Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults (1997) (TV)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Kevin Burns

Writers:

Kevin Burns (writer)
Michael Matessino (writer)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot Keywords:

Archive Footage | Making Of | Behind The Scenes | Filmmaking | Hollywood

Cast

Joan Collins	...	Host
Darrilyn Zanuck DePineda	...	Herself
Margaret Dumont	...	Herself (archive footage)
Alice Faye	...	Herself (archive footage)
Ronald J. Fields	...	Himself
W.C. Fields	...	Himself (archive footage)
Kay Francis	...	Herself (archive footage)
Robert Gitt	...	Himself (film preservationist) (as Bob Gitt)
Betty Grable	...	Herself (archive footage)
Sonja Henie	...	Herself (archive footage)
Danny Kaye	...	Himself (archive footage)
Buster Keaton	...	Himself (archive footage)
Carole Landis	...	Herself (archive footage)
Mitzi Mayfair	...	Herself (archive footage)
Fayard Nicholas	...	Himself (archive footage)
Harold Nicholas	...	Himself (archive footage)
Martha Raye	...	Herself (archive footage)
Al Ritz	...	Himself (archive footage)
Harry Ritz	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jimmy Ritz	...	Himself (archive footage)
Abby Schwarzwalder	...	Herself
Phil Silvers	...	Himself (archive footage)
Anthony Slide	...	Himself (film historian)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Company:

Foxstar Productions

Movie Connections:

References On the Avenue (1937)

Great behind the scenes stuff

If, like me, you like to see outtakes and deleted scenes from movies, particularly old ones, this will interest you. I got it from Netflix specifically to take another look at the footage of Buster Keaton throwing a pie at Alice Faye in the movie "Hollywood Cavalcade." I had seen this documentary in 1997 when it was shown and produced by AMC back when they were still a good old movie channel. I remembered that Keaton was seen smiling and talking to someone (the director, probably) in between takes. Now that I have a newfound interest in him I needed to see what that looked like. It was quite something to see. What a fantastic set of teeth he had! Not to mention, what a transformative smile! Too bad he couldn't have shown it more because he looked just beautiful, totally different and completely at ease. The scene with him and Alice Faye working out some business with the pies was fun, too. I had to rerun the segment a few times before I could see that the reason she smacked him with a pie (they were standing next to each other, supposedly throwing pies at someone else) was because he had backhanded her with a surprise pie right in the head. They both broke up at that and had to stop the scene. I don't remember if I've ever seen the actual movie this is from, which was a very loose retelling about the beginning of making movies with Mack Sennett and the Keystone Kops, but I understand it is occasionally shown. Although, the movie looked just o.k. it'd be interesting to see how the finished product turned out and how big a part Buster actually had. Alice Faye certainly was a good sport, all right, as Joan Collins who narrates says. By the way, they mention that Virginia Fox, who was Buster's leading lady in about 8 of his shorts (not 14, as her daughter who is interviewed said) was married to studio head Darryl Zanuck and that Zanuck had specifically asked for him. Not true. Zanuck nor Fox ever helped out Keaton in his career at all. Although he had been repeatedly strung along by his old friend, boss and former brother-in-law, Joe Schenck, to call Zanuck with possible word of work for him, none ever materialized. According to Marion Meade's bio on him, his old friend and colleague Mal St. Clair who was working on the movie directing the "silent" portions, asked Keaton to help him out, which Keaton was only too happy to do.