one of my absolute favorites!

A Major Disappointment

What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

"Crashing Hollywood" from 1938 is the story of a screenwriter (Lee Tracy) who meets the right -- or maybe it is the wrong - people on a train en route to Hollywood.The people he meets are Herman and Goldie Tibbets (Paul Guilfoyle and Lee Patrick). Herman, recently released from prison, is interested in becoming a duck farmer, while Goldie thinks one more robbery isn't a bad idea. When they meet Michael Winslow (Tracy) they are under the impression that he has $50,000 in a briefcase when they overhear him trying to insure it.Determined to get it away from him, they befriend him. Michael, meanwhile, is trying to make time with an actress (Joan Woodbury) whom he literally fell into earlier. Winslow shows Herman and Goldie that the $50,000 is his script. When Herman looks it over, he tells him that a lot of details are wrong - it concerns an actual bank robbery, and Winslow takes him on as a collaborator. He's unaware that Herman is giving him the names of a real crook and the actual true details of the robbery.When the real crook (Bradley Page) sees the film starring a lookalike (Bradley Page) -- he heads out to Hollywood before there are any other films featuring him, "The Hawk."Amusing film with a nice turn by Page as an arrogant actor and and a tough guy. Lee Tracy is his usual fast-talking, energetic self, and Lee Patrick is funny as Goldie, as is Guilfoyle.This is a B picture. Many of these actors went on to careers in television. Page quit films in 1943.This is a fast, fun movie.

Just watched Crashing Hollywood after having saved it on my DVR from a TCM airing. I like Lee Tracy but did not have high expectations. He was a big star early in his career but his personal life derailed his career. Crashing Hollywood is a short film at only around 60 minutes which is not always a bad thing. Lee Tracy was more reserved than when I had seen him a couple of his older films. The supporting cast provided more of the screwball humor. The story held some interest from the start and towards the end of the film it escalated into a wild screwball comedy with mistaken identities and chase scenes. This is not an Academy Award movie but a good choice if you want to spend an hour being entertained and having a few laughs.

Crashing Hollywood (1938) ** 1/2 (out of 4) A former gangster (Paul Guilfoyle) gets out of prison and takes his wife on a train to California where he plans on going straight by starting a duck farm. On the train he meets a screenwriter (Lee Tracy) and the two team up to make realistic crime pictures. All goes well until a real gangster shows up wondering how the writers is getting all the details right. This film isn't nearly as funny as it should have been but it is mildly entertaining on a second film of a double feature type of way. For the most part this is just a one-joke film as our main guys make a blockbuster movie but soon the main gangster is showing up to get revenge. This leads to some rather routine gags including the gangster being mistaken for the actor playing him as well as the actor getting beaten up because people thinks he's the gangster. These scenes here are actually pretty funny but they only come up during the final fifteen-minutes. These final scenes contain the most laughs as the police are running around the studio trying to capture the real bad guys. Tracy is pretty good in his role but you have to like his style of comedy or else you'll probably find him annoying. Guilfoyle is also pretty good but he's a character actor I've always enjoyed. It's Richard Lane who steals the film as the loud mouth, fast talking producer who's always trying to sign someone to a contract. Lane would become famous for playing Inspector Farraday in the Boston Blackie movies and his comic timing here is just as good. Fans of those Boston Blackie movies will certainly get a kick out of seeing Lane here.

A couple (Paul Guilfoyle and Lee Patrick) of ex-crooks stumble into Hollywood and manage to make it big. Although the film starts with them, later it switches emphasis to their partner screen writer (Lee Tracy) and his lady love (Joan Woodbury)--though this relationship seems a bit unreal. After all, they barely know each other, yet it's the clichéd "love at first sight" sort of rot--especially for Tracy.This film is highly reminiscent of Jimmy Cagney's exceptional film, LADY KILLER. Both films are about criminals who move to Hollywood and make it big making gangster films because they know best how to play themselves. There are a few changes, as the criminal couple are collaborators to a screen writer and there are a few other twists and turns, but otherwise it's the same plot--though Cagney clearly did it better and did it first. My advice is see the Cagney version and only CRASHING Hollywood if you are curious. Much of it was because Cagney was so great and part of it was that I usually find Lee Tracy about as welcome as a minor headache--though he's less annoying here than usual.