Hollywood Party

The premise of this 20-minute short is an Asian-based Hollywood theme party, a light bit of fluff with a few musical/dance numbers. Most of it is entertaining and harmless, but there are some exceptions, most notably with host Charley "Chan" Chase, who appears fresh off of having left Hal Roach. He treats this like a Halloween party of sorts, donning an obviously fake Fu Manchu mustache and traditional Chinese clothes. Several times he mimics stereotypical broken English while doling out his humor ("Old Chinese proverb say, when on visit, always give hostess the bird," he says, offering his co-host, Elissa Landi, some parrots). There are a couple of other examples of this, including some band members who briefly imitate Mandarin or Cantonese by squawking unintelligibly. A few of the dancers wear Eastern outfits, but there are no attempts at cultural accuracy when they perform, and at times it feels like the broad brushstroke "Asian" cultures are being treated like a cartoon.

I don't believe there was anything at all malicious intended here and there are far worse films from the period, including some that still remain popular. Most of those present appear normally, like Elissa Landi, who has class as a host, and no one appears in exaggerated yellow-face, with eyelids taped, saying or doing aggressively demeaning things. However, at a minimum, there is a level of cultural ignorance and insensitivity that's distressing to modern eyes, and certainly has to be acknowledged.

On the other hand, I would say if you can get through the initial antics of Charley Chase, there are also some pretty nice things to be found here. At the top of that list is Anna May Wong, who is radiant, cultured, fashionable, and gorgeous. It was a treasure to see her here - and what better way to refute the silly affected accents of others than speaking fluently in direct contrast to them? Having just returned from her trip to China following the biggest injustice and disappointment in her career, not being cast as O-Lan in The Good Earth, she puts on a short fashion show. Also, by asking her assistant if she speaks "Beiping Hua" (Beiping being the name in use for Beijing at the time), she subtly points out that Mandarin and Cantonese are separate languages.

Another big highlight were the vibrant colors and beautiful cinematography of James Wong Howe. The use of Technicolor at the vanguard of the technology really showed off the flowers in the setting and the various outfits of the dancers. Howe's framing and color composition on shots like the musical group The Jones Boys gave the simple show high production value.

Much of the rest of the show is simply Western entertainment of the period. This includes:

• The arrival of Clark Gable, Joan Bennett, Joe Morrison, and Freddie Bartholomew through doorways framed in flowers, Morrison "making" a sound by opening his hands like a pair of jaws.

• The Jones Boys performing Chinatown, My Chinatown with nice guitar and vocalization while the Ahern Sisters dance about.

• Sunnie O'Dea performing a tap dance routine after being carried in on a litter.

• Al Lyons and his band performing Igga Dagga, with some humorous lyrics and a variety of musical instruments, including the accordion and one band member playing both the saxophone and clarinet at the same time.

• Betty Jane Rhodes, Leon Janney, and Joe Morrison sing "South Sea Island Magic," with the scene shifting to white dancers in hula skirts on the beach, seen initially through blinds. One of the dancers then performs an interpretation of the hula.

• Jack Goode and his female "graduates" performing a little soft shoe number.

Each segment is just a couple/few minutes long, and the show moves along quickly. None of it is extraordinary, but it had a laidback charm to it. There is also a skit developed in the background with a drunk guy (Leon Errol) trying to order a drink from a "Chinese" bartender who can't understand him. The Caucasian actor playing the bartender warbles in broken Chinese (to say the least) but appears to say "wo bu zhidao" (I don't know) at the end of his lines. The drunk then just helps himself to the liquor. Silly stuff, providing a silly ending.

Overall, at a bare minimum, watch this for Anna May Wong, and the work of James Wong Howe. Try to get past the problematic bits, and enjoy the musical numbers.

This is a 20 min short Chinese-themed outdoor garden party hosted by Elissa Landi and Charley Chase playing Charley Chan Chase. The performers are vaudevillian depictions of Chinese culture. It does have Chinese-American actress Anna May Wong doing a short presentation. Otherwise, it's mostly white performers dressed in Chinese costumes and one black comedy musical group.

On the technical side, this has the brilliant Technicolor. The green is brilliantly green. The primary colors really pop. It's a great example of early color on film. The production value is good for an outdoor party. Most comments are concentrating on the racial insensitivity. Let's be clear. This is racially insensitive... for today. They are however not mean-spirited in their depictions. It is a show of its time. Making the point even more clearer is the presence of Anna May Wong. I'm not saying it's right but it wasn't wrong back then. It's just very icky now. Otherwise, this is standard vaudeville of that era and it's hard to judge the skill level. It doesn't make me laugh but I do understand the attempted concepts. The colors are great and I always applaud any movie that would have Anna May Wong.

Hollywood Party (1937)

* (out of 4)

One hopes a real Hollywood party wasn't as boring as this mess of a short from MGM. The main reason to tune in is the three-strip Technicolor, which was just starting out. In the film Charley Chase and Elissa Landi are introducing various music acts and a few Hollywood A-listers with it all set to a Chinese theme. The Chinese theme also means Chase slanting his eyes, wearing some funny facial hair and throwing around rather stereotypical slang. The movie, no matter how you look at it, is a real embarrassment and one can't help but feel bad for Chase, a veteran of over 250 films, for having to appear in it as MGM certainly didn't do him any favors. The biggest problem is that the film never knows what it wants to be. It starts off appearing to just want to make fun of Chinese customs. It then turns into a music and features some very bad songs. It then tries to be a fashion show, which is fails at miserably even though we see some nearly naked women, which makes one wonder how this got passed by the Hayes Office. Everything this film tries it fails at and the cameos by Joe E. Brown, Anna May Wong, Freddie Bartholomew, Joan Bennett and Clark Gable can't help.

The 3-strip technicolor is the real star of this musical/comedy hodgepodge. The hosts are Elissa Landi and Charlie Chase in an oriental-themed program. We see glimpses of Joan Bennett, Clark Gable, Joe E. Brown and a nice fashion display with Anna May Wong. The real talent is in a quartet of black singers doing a rendition of "Chinatown, My Chinatown". There is a nice scene with a hula-motiff and the song "South Sea Island Magic". Some rather routine dance numbers and so-so Leon Carroll sketch to fill it all out. Watch for it on TCM.

Apart from its historic value as an early example of Technicolor, this is a truly dreadful film. In fact, even the Technicolor itself was just awful--with way over-saturated colors that were very, very hard on the eyes--particularly the greens and pinks.

As for the plot, there isn't much of one. Charley Chase and some lady are the emcees at some bizarre beach party where they and some not especially talented performers act Chinese--or at least act like a dreadful stereotype of Chinese circa 1937. Chase, who could be a funny man, was given absolutely NOTHING to do but make slant-eyed faces at the camera and speak in an awful Chinese-like accent.

In addition to the dreadful acts and narration, there are some very pointless cameos by Clark Gable, Joe E. Brown and others. All the appearances really amount to are exceptionally short clips of only a couple seconds that have no relationship to the rest of the film.

Dumb, pointless and wretched--this is a terrible short that only has some tiny historical value and is as entertaining as watching paint dry. Sadly, while this sappy Hollywoodized version of China was presented, the real plight of the Chinese (who had been invaded and decimated by the Japanese during the 1930s) was never mentioned--they all were portrayed more like "happy children".