Hollywood Handicap (1938)

Director:

Buster Keaton

Release Date:

28 May 1938 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Comedy | Musical

Tagline:

See a galaxy of stars at Santa Anita

Plot:

A group of stable hands is given a race horse when its owner retires from the business. (The group is...

Plot Keywords:

Race | Horse | Band | Thoroughbred | Dancing

Cast

The Original Sing Band	...	Themselves
Charles Ruggles	...	Himself (as Charlie Ruggles)
Mickey Rooney	...	Himself
Stuart Erwin	...	Himself
June Collyer	...	Herself
Charles Butterworth	...	Himself (as Charlie Butterworth)
Al Jolson	...	Himself
Ruby Keeler	...	Herself
Edgar Bergen	...	Himself
Dorothy Lamour	...	Herself
Bing Crosby	...	Himself
Robert Montgomery	...	Himself
Edmund Lowe	...	Himself
Billy 'Red' Jones	...	Himself - a Jockey (as Red Jones)
Warner Baxter	...	Himself

Runtime:

10 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #4164) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Santa Anita Park - 285 West Huntington Drive, Arcadia, California, USA

Company:

Louis Lewyn Productions

Soundtrack:

Pickin' a Rib

Keaton the Director

Hollywood Handicap (1938)

** (out of 4)

Buster Keaton directed this MGM short, which is basically just an excuse to see various stars including Mickey Rooney, Al Jolson, Dorothy Lamour, Bing Crosby, Edmund Lowe, Warner Baxter, Oliver Hardy and various others. It's rather sad to think that directing these short films was the only way MGM could use Keaton. I'm curious if they ever thought about letting him act in his shorts but either way this is a pretty boring film that's poorly directed.

You can view this film on disc 3 of Warner's The Jazz Singer Collection.