365 Nights in Hollywood

An early star-making vehicle for the under-appreciated Alice Faye, this movie spends too much time on the behind-the-scenes rigmarole that goes into the process of turning an aspiring singer into a marketable commodity. Favorite line "Go back to Peoria, learn to cook, and raise a family!" While Faye is given ample opportunity to imitate Jean Harlow, she is given too little to sing; nevertheless, the fabulous production number casting her in a variety of worldwide stereotypes is a hoot. Some of the sexual innuendo is obviously free of the censorship brought on by the Hays Code.

This is one of the earliest Alice Faye musicals I have seen and it's strictly for us, her fans and, perhaps, the connoisseurs of early musicals. While Not among Faye's best musicals, I thought "365 Nights in Hollywood", directed by George Marshall, was above-average musical: likable, pleasing, unpretentious effort that just passes the time. Ms. Faye - very young and looking exactly like Jean Harlow - plays an aspiring, talented movie star that joins a bogus film school, run by Grant Mitchell, and through the help of a has-been director, played by James Dunn, whom she ultimately falls in love, she succeeds and becomes a rising musical star. The songs and production numbers are well mounted and pleasing throughout.

If you like this one, I recommend "George White's 1935 Scandals"(1935), again with Faye and Dunn.

This is pretty much a collection of vaudeville bits stapled together. It's a film within a film, and the teachers at the film academy want to bilk a rich guy (Mr. Young) out of his money. Sound quality is pretty shredded in this oldie black and white from 1934. At the opening, "Alice" (Alice Perkins) walks into the film academy and meets the teachers Jimmy (James Dunn) and Delmar (Grant Mitchell). At one point, Grant Mitchell makes a reference to Shirley Temple.... James Dunn had actually worked with Temple several times. Frank Melton is "Young", and talks about coming from Pineapple Alabama... he actually WAS born there (but sadly croaked at 43 from a heart attack). Keep an eye out for Clarence and Percy at the talent show (Jack Durant and Frank Mitchell ); they had done vaudeville together for years, as well as appearing together in NINE films! Some silliness with them as two goofy ice delivery guys... The plot and the song & dance numbers are pretty hokey, but it's all just an opportunity for us to see the actors and vaudeville guys doing their acts. Directed by George Marshall, who had been around forever, and done about every role there is in the industry. It's all pretty silly, but if you hang in there, you'll get to the end. It's pretty much a "How-Not-To-Make-a-Film" !

Negligible low budget very early Alice Faye musical which is in terrible shape. The picture is full of scratches, very washed out and over-bright so that it's rather hard on the eyes of the viewer. This is from the period where the studio was still trying to push Alice as a musical Jean Harlow so she looks awful with too much makeup and ridiculously thin and distracting eyebrows. As for the plot, it's the old saw about a girl from the sticks looking for her big break and the down and outer who helps her get it. Still Alice sings well and the view of Hollywood it presents is interesting in a historical aspect. But if you're just looking for an enjoyable Alice Faye musical go for one of her later films where the production values were higher and she was presented in a more flattering way

If you're a film buff, "365 Nights in Hollywood" is well worth watching. It's hokey, frenetic and plot-wise doesn't always make sense. But you won't find a better example of where movies were at just a few years after the introduction of sound. Alice Faye, in her second screen role, plays a star-struck kid from Peoria who's conned into signing up with a phony Hollywood talent school. Back when "365 Nights..." was made by Fox (sans Twentieth Century,) she was just hitting her stride as an actress. But she nails the production numbers -- as a succession of singing sirens in one sequence and a chorus of Alice Fayes in another. James Dunn co-stars as the down-on-his-luck movie director, fronting for the school, who sets out to outwit his employer and give her a shot at stardom. And before the fun is finished, he returns to his hoofing days to join Faye in a climactic song-and-dance routine that's a pleasure to watch.