VividSimon Simply Perfect

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

kidboots On February 2nd, 1922, William Desmond Taylor, a top Paramount director, was found dead of a gunshot wound in his Hollywood bungalow - a murder that has never been solved. A couple of witnesses saw a man or a woman dressed in men's clothing flee the scene but the studio was called before the police and in an effort to save careers and reputations a lot of evidence was destroyed or tampered with. "Hollywood Story" was purported to ride on the coat tails of "Sunset Boulevard" of the year before but I thought it had more in common with "The Preview Murder Mystery", a Paramount quickie of 1935, which told of the mysterious disappearance of a silent matinée idol.Larry O'Brien (Richard Conte) is a hot shot producer bought to Hollywood by Mitch Davis (Jim Backus), his old school chum now a top agent. He becomes enthralled by an unsolved murder of long ago (Jan. 5th, 1929) of a top silent director, Franklin Ferrara. He is given the bungalow where Ferrara met his death (the layout of the rooms looks eerily like those where Taylor met his death) and it is completely unchanged since 1929. Against Mitch's advice Larry decides to go ahead with a movie about the mysterious murder and a host of "old timers" are introduced - Francis X. Bushman, Betty Blythe, William Farnum, Helen Gibson - even "new timer" Joel McCrea has a cameo role. He also seeks out Ferrara's writer, Vincent St. Clair (Henry Hull) who is living in a shack and employs him to write the script.It seems everyone is less than pleased that a movie about the murder is being made - someone even takes a pot shot at Larry through the window. That murder attempt brings in inquisitive cop Budd Lennox (a young Richard Egan) and being a William Castle movie even he seems to have a hidden motive in trying to solve the old case. There is also Larry's manager Sam Collyer (Fred Clark) who says he will definitely not support dredging up the past then quickly changes his mind - it comes out he was also involved with Ferrara at the time, being his business manager. Also upset is Sally Rousseau (Julie Addams), Ferrara's leading lady's daughter who begs him to forget the movie as too many innocent people will be hurt - she seems to be very close to reclusive matinée idol Roland Paul (Paul Cavanaugh). I was amazed to see "The Phantom of the Opera" being passed off as a "Franklin Ferrara" picture instead of Rupert Julians. Had people of 1951 really forgotten so much about silent film history that William Castle was confidant that no one would pick up the obvious mistake!!! When "Hollywood Story" was released, Universal went out of it's way to promote the former famous silent stars who appeared in the movie (to me, William Farnum appeared more sprightlier than in the westerns I had seen him in from the early 1930s ie "The Painted Desert" (1930)) but there was always someone with a gripe. Elmo K. Lincoln, the movies original Tarzan, complained bitterly about being exploited, saying he was only paid $15 a day (for a non speaking part) but the studio got $15,000 worth of free publicity out of him!!!

jotix100 "Hollywood Story" directed by William Castle takes a fond look at the not too distant past as movies were evolving from silent to talkies. Written by Frederick Kohner and Frederick Brady, the film centers around a famous unsolved murder of a producer Franklin Ferrara, found dead in the bungalow that served as his office in 1929.Larry O'Brian, a successful producer comes to Hollywood hoping to start a few projects. He is shown around the old vacant studio owned by Ferrara as a possible venue where to shoot a film. He hears the story about the murder in the place where it happened and gets intrigued to make a film that might shed some insight in what really happened. As he works in the production, figures from the past start to emerge. The situation gets complicated as the film is being put together, but O'Brian manages to get to the bottom of the mystery, solving the crime by examining the evidence with a careful eye.Richard Conte, usually seen as a heavy, appears as Larry O'Brian the man who stumbles on a puzzle some twenty years after the actual murder occurred. The supporting cast includes reliable figures of that era: Fred Ward, Jim Backus, Richard Egan, Julie Adams, Henry Hull, and Paul Cavanagh among them. There are also some silent stars in cameo roles like Francis Bushman, Betty Blythe, Helen Gibson, and William Farnum in a well deserved tribute to them. Joel McCrea appears briefly in a film being shot at a studio.The Los Angeles of the early 1950s is given a wonderful look by cinematographer Carl Guthrie who follows the action in different parts of the city that are long gone. The music score is credited to Frank Skinner. William Castle shows he was one of the best among directors.

bsnmsn Saw this movie as a kid, watching " The Late Show, " which was always a great old b/w movie. Years later, read about the murder of William Desmond Taylor and thought this hit awfully close to home. Taylor was a director of some note in early Hollywood, but also known to be quite the ladies' man. He was murdered in his apartment and the case was never officially solved. After his murder, the career of Mary Miles Minter, a well known Hollywood starlet was pretty much in ruins, due to several pieces of her personal belongings found at the scene of the crime, which is interesting, as studio bigwigs were called to the apartment before the police were called. Also interesting was the rumor that his now missing valet / butler / chauffeur was in reality his brother. The deceased Tayor was not who he appeared to be - he had long before abandoned a wife and child and re-invented himself. Years later, the famed Hollywood director King Vidor became interested in the mystery and worked on it for some years. His efforts were detailed in a book called " A Cast Of Killers, " well worth the read.

django-1 I got this film because I like 40s/50s mysteries, because I like Richard Conte, and because it was directed by William Castle and thus HAD to be interesting. Actually, it is an excellent little mystery. New York-based producer Conte comes out to LA to make some films and rents an old studio building that hasn't been used since the silent era (which was only 22 years ago at the time of this film). The last year of silents, 1929, a major silent director was killed at the studio, and the case has never been solved. Conte decides to research the director and the murder for a film plot--he digs up a few of the people who worked at the studio and learns more about the mystery... while a new mystery starts to develop and the guilty party from 1929 starts to cause trouble again. It's as cleverly plotted as the best Columbo or Perry Mason episode, and Conte as always is powerful and sympathetic. He was one of the great post-WWII stars and his work should be revived today--watch THE BROTHERS RICO sometime! Great supporting cast with Jim Backus, Richard Egan, the lovely Julie Adams, and silent star and 30s independent-film regular William Farnum. It's always good to be pleasantly surprised by a film that delivers much more than you expected, and this is such a nice little mystery. It's not on video or DVD, but keep your eye out for it.