User Reviews

LIFE IN HOLLYWOOD turned out to be a series of seven shorts about the industry. Judging by this, the first one, , the research was erratic; it claims that motion pictures were perfected by 1887.

Neither is the view it offers of the industry particularly accurate. Although the facades of the Warner Brothers, Universal and MGM studios are shown, it concentrates more on the smaller studios. They were often respected, like Marshall Neilan's, Chaplin's and Buster Keaton's studios, but at this time, as the titles note, the motion picture industry with the fourth largest money-maker in the country. It was the big factories that made the majority of those pictures.

Even so, it's good to see the fronts of the studios; these are images that are of great interest to movie buffs, yet hard to find.

I liked seeing the pictures of the movie studios especially Buster's. Someone posted that you could see DeMille and Keaton working. DeMille was at the very end & unless they cut out the scene with Buster I could not see it. Can someone tell me where exactly Buster can be found in this short? Those kind of very rare.

Life in Hollywood, No. 1 (1927)

*** (out of 4)

LIFE IN Hollywood was a series produced in 1927 to give viewers a chance to see what all was going on in Hollywood. Of course, the naughty side was kept secret but this documentary series at least gives viewers of today some very interesting things to see.

Number one starts off giving us a glimpse of various studios throughout Hollywood including Metropolitan, Educational, Pickford-Fairbanks, Buster Keaton Studio, MGM, Warner, Cecil B. DeMille Studio, Universal City, M Fox and what remains of Inceville. Also on display here are some behind the scenes footage of movies being shot including Edwin Carewe and Lloyd Hughes working on PALS FIRST, Frances Ford in SAVAGES and Harmon Weight and Creighton Hale on a film credited as THE MYSTERY PILOT but I'm guessing it could be A POOR GIRL'S ROMANCE. Finally we see both Keaton and DeMille at work.

Technically speaking this episode is rather unimpressive but it's still great getting to see the studios as they looked back in the day but the biggest thrill is getting to see some footage of the movies being shot and especially when you consider that a couple of them are lost today. If you're a film buff this is certainly worth watching.