One of the best of the 'Girl Friends' series starring Todd and Kelly after Zasu Pitts dropped out of the series. On the brink of leaving Hollywood forever, Thelma Todd gets to do an important screen test, and the studio is full of comedy veterans doing their shticks, including the always-enjoyable Billy Gilbert doing his famous sneezing routine -- he would later be called on to do the voice of Sneezy in SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARVES.
5 Reviews
Is "Hollywood" all it's cracked up to be?
hte-trasme29 April 2010
Warning: Spoilers
People often tend to write about what they know; in fact, it's even become something of an axiom that this is always a good idea. Hence, there have always been a lot of Hollywood movies about people making Hollywood movies or trying to make good in them. Sometimes this leads to in-joking, though, that doesn't come off especially well to the audience. Fortunately, in this entry in Hal Roach's series of shorts starring Thelma Todd and Patsy Kelly, the humor is kept on their usual level of character interaction and light slapstick, so fears of movie-about-movie syndrome are mostly unfounded; we do get what appear to be general caricatures of "types" on a film set.
Sometimes their films tended to fall into the "more cute than funny" category for many people, with Thelma's natural vivacity and charm, and Patsy's amusingly brassy and forward personality keeping thing bubbling along entertainingly. This short stays on that level most of the time, but with a few very memorable bits of comic inspiration -- the seemingly sapient horseshoe, Patsy's surprisingly matter-of-fact locking of a competing actress in the closet (which in real life would probably get her arrested shortly after the final frames of this comedy), and the radio that starts with "You cans say that again!" after Patsy issues a complaint to nobody then turns it on are among them.
The second half takes place at Thelam's Hollywood screen test, and we get the unexplained plot development of Patsy showing up unbidden and interfering with everything. This would work better if we knew quite what she was trying to do through most of it. Billy Gilbert appears it seems especially to do his specialty "sneezing routine," which is a little out of the blue but does lead to a nice punchline for the film.
Todd and Kelly make this fun, and though most of it doesn't rise far above the commonplace in terms of material, there are some very nice moments that are well worth catching as well.
Sometimes their films tended to fall into the "more cute than funny" category for many people, with Thelma's natural vivacity and charm, and Patsy's amusingly brassy and forward personality keeping thing bubbling along entertainingly. This short stays on that level most of the time, but with a few very memorable bits of comic inspiration -- the seemingly sapient horseshoe, Patsy's surprisingly matter-of-fact locking of a competing actress in the closet (which in real life would probably get her arrested shortly after the final frames of this comedy), and the radio that starts with "You cans say that again!" after Patsy issues a complaint to nobody then turns it on are among them.
The second half takes place at Thelam's Hollywood screen test, and we get the unexplained plot development of Patsy showing up unbidden and interfering with everything. This would work better if we knew quite what she was trying to do through most of it. Billy Gilbert appears it seems especially to do his specialty "sneezing routine," which is a little out of the blue but does lead to a nice punchline for the film.
Todd and Kelly make this fun, and though most of it doesn't rise far above the commonplace in terms of material, there are some very nice moments that are well worth catching as well.
How to ruin a screen-test in one easy 20 minute lesson.
mark.waltz24 December 2015
Warning: Spoilers
A throwback to what made the silent comedies so knee-slapping funny, this offers the team of Thelma Todd and Patsy Kelly perhaps their funniest vehicle. As two newcomers to Hollywood, they are desperate to get their foot into the door of a movie studio, and when an opportunity presents itself, Todd and Kelly take it up, even if it is at the expense of the real actress (Constance Bergen) who was initially meant to test for the film. Todd expects a peaceful screen-test, but when Kelly shows up unexpectedly, all chaos ensues. Sudden outbursts by the feisty Ms. Kelly during the shooting disturbs everyone, as does the dropping of various noisy props and eventually an effort to make Thelma sneeze which leads to everybody (including sneeze king Billy Gilbert) "a-choo'ing" all over the place. This leads to visual slapstick that had me in hysterics. While Kelly was a later replacement for Zasu Pitts in the Roach series that headlined Ms. Todd, she was even funnier than the nervous "oh, dear" Ms. Pitts because the mixture of her butch antics and her Irish charm likability makes her endearing to audiences in a way they could relate to. It's no wonder that when nostalgia reared its head back in the 1960's and 70's, the long forgotten Patsy was one of the biggest come-back stories in movies and on stage and T.V., winning a Tony for her outrageous performance in "No No Nanette". She was even a key figure as a character witness in Thelma's death, a mystery that has stumped investigators for years. These comedies have stood the test of time and thanks to the opening of long locked vaults, they are delighting new generations who never would have heard of either Todd or Kelly otherwise.
