7 /10 1 Votes
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy Starring Alice White Director Mervyn LeRoy Screenplay J. P. McEvoy | 7/10 IMDb Produced by Robert North Initial release 20 April 1930 Film series Show Girl Film Series Music director Ray Henderson, Joe Burke | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Written by Adaptation:
Harvey F. Thew
James A. Starr
Dialogue:
Harvey F. Thew Based on Hollywood Girl
by J. P. McEvoy Music by Joseph Burke
Ray Henderson Cast Alice White, Blanche Sweet, Jack Mulhall, Loretta Young, Ford Sterling Similar Blanche Sweet movies, First National Pictures movies, Musicals | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Showgirl in Hollywood is a 1930 American Pre-Code all-talking musical comedy-drama film with Technicolor sequences, produced and distributed by First National Pictures, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. The film stars Alice White, Jack Mulhall and Blanche Sweet. It was adapted from the 1929 novel Hollywood Girl, by J. P. McEvoy.
Contents
Al Jolson, Ruby Keeler, Noah Beery, Walter Pidgeon, and Loretta Young make cameo appearances in the final reel, which was photographed in Technicolor. Showgirl in Hollywood is a sequel to the 1928 Warner Bros. silent film Show Girl which also starred Alice White as Dixie Dugan.
A French version of the film, titled Le masque d'Hollywood, was directed by Clarence G. Badger and John Daumery.
Plot
When the film begins, a musical show before closed down before it has had a chance to even open. Jimmie Doyle (Jack Mulhall), who wrote the musical intends to rewrite it while his girlfriend, Dixie Dugan (Alice White), fed up at wasting her time for a show that never even opened, is intent on finding a new career. While at a nightclub, Dixie does a musical number and catches the eye of Frank Buelow (John Miljan), a Hollywood director. Buelow persuades Dixie to go to Hollywood, where he will have a part waiting for her in his upcoming films.
Dixie takes the next train to California. When she arrives, she is disappointed to find that Buelow has been fired from the studio and that there is no part for her. Dixie meets Donny Harris (Blanche Sweet), a former star who is now out of work because she is considered "as old as the hills" at the age of 32. Soon after, Dixie discovers that Jimmie Doyle is now in Hollywood because one of the movie studios had just bought the film rights to his musical play. Jimmie had insisted that Dixie be given the lead in the film version of his play. The film goes into production and Dixie manages to get Donny included in the cast.
One day, Dixie meets Frank Buelow at a restaurant and tells her that he is now working for another studio. Through his influence, Buelow manages to change Dixie into a temperamental and conceited actress and this leads to complications which almost end her film career.
Cast
Songs
Reception
Showgirl in Hollywood received good reviews. Photoplay called the film Alice White's best talkie to date, and described it as "first-rate entertainment, in spite of a soggy spot or two."
Preservation
The film only survives in a black and white copy only. The last reel was originally filmed in Technicolor but is now considered lost.
Home media
Showgirl in Hollywood was released on DVD as part of the Warner Archive Collection in December 2009.