Karry
Best movie of this year hands down!
Rosie Searle
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Raflet60
As a huge fan of old Hollywood I always loved this cartoon. I find it amusing how younger folks have a difficult time understanding it due to the fact they probably don't watch enough old movies to know who these stars are. In the Wikipedia article on this cartoon, they mention the actor sitting with Claudette Colbert early on as Don Ameche. Upon repeated viewing I'm inclined to think it's the great George Brent. It looks too much like him and he was a much bigger star than Ameche ever became. Although brilliant I will agree it is dated in that all the references pertain to movies of that era. As a 55 year old, I grew up when these movies were staples on television and recognized almost all of the stars. All in all this is a great representation of when Hollywood was truly loaded with big movie stars. I'd cringe to think of what a modern version would look like. On a final note, there is nothing confusing about this cartoon and it doesn't matter if children don't get it. These cartoons were never meant for children as they were shown in movie theaters prior to the main events. This is a great representation of how things were at that time in Hollywood.
Michael_Elliott
Hollywood Steps Out (1941) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Delightful Warner short doesn't have any real story to speak of but the highlight here is seeing all sorts of Hollywood stars out dancing at a club. We get countless cameos including Gable, Garbo, Hardy, Cagney, Bogart, Robinson, The Three Stooges, Rooney, Stewart, Weismuller, Grant and many others including Karloff as the Frankenstein monster. Again, there's no real story going on here as the entire seven-minutes is just a set up for the various stars to run into one another. There are quite a few highlights but one would have to be the seen with Cagney and Bogart planning some crimes. Another is the brilliant final gag that I won't spoil here but it certainly ends the film on a big laugh. It was also fun seeing all the spoofs thrown at Gable but one of the biggest laughs comes from an Andy Hardy joke. The film contains the usual great animation, nice score and the brilliant voice work by Mel Blanc.
slymusic
A wonderful Warner Bros. cartoon directed by Tex Avery, "Hollywood Steps Out" is perhaps the epitome of Hollywood celebrity caricatures. This cartoon essentially has no plot; all the various Hollywood personalities hang out at Ciro's, which was quite a popular nightclub back then, and they all have their comic moments. And that's basically it. (If you haven't yet seen this marvelous cartoon, please do not read any further.) Among the familiar faces I recognize are Cary Grant, James Stewart (my favorite actor), Henry Fonda, Peter Lorre, Groucho & Harpo Marx, Clark Gable, Sonja Henie, the Three Stooges (Curly, Larry, and Moe), Oliver Hardy, Leopold Stokowski, Leon Schlesinger (an inside joke), Ned Sparks, J. Edgar Hoover, Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, Bing Crosby, and James Cagney. There are numerous others I do not recognize."Hollywood Steps Out" is quite interesting to see how well all the various Hollywood celebrities are caricatured, not to mention the brilliant voice characterizations. Overall, this cartoon is comically entertaining.
movieman_kev
Set in the Legenday Hollywood hills restaurant Ciro's, this Tex Avery directed Looney Tunes short has way too many caricatures of popular actors and actresses of yesteryear to list them all here. It's notable to know that the stripper/ dancer scene is a prelude of shorts to Avery's later 'Red Hot Riding Hood' cartoons. It's a very interesting short and transports you back to the '30's even if you were born, like me, much MUCH later. This animated short can be seen on Disc 4 of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 2 and also features an optional commentary by Greg Ford.My Grade: A-