Decent Fun
Michael_Elliott4 January 2009
Maid in Hollywood (1934)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Hal Roach comedy has Patsy Kelly and Thelma Todd playing best friends who are about to leave Hollywood when neither of them can catch a break. Kelly hears of an actress about to get to a screen test so she locks her in a closet so that Todd can go in her place. All is going well until Kelly shows up on the set and causes chaos. I've never really warmed up to this duo but this film here is certainly better than some that I've seen. The biggest problem I've had with the series is the screen persona of Kelly, which seems to be obnoxious and loud. As far as a performance goes I'd say she's good but perhaps she's too good because I really, really find her too obnoxious to the point where I just want her to go away. Todd on the other hand delivers a few nice laughs and the duo do work well together at least. The best scene is somewhat of a pre-code moment when Todd gets her dress caught in a suitcase and must take it off, revealing her in her slip.
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Hal Roach comedy has Patsy Kelly and Thelma Todd playing best friends who are about to leave Hollywood when neither of them can catch a break. Kelly hears of an actress about to get to a screen test so she locks her in a closet so that Todd can go in her place. All is going well until Kelly shows up on the set and causes chaos. I've never really warmed up to this duo but this film here is certainly better than some that I've seen. The biggest problem I've had with the series is the screen persona of Kelly, which seems to be obnoxious and loud. As far as a performance goes I'd say she's good but perhaps she's too good because I really, really find her too obnoxious to the point where I just want her to go away. Todd on the other hand delivers a few nice laughs and the duo do work well together at least. The best scene is somewhat of a pre-code moment when Todd gets her dress caught in a suitcase and must take it off, revealing her in her slip.
One of the better Patsy Kelly-Thelma Todd pictures
planktonrules16 March 2007
Warning: Spoilers
The plot is as follows: Thelma gets a screen test--thanks to Patsy's underhanded trick (locking the original actress in a room so she couldn't get to the studio). Once at the screen test, Thelma's big moment is interrupted again and again by Patsy after she unexpectedly arrived at the studio to watch. Despite making a mess of things and breaking most things she touched, in the end, the screen test is somehow a success and they all live happily ever after--except for the woman was originally supposed to have the screen test.
I am not a fan of the Patsy Kelly-Thelma Todd shorts from Hal Roach studios. Unlike the obviously superior films of Laurel and Hardy coming from Roach Studios, the films of Kelly-Todd were much less polished and relied heavily on Patsy Kelly's loud and brash screen persona. Frankly, I find in most of her films she is quite obnoxious and very hard to like, as she seems to scream most of her lines and walk about like a drunk bear! The Zasu Pitts-Thelma Todd films by Roach aren't that much better, but at least Zasu isn't so loud and overbearing--just dumb and whiny (like Olive Oyl with Adnoids)! In this film, as usual, Patsy is super-loud and super-obnoxious--barging onto a movie set during Thelma's screen test and disrupting everything. This just wasn't all that funny and I kept thinking that no sane director would let this lady within a mile of the sound stage, so the fundamental premise was flawed. But then again and again and again she broke things and interrupted and behaved awfully. Now in the case of Stan Laurel, he often would mess things up, but there was a certain child-like quality and innocence about him. In Kelly's case, she just seems very boorish. Sadly, of all the Kelly-Todd shorts I have seen, this is by far the best! Don't say I didn't warn you.
I am not a fan of the Patsy Kelly-Thelma Todd shorts from Hal Roach studios. Unlike the obviously superior films of Laurel and Hardy coming from Roach Studios, the films of Kelly-Todd were much less polished and relied heavily on Patsy Kelly's loud and brash screen persona. Frankly, I find in most of her films she is quite obnoxious and very hard to like, as she seems to scream most of her lines and walk about like a drunk bear! The Zasu Pitts-Thelma Todd films by Roach aren't that much better, but at least Zasu isn't so loud and overbearing--just dumb and whiny (like Olive Oyl with Adnoids)! In this film, as usual, Patsy is super-loud and super-obnoxious--barging onto a movie set during Thelma's screen test and disrupting everything. This just wasn't all that funny and I kept thinking that no sane director would let this lady within a mile of the sound stage, so the fundamental premise was flawed. But then again and again and again she broke things and interrupted and behaved awfully. Now in the case of Stan Laurel, he often would mess things up, but there was a certain child-like quality and innocence about him. In Kelly's case, she just seems very boorish. Sadly, of all the Kelly-Todd shorts I have seen, this is by far the best! Don't say I didn't warn you.
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