Sadly Over-hyped

Let's be realistic.

Excellent, smart action film.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

As a huge fan of old Hollywood I always loved this cartoon. I find it amusing how younger folks have a difficult time understanding it due to the fact they probably don't watch enough old movies to know who these stars are. In the Wikipedia article on this cartoon, they mention the actor sitting with Claudette Colbert early on as Don Ameche. Upon repeated viewing I'm inclined to think it's the great George Brent. It looks too much like him and he was a much bigger star than Ameche ever became. Although brilliant I will agree it is dated in that all the references pertain to movies of that era. As a 55 year old, I grew up when these movies were staples on television and recognized almost all of the stars. All in all this is a great representation of when Hollywood was truly loaded with big movie stars. I'd cringe to think of what a modern version would look like. On a final note, there is nothing confusing about this cartoon and it doesn't matter if children don't get it. These cartoons were never meant for children as they were shown in movie theaters prior to the main events. This is a great representation of how things were at that time in Hollywood.

. . . but for others this 1941 Entrance Exam may produce a flunking grade (especially if they're a normal person under the age of 30). As fans of current live-action feature film FIFTEEN REAL MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN well know, our Holy Bible doesn't have room to cover EVERY helpful spiritual pointer (such as the location of the Healing Hollow Cottonwoods of Texas). Many of the Faithful believe there may be sort of a Cultural Literacy Triage Station adjacent to the Pearly Gates, particularly if the Population Explosion spreads skyward (since They'd never allow the lines in Heaven to get longer than those at Disneyland!). In such a case, What you know could conceivably trump Who you know. H0LLYW00D STEPS OUT seems designed as a beta version of such a trial. Say an American battleship explodes, sending more than a thousand souls instantly Upward (as happened in Real Life a few months after H0LLYW00D STEPS OUT's release). Possibly there was room for all of the recently deceased way back when. If not, perhaps those who could differentiate Curly, Larry and Moe for Peter, Paul, and Mary would gain preferential entrance. There may not be anyone left alive who can pass this 1941 Heavenly Entrance Exam without lots of cramming with Lenny Maltin or Bob Osborne. Perhaps Warner Bros. could put out an up-to-date cribbing cartoon?

Hollywood Steps Out (1941) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Delightful Warner short doesn't have any real story to speak of but the highlight here is seeing all sorts of Hollywood stars out dancing at a club. We get countless cameos including Gable, Garbo, Hardy, Cagney, Bogart, Robinson, The Three Stooges, Rooney, Stewart, Weismuller, Grant and many others including Karloff as the Frankenstein monster. Again, there's no real story going on here as the entire seven-minutes is just a set up for the various stars to run into one another. There are quite a few highlights but one would have to be the seen with Cagney and Bogart planning some crimes. Another is the brilliant final gag that I won't spoil here but it certainly ends the film on a big laugh. It was also fun seeing all the spoofs thrown at Gable but one of the biggest laughs comes from an Andy Hardy joke. The film contains the usual great animation, nice score and the brilliant voice work by Mel Blanc.

This short is jammed with caricatures of notables-mostly actors and actresses, but J. Edgar Hoover is here too, as are Leopold Stowkowski and Sally Rand. Not only stars (Gable, Garbo and Grant) but character actors (the almost mandatory Ned Sparks appearance is here) as well. It was an excellent concept, tailor-made for the animators. Their audience would recognize the caricatures and get the jokes easily. This is one of the better ones. Most, if not all the animation studios did at least one or two such shorts. Well worth looking for. Most recommended.