What Price Hollywood

One of the wittiest Hollywood movies about Tinseltown culture, this 1932 comedy stars Constance Bennett as an aspiring actress waiting tables at the Brown Derby, who receives her big break when a drunken film director (Lowell Sherman) invites her to a film premiere. In some ways, What Price Hollywood plays as a rough draft for A Star is Born with its tale of a director drinking his way down the ladder while his “discovery” makes her rise to stardom. And it's kind of a love story, although the love between bubbly Bennett and sardonic Sherman is platonic, a matter of friendship and loyalty. Neil Hamilton (Commissioner Gordon in the 1960s TV series Batman) is quite the stiff as Bennett's suitor, a snob of a millionaire polo champion, while Gregory Ratoff parodies every blustery studio boss of the 1930s as a producer. This is the rare movie about moviemaking that actually shows technicians doing real jobs on a set and a director actually directing actors with practical suggestions. Sherman was a director in his own right as well as a leading man, and he brings a little of his experience to his role in front of the camera. Director George Cukor finds the authenticity under the phoniness in this underrated classic of 1930s Hollywood, which is smart, snappy, mature, and engaging. Released in a DVD-R format as part of the manufacture-on-demand Warner Archive line, this is recommended. (S. Axmaker)