Hollywood Victory Caravan

This is an interesting little short that fans of Hollywood's golden era will really enjoy. It's a propaganda film much like "Hollywood Canteen" except for two big differences. First, it's short. Second, it was actually made for the post-war era. In other words, the war was just won and the purpose of this final bond rally was to gather the money to bring the troops home and send the needy vets to military hospitals for rehabilitation.

The film begins with a lady begging the man in charge of allocating spaces on trains (Franklin Pangborn)--which were at a premium at this time. He can't help her but feels sorry for the lady and suggests she ask Bing Crosby if she can ride on the train with the Hollywood types who are headed East for a Victory Bond rally. Naturally, all the folks on the Paramount lot (except for the guard--played by William Demarest) are more than glad to help because they are all gosh-darn patriotic and swell.

The film features lots of neat cameos--from the likes of Barbara Stanwyck, Alan Ladd, Bob Hope, Betty Hutton and Bing Crosby. Oddly, you also see Humphrey Bogart who was a Warner Brothers star. I assume he was on the Paramount lot on loan--otherwise all the folks are Paramount regulars. Well worth seeing just for these supposedly behind the scene looks at the stars.