Hollywood Story

Brent Walker · Post by **Brent Walker** » Fri Apr 09, 2010 11:25 am

I saw this 1951 William Castle film last Saturday at the Film Noir Festival at the Egyptian in Hollywood. Producer Richard Conte takes over an old studio bungalow (filmed at the Chaplin studio) where the murder of a silent film director occurred back in 1929, a case that was never solved. He decides to make a film about the case, and is soon on the intended receiving end of bullets from somebody trying to keep him from reopening the case. The William Desmond Taylor inspiration was obvious (though the details are different), and it was great seeing cameos by Francis X. Bushman, Betty Blythe, William Farnum and Helen Gibson as themselves (Elmo Lincoln and Hank Mann are also listed on imdb, but weren't seen and appeared to have been cut out of the final release). I enjoyed it a lot (I'd seen it decades ago on TV but remembered little)--the underrated Henry Hull (who's kind of Walter Huston without the pub) was terrific as an old silent screenwriter turned to booze who Conte hired--then discovers he writes all his scripts on a blackboard with diagrams and flow charts (and without dialog of course)! Fred Clark and Jim Backus are their always great selves, and besides the Chaplin studio there are lots of great locations (including the long gone restaurants Jack's at the Beach on the Ocean Park pier and La Rue on Sunset Strip, which are both used with their real interiors).

missdupont · Post by **missdupont** » Fri Apr 09, 2010 1:33 pm

You also see the Hollywood Christmas Parade, exteriors of Grauman's, and Universal-International. Originally there were 13 people who were going to make cameos, including Richard Neill, Baby Marie Osborn, Betty Blythe, Elmo Lincoln, Arlene Pretty, Stewart Holmes, Babe Kane, spec O-Donnell, Dorothy Vernon, Cleo Ridgely, along with Farnum, Gibson, and Bushman. I have a copy of the photo. There's also a fun photo of William Castle playing the organ while Julia Adams and Paul Cavanaugh film their silent scene.

Hal Erickson · Post by **Hal Erickson** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 8:18 am

When Elmo Lincoln was hired to appear in HOLLYWOOD STORY, he went public with complaints about how little he was being paid. His point was that he and several other old-timers had been cast in the film for publicity value, but that only Francis X. Bushman, William Farnum, Betty Blythe and Helen Gibson were given any prominence on screen (or any lines), and that they had been paid a higher fee than the others, most of whom (like Lincoln) were little more than dress extras. Lincoln felt it was unfair that he was getting 55 dollars a day for his "grunt" job while the four above-mentioned actors were paid considerably more for what amounted to a few hours' work.
Possibly Lincoln's attitude resulted in his being cut from the film (if indeed he was--I haven't seen the movie in years).

missdupont · Post by **missdupont** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 9:59 am

He was cut from the film. Only the four mentioned made it in, with maybe 1 or two lines each, in the short scene they are in.

greta de groat · Post by **greta de groat** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 11:12 am

Is this film out on video? I'd love to see it. And how about Hollywood Boulevard? I was just reading Lon and Debra Davis' new book on Bushman and would like to track down some of his late performances (especially the Batman one, though i guess that'll never be out)

greta

daveboz · Post by **daveboz** » Sat Apr 10, 2010 4:49 pm

missdupont wrote:You also see the Hollywood Christmas Parade, exteriors of Grauman's, and Universal-International. Originally there were 13 people who were going to make cameos, including Richard Neill, Baby Marie Osborn, Betty Blythe, Elmo Lincoln, Arlene Pretty, Stewart Holmes, Babe Kane, spec O-Donnell, Dorothy Vernon, Cleo Ridgely, along with Farnum, Gibson, and Bushman. I have a copy of the photo. There's also a fun photo of William Castle playing the organ while Julia Adams and Paul Cavanaugh film their silent scene.

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Not to be too nit-picky, but: that should be Stuart (not Stewart) Holmes, and Paul Cavanagh (not Cavanaugh). Great actors both!

missdupont · Post by **missdupont** » Sun Apr 11, 2010 1:08 am

Tell it to Universal-International, that's how the names are spelled on the back of the photo.

daveboz · Post by **daveboz** » Sun Apr 11, 2010 1:15 am

missdupont wrote:Tell it to Universal-International, that's how the names are spelled on the back of the photo.

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You mean misspelled.

And Universal-International, in case you didn't know, no longer exists.