Directed by:
George CukorCinematography:
Charles RosherComposer:
Max SteinerCast:
Constance Bennett, Lowell Sherman, Neil Hamilton, Gregory Ratoff, Louise Beavers, King Baggot, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, Patricia Farr, Bryant Washburn (more)Plots(1)
Often misjudged as a dress rehearsal for his famed 1954 adaptation of A Star Is Born, What Price Hollywood? is a drastically different beast – a demystification of the Hollywood myth that is far grittier and less sentimental than the Judy Garland musical. Constance Bennett plays a waitress who gets skyrocketed to stardom after a chance encounter with Lowell Sherman’s alcoholic director. Inevitable heartbreak ensues as the new-born star becomes disillusioned with Hollywood. Neither an outright condemnation of movie culture nor a romanticization of Tinseltown, What Price Hollywood? offers a rare, clinical look at Hollywood, rendering it as an industrial machine, a corporate juggernaut, rather than a factory of dreams. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)
(more)Reviews (1)
What Price Hollywood? is a straightforward movie about the typical aspirations and ambitions along with the disillusionment concerning working your way to the top in Hollywood. Its narrative was slightly floundering, bouncing between tongue-in-cheek comedy in the first half of the movie and inadequately ponderous melodrama in the second half. Towards the end, its changing moods seemed very forced, trying too hard for my taste. [KVIFF 2021]
()