User Reviews

This short film is the the answer to the trivia question: what was the movie that Harpo Marx appeared in with Warner Baxter, Gary Cooper, Robert Taylor, Ida Lupino, Judy Garland, Leo Carillo, Andy Devine, Buster Keaton, and Chester Conklin (with Pete Smith in the background).

Part of it is familiar to us: a segment of it is in THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT, when the career of Judy Garland is being talked about. Judy and her two sisters appear as the Gumm Sisters singing to Paul Porcasi (costumed like a Mexican) the tune "La Cucaracha". Even here Judy was given pride of place over the older girls, and appears to be leading the singing - a sense of things to shortly come.

The short (in nice Technicolor) is a kind of comic travelogue of a local yearly fiesta in the town of Santa Barbara, California, dealing with the history of the town's connections with Mexico. The MGM studio trotted out many of their stars and most of them do little cameo jokes (Baxter wearing a huge sombrero that Ralph Forbes finds him under, Cooper opening up a beer stein and using it - actually a lighter - to light his pipe, and Harpo guzzling down Mexican wine). Ted Healy pops up in a comic segment where he is pestered by a gate crasher who keeps asking him about movies he did not appear in (interestingly he says A NIGHT AT THE OPERA had the four Marx Brothers in it - he apparently does not realize Zeppo stopped appearing with his siblings after DUCK SOUP). Devine pretends he is Mexico's greatest bull fighter, and then (to his dismay) finds that Keaton is raising bulls and wants him to fight one. Keaton, by the way, gives a pretty good mock-Mexican accent when he talks.

One small piece of fluff (Carillo popping up to shoot up the proceedings in a good natured "Pancho" way is typical) it is easy to watch and forget, except the brief appearance of Judy and her two sisters with Mr. Porcasi.

The Oscar-nominated "La Fiesta de Santa Barbara" is an 18.5-minute short film from 1935, so this one already had its 80th anniversary. It is another one of these where Hollywood's most known around that time come together to celebrate and let the random unknown citizen be a part of this celebration. And you can say about this one here that it is a prime example of what a difference color made. The sets and especially the costumes are a joy to watch really and the fact that they used Technicolor here elevated the material by so so much. Of course, you can also say it is great that they have sound (which it certainly is with all the music in here), but by the 1930s that was already almost a given. The title already gives away that this is a very Hispanic movie. We have bull fighting, sombreros, typical Hispanic outfits and you can almost feel the heat through the screen. The people in here are among the most known from back then and retro film buffs will probably have an even greater time watching this one than I did as they get to see the likes of Ida Lupino, Gary Cooper, Judy Garland, Harpo Marx, Ted Healy and others. The highlight for me was probably Buster Keaton who is one of the guys with the most screen time in here. Fun to watch him transition from silent black-and-white stuff to films in color and sound. On a more negative note, there is not really a story here and I would honestly categorize it more as a documentary than anything else. It's MGMshowing us the big players from that era and the previous decades. Pretty enjoyable. Wirth checking out.

Marijuana se Fumar! Yep, that's right. Judy and her two sisters, formerly the Gumm Sisters, now the Garland sisters, make an appearance in this short, singing "La Cacuracha" as forgotten movie actors make their way around a supposed Spanish festival in Santa Barbara. The men are far more recognizable than the women, but other than Gary Cooper, Robert Taylor and a few others (in unspoken cameos), it's mostly "B" starlets who came and went within a matter of years. Of the line-up of beauties, only Ida Lupino went on to make a name for herself. A silly bullfight occurs with silly, dated comedy from comic sidekick Andy Devine and fading silent comic legend Buster Keaton (and a badly costumed fake bull), but that is upgraded by a lavish production number where the chorus girls are anything but Spanish. In fact, there is barely anything Spanish about this, even if Leo Carrillo makes an effort to play the stereotypical bandit. This is more of a curio because of young Judy's first MGM appearance and the parade of forgotten names that cinema freaks like me may recognize, but it is mainly another MGM ego booster of its giant publicity monster, I mean machine.