Out Where the Stars Begin

This Vitaphone short is a combination of self-promotion for Warner Brothers as well as promoting the myth about being discovered in Hollywood. It begins with four of the studio's stars doing quick walk-ons (actually drive-ons)...Dick Foran, Wayne Morris, Ann Sheridan and Pat O'Brian. Then you see folks going on a studio tour and they show various clips of the recent studio productions. The story begins because one of the folks on the tour is a young woman who just KNOWS she's got what it takes to be a star. So, inexplicably, a make-up man champions her cause with a temperamental director...even though no one in the film has seen her sing, dance or act! I am sure this sort of thing happened all the time in Hollywood (NO IT DIDN'T!!!). And, by the end of the picture, she's been discovered and is more popular than Taco Tuesdays.

So is it any good? Well, the star cameos at the beginning aren't that interesting (none of them do anything particularly interesting) and the clips are merely self-promotion. As to the story, it's one giant cliché...an enjoyable cliché but very clichéd nevertheless. My only complaints are too many dull dance numbers and the cameos SHOULD have been much more interesting. So, looking back, it's not that great a film...more a time-passer than anything else.

Evelyn Thawl as "Sally Carter" was pretty and wholesome-looking and a good dancer as she demonstrates here in this 20-minute short came with the "Angels Have Dirty Faces" DVD. It's always nice to see the beautiful Technicolor back in those rare times when it was filmed in the 1930s.

"Sally" is trying to break into the movie business as a dancer. She makes a quick friend in the makeup artist (no name given but played by Jeffrey Lynn) who persuades director "Mr. Nitovich" (Fritz Field) to give her shot. The film also belongs to Field as he gives an over- the-top satire performance of a dramatic European film director making his debut in American films. It's a good thing this is short film because "Nitovich," which his abrasive yelling, soon wears out his welcome.

Anyway, Thawl performs a ballet and a tap dance number, Lynn sings a song and we see cameo shots of a few stars such as Pat O'Brien and Ann Sheridan.

Overall, it's quite corny and dated and, frankly, not something I would more than twice. A sad note: from what I could find, Miss Thawl, who performed mostly on Broadway, lived a very short life....but I have no details of what happened to her.

Not that I'm complaining, mind you, since he's always a lot of fun. Here he drives Armida off the stage because no matter how much he asks her, she can't dance. Fortunately, make-up artist Jeffrey Lynn has snuck aspiring dancer Evelyn Thawl onto the stage. Ta-da! She's a star, even though she never appeared in another picture.

Oh, well. This is one of those Warner Brothers Technicolor shorts intended to show off the process and the studio, with lots of the company's stock players showing up for cameos, and a group of tourists joining in a dance number.

Out Where the Stars Begin (1938)

*** (out of 4)

Sally Carter (Evelyn Thawl) arrives in Hollywood hoping to get on the Warner lot for their latest Musical that is about to start shooting. The wannabe actress enters the lot via a tour and soon finds herself on the sound stage and given her one shot to impress with her voice. This certainly isn't the greatest short ever made but it's a pleasant one with some nice performances plus a great look at the Warner back lot. Dick Foran, Wayne Morris, Ann Sheridan and Pat O'Brien all appear early on as their cars pull up to the studio gates. The rest of the film has Thawl doing a little dance and a couple music numbers and for the most part I found them all to be entertaining. I thought she handled herself quite well here and turned in a good performance. Another big key to enjoying this film is that it was shot in 3-strip Technicolor and looks quite good. Just check out that dark green car that O'Brien is riding in.

Fritz Feld is the best thing in this as the definitive wacky european film director with crazy artistic pretensions which he would reprise many times, lastly in Woody Allen's TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN. Great early technicolor (look for Pat O'Brien's kelly green car.