Touches You

Absolutely the worst movie.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

No story. No substance. No point. Crosby croons some though and that's always worth hearing, but this production is dappled with musical numbers that, though entertaining unto themselves, get in the way of the the hackneyed romance between Crosby and Marion Davies.Marion Davies is not nearly as bad as some comments here suggest. She's adequate as the female lead but still not overly memorable. Nothing about this picture apart from the music really stays in the mind after you see it. And even that doesn't linger long.A curious look at early 30's Hollywood, and Bing on the way up as a song and dance dynamo, but little else to recommend it. One of those so-called classics that makes a good sleep aid.

Bing Crosby truly was the quintessential vocalist of his time. I strongly recommend Gary Giddins bio on Bing; an excellent reference.Anyway, the story may be weak in this film, but the songs and Bing's clear baritone voice make up for it.An interesting tidbit about this film: Of course Marion Davies was W.R. Hearst's mistress, and Hearst financed the film. Ms. Davies thus took full advantage of the situation by showing up for filming at 10 AM, shooting a scene or two before a four hour lunch replete with all the catered trimmings and wines. The day wound down by 4PM.It's no wonder it took six months to shoot this film in an era when the typical film was shot in 2 weeks!

I expected a lot of enjoyment from this early MGM musical, directed by the great Raoul Walsh. Instead, it is a trifle that somehow works mainly as a showcase for Bing Crosby and Marion Davies. I found the whole film to be intermittently dull and underwhelming, and the songs and numbers oddly misfire from start to finish.

"Going Hollywood" is one of countless 1930s musicals that Hollywood made about itself, or rather about its own myths. It begins with Marion Davies being so enchanted by Bing Crosby's voice on the radio that she rebels against the stuffy girls' school where she teaches French and goes looking for Der Bingel. The film has all the era's cliches, including Patsy Kelly's butch buddy with a heart of gold, Ned Sparks' caustic sidekick with a heart of bronze, and the usual compliment of corny songs and soft-shoe chorines, but there's no surprise about where this film is going. Marion Davies, enjoying perhaps a 2002 reappraisal because of Kirsten Dunst's fine portrayal of her in "The Cat's Meow," is not all that interesting here and, frankly, is upstaged by her rival Fifi D'Orsy, whom I'd rather spend a night with if I had the choice. Crosby is saddled with mostly forgettable songs (with the exception of "Temptation"), but at least his character shows a dark side behind his easy charm. But overall the flaccid story, Hollywood hokum and badly dated entertainment sink "Going Hollywood" like a stone.