three years into sound, but still, in some pre-code movies you see a lot of acting that is obviously held over by techniques from the Silent era. But when you watch Constance Bennett, she is such a natural in front of a moving camera, working in the new way of speaking recorded dialogue, that you are very impressed. This is how the very idea of Movie Stars was formed, by the early actors and actresses who evolved from Silent pictures into the sound era and quickly learned the requisite techniques for acting while actually speaking in their own voice.
Two Big Thumbs Up for "What Price Hollywood"?, which has elements that hint at the William Taylor Desmond story, but most of all has all of that great location footage and a terrific performances by Constance Bennett and especially Lowell Sherman.
This is great stuff from almost 90 years ago, and as I say, the 1930s looks almost more modern than 2019. ///
That's all for tonight. See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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