Going Hollywood

Going Hollywood
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Raoul Walsh
Produced by	Walter Wanger
Screenplay by	Donald Ogden Stewart
Story by	Frances Marion
Starring	Marion Davies Bing Crosby
Music by	Herbert Stothart
Cinematography	George J. Folsey
Edited by	Frank Sullivan
Production company	Cosmopolitan Productions Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates	December 22, 1933 (1933-12-22TUSA)
Running time	78 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$914,000
Box office	$962,000

Going Hollywood is a 1933 American Pre-Code musical film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Marion Davies and Bing Crosby. It was written by Donald Ogden Stewart and based on a story by Frances Marion. Going Hollywood was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on December 22, 1933.

Plot

A French teacher at an all-girl school longs to find love. When she hears a young singer on the radio, she visits him and thanks him, which causes problems with another woman.

Cast

• Marion Davies as Sylvia Bruce
• Bing Crosby as Bill 'Billy' Williams
• Fifi D'Orsay as Lili Yvonne
• Stuart Erwin as Ernest Pratt Baker, Picture Producer
• Ned Sparks as Mr. Bert Conroy, Director
• Patsy Kelly as Jill Barker
• Bobby Watson as Jack Thompson, the Press Agent
• Three Radio Rogues as Group Performing Imitations
• Eddie Bartell as Radio Rogue
• Jimmy Hollywood as Radio Rogue
• Henry Taylor as Radio Rogue

Soundtrack

• "Going Hollywood" by Bing Crosby at the railroad station
• "Our Big Love Scene" by Bing Crosby
• "Beautiful Girl" by Bing Crosby
• "Just an Echo in the Valley" by Bing Crosby
• "We'll Make Hay While the Sun Shines" by Bing Crosby and Marion Davies and chorus
• "Cinderella's Fella" by Fifi D'Orsay, reprised by Marion Davies
• "Happy Days Are Here Again"
• "When the Moon Comes over the Mountain" by Jimmy Hollywood imitating Kate Smith
• "You Call It Madness (But I Call It Love)" by Henry Taylor imitating Russ Columbo
• "Remember Me" by Jimmy Hollywood imitating Morton Downey
• "My Time Is Your Time" by Jimmy Hollywood imitating Rudy Vallée
• "After Sundown" by Bing Crosby
• "Temptation" by Bing Crosby

Release

Going Hollywood was released on home video in May 1993. Warner released on DVD in July 2013.

Reception

The New York Times welcomed the film. "Blended properly with the holiday humors, Going Hollywood has enough basic liveliness to produce a sprightly and jocular mood at the Capitol. The overwhelming magnitude of the latter-day musical picture is gratefully absent from this one. It is warm, modest and good-humored. Bing Crosby has a manner and a voice, both pleasant, and the songs that Nacio Brown and Arthur Freed provide have a tinkle and a lilt. From the competent routine sentiments of “Our Big Love Scene” and the pleasing little pastoral lyric “We’ll Make Love When It Rains” they range down to that brooding song which Mr. Crosby, loaded with whisky and sorrow, sings across a Mexican bar while the glamorous Miss Davies is far away.
Variety's reaction was mixed as they commented: "Pretentious musical with class in every department but one. It has names, girls and good music, but its story is weak from hunger and the script will prevent a big click. Fair is its rating...Marion Davies is starred and Bing Crosby featured, but Crosby will draw the bulk of what this one gets. Other assets are the music, the fact that it’s good, and that it has girls and plenty of them . . . From start to finish Crosby is constantly singing. It must be good singing because it doesn’t get tiresome, despite that it's laid on so heavy. . . . At least three songs in the generally excellent score, as played by Lennie Hayton’s orchestra, sound promising. With Crosby there to sing ‘em the songs get a break, too.

TV Guide called it "fluffy fun" with a "literate and amusing screenplay". A reviewer on Turner Classic Movies praised Crosby's singing and said that his voice never falters. Jamie S. Rich of DVD Talk rated it 3.5/5 stars and wrote, "Going Hollywood is almost the perfect Hollywood movie musical cliché."

Box office

The film grossed a total (domestic and foreign) of $962,000: $620,000 from the US and Canada and $342,000 elsewhere resulting in a loss of $269,000.

Radio adaptation

Going Hollywood was presented on Musical Comedy Theater December 10, 1952. The one-hour adaptation starred Denise Darcel, Andy Russell, and Mary McCarty.

External links

• Going Hollywood at IMDb
• Going Hollywood at the TCM Movie Database
• Going Hollywood at AllMovie
• Going Hollywood at the American Film Institute Catalog