Hollywood Story (1951)

Hollywood 1950: The successful producer Larry O'Brian arrives in Los Angeles to found a motion picture company. He buys an old studio which was unused since the days of silent movies. He's ... See full summary »

Director:

William Castle

Writers:

Frederick Kohner (story), Frederick Brady (story),

Stars:

Richard Conte, Julie Adams, Richard Egan

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Richard Conte	...	Larry O'Brien
Julie Adams	...	Sally Rousseau / Amanda Rousseau (as Julia Adams)
Richard Egan	...	Police Lt. Bud Lennox
Henry Hull	...	Vincent St. Clair
Fred Clark	...	Sam Collyer
Jim Backus	...	Mitch Davis
Houseley Stevenson	...	John Miller
Francis X. Bushman	...	Francis X. Bushman
Betty Blythe	...	Betty Blythe
William Farnum	...	William Farnum
Helen Gibson	...	Helen Gibson
Joel McCrea	...	Joel McCrea
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Marjorie Kane	...	(unconfirmed)
Marie Osborne	...	(unconfirmed)
Arline Pretty	...	(unconfirmed)

Storyline

Hollywood 1950: The successful producer Larry O'Brian arrives in Los Angeles to found a motion picture company. He buys an old studio which was unused since the days of silent movies. He's shown the office where the famous director Franklin Farrara was shot. The case hasn't been solved until now, although there were many suspects. O'Brian becomes fascinated by the subject and wants to shoot a movie about it. He investigates himself and soon gets into danger himself.

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Plot Keywords:

director | hollywood | investigation | killer | studio | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 June 1951 (USA)

Also Known As:

Aconteceu em Hollywood

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

76 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Larry and Sally screen The Phantom of the Opera, which he cites as one of the films directed by the long-ago murder victim, Franklin Ferrara. Of course, the film was actually directed by Rupert Julian, but the writers obviously felt (no doubt correctly) that audiences in 1951 would not know or remember this, plus it allowed them to reuse footage of an actual silent classic.

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Connections

Referenced in The Opera Ghost: A Phantom Unmasked (2000)

User Reviews

Not Bad

Saw this movie as a kid, watching " The Late Show, " which was always a great old b/w movie. Years later, read about the murder of William Desmond Taylor and thought this hit awfully close to home. Taylor was a director of some note in early Hollywood, but also known to be quite the ladies' man. He was murdered in his apartment and the case was never officially solved. After his murder, the career of Mary Miles Minter, a well known Hollywood starlet was pretty much in ruins, due to several pieces of her personal belongings found at the scene of the crime, which is interesting, as studio bigwigs were called to the apartment before the police were called. Also interesting was the rumor that his now missing valet / butler / chauffeur was in reality his brother. The deceased Tayor was not who he appeared to be - he had long before abandoned a wife and child and re-invented himself. Years later, the famed Hollywood director King Vidor became interested in the mystery and worked on it for some years. His efforts were detailed in a book called " A Cast Of Killers, " well worth the read.