Swingtime in the Movies (1938)

Lack of good storyline.

Dreadfully Boring

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

. . . does NOT kill anyone OR lose any body parts! Such flicks are few and far between, as he had no qualms about pretending to shoot people or pretending to be maimed, unlike, say, Dustin Hoffman, who only carried a gun in LITTLE BIG MAN. It is amazing how much more military the film careers of propaganda movie stars such as Bogart or John Wayne are compared to those of actual war heroes such as the invisible rabbit HARVEY's friend Jimmy Stewart, who retired as an U.S. Air Force brigadier general after surviving dozens of bombing raids over Nazi Germany. Be that as it may, SWINGTIME IN THE MOVIES is one of the few innocuous Bogart films (even if his only contribution is appearing as himself in a Hollywood canteen for about two seconds!). The remaining cast of this short are pretty inconsequential to anyone born after 1990 (unless they are your great grandpops or something, and you're mentioned in their will). Pat O'Brien played President Reagan's coach in KNUTE ROCKNE, ALL-AMER!CAN, but Reagan has been deceased for quite some time, and he's just on an airport, NOT any folding money.

Musical comedy film short about a scatter-brained Hollywood director named Mr. Nitvitch (Fritz Feld) trying to make a film called "The Texas Tornado". But he can't pronounce "tornado", and it comes out the Texas "tomato". The dialogue milks this for all it's worth. The film's overall tone is lighthearted, with a touch of romance.Acting trends melodramatic, probably deliberately so. A highlight is the sequence at the "Superb Studio Cafe", where waitresses burst into song and dance, and then-current real-life actors make cameo appearances, with snippets about their careers, meant to be promos. Actors include: George Brent, Marie Wilson, Pat O'Brian, Humphrey Bogart, and John Garfield.A couple of melodic songs helps a lot: "Drifting On The Rio Grande" and "The Toast Of The Texas Frontier".Kinda silly and corny, the film nevertheless presents viewers with a time capsule of how movie making was viewed in the 1930s.

This almost half and hour two reel short subject could almost qualify as as a mini-musical with several numbers by songwriters M.K.Jerome and Jack Scholl. The film is a movie with a short as director Fritz Feld tries desperately to finish a western he's directing and replace his less than talented leading lady Helen Lynd who just can't quite master a mushmouth Southern accent.Feld finds his new leading lady in the Warner Brothers studio cafeteria among the servers in the person of Katherine Kane. The highlight of the short is the break for lunch in the cafeteria where the servers do a number and the camera pans to several of the Warner Brothers stars taking a break.As this film was done in color it rather than some of the feature for these stars might well be considered their respective color debuts.Fritz Feld and assistant Charley Foy provide a lot of laughs. It's a worthwhile short subject and worthy of the Academy Award nomination it got in that category.

The plot of Swingtime in the Movies is mildly amusing and of the appropriate length. The real highlight is seeing some of the great actors of that time in cameo appearances.The Humphrey Bogart bit is a must-see for all Bogey fans!