"Variety Girl" is one of those films that was popular in the 1930s and 40s which supposedly gives audiences a behind the scenes look at a Hollywood Studio. In each, the various big-time contract players are seen as a VERY scripted version of themselves...and most of the major studios made films like this. Some examples include "The Hollywood Revue of 1929", "The Goldwyn Follies" as well as "Paramount on Parade". For the most part, these films were pure hooey and they are more self-promotion than entertaining when you see them today.
In "Variety Girl", it the story of a very talented young woman and her new, and VERY obnoxious friend....and the women's road to discovery by Paramount. As far as the cast goes, some are actors pretending to be Paramount executives (such as DeForrest Kelley playing a publicity agent) and many are real actors, writers and directors playing a version of themselves. This would include Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Barbara Stanwyck, Paulette Goddard, Gary Cooper, Ray MIlland, Dorothy Lamour, Alan Ladd and quite a few other actors. Non-actors playing themselves include Cecil B. DeMille, George Marshall, Spike Jones and Mitchell Leissen.
I enjoyed seeing the various cameos, though many were simply too brief. What I didn't love was the character played by Olga San Juan. Like Mary Hatcher's character, both were supposedly newbies to Hollywood trying to break into films with Paramount but they simply made San Juan's character too despicable and obnoxious....to the point where it really hurt the film. It was supposed to be funny...but I found her character to be grating every second she was on the screen and her acting way beyond just broad! The 'joke' about all this is that the studio keeps mixing up the two ladies, and when one misbehaves, the other is blamed.
So is this worth seeing? Well, it depends. If you are a fan of old films, you can look past the unlikable story and San Juan and just enjoy the many cameos, as practically everyone at Paramount seems to be in this movie. If you are not a fan of old films, the cameos won't mean much to you and the story itself is simply bad. None of this is very surprising, as most of these 'behind the scenes' films stink and are very short on actual plot. One of the few exceptions I can think of is "Thank Your Lucky Stars" from Warner Brothers. The rest are just more self-promotion than anything else and are tough to love...and this is definitely true of "Variety Girl".
In "Variety Girl", it the story of a very talented young woman and her new, and VERY obnoxious friend....and the women's road to discovery by Paramount. As far as the cast goes, some are actors pretending to be Paramount executives (such as DeForrest Kelley playing a publicity agent) and many are real actors, writers and directors playing a version of themselves. This would include Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Barbara Stanwyck, Paulette Goddard, Gary Cooper, Ray MIlland, Dorothy Lamour, Alan Ladd and quite a few other actors. Non-actors playing themselves include Cecil B. DeMille, George Marshall, Spike Jones and Mitchell Leissen.
I enjoyed seeing the various cameos, though many were simply too brief. What I didn't love was the character played by Olga San Juan. Like Mary Hatcher's character, both were supposedly newbies to Hollywood trying to break into films with Paramount but they simply made San Juan's character too despicable and obnoxious....to the point where it really hurt the film. It was supposed to be funny...but I found her character to be grating every second she was on the screen and her acting way beyond just broad! The 'joke' about all this is that the studio keeps mixing up the two ladies, and when one misbehaves, the other is blamed.
So is this worth seeing? Well, it depends. If you are a fan of old films, you can look past the unlikable story and San Juan and just enjoy the many cameos, as practically everyone at Paramount seems to be in this movie. If you are not a fan of old films, the cameos won't mean much to you and the story itself is simply bad. None of this is very surprising, as most of these 'behind the scenes' films stink and are very short on actual plot. One of the few exceptions I can think of is "Thank Your Lucky Stars" from Warner Brothers. The rest are just more self-promotion than anything else and are tough to love...and this is definitely true of "Variety Girl".