Mr. Celebrity

If you wish to see this PRC movie about Buzz Henry and the fight over his custody between his grandparents and James Seeay, a racetrack veterinarian, because Doris Day is in it.... it's a different Doris Day.

It's one of the approximately 350 movies that William Beaudine made. "One Shot" as he was called, is sometimes credited as the worst director ever. If you've seen some of his stinkers, you have to admit there's some truth to that. However, those are movies made on no money, with short shooting schedules and bad scripts. Give him a budget and time, and he could and did turn out some interesting work. Even his worst stuff was commercial, in that it made money.

This, however, is one of his movies made with no money and a short shooting schedules. As a result, the only actor who distinguishes himself is John Ince. Running time is eked out with Clara Kimball Young and Francis X. Bushman lying about their early careers, and Larry Grey doing some card tricks. However, you needn't spend an hour on that.

"Mr. Celebrity" is a not an especially good film, though for lowly PRC it's not bad....not that this is a glowing endorsement!

The story finds Uncle Jim and his nephew Danny traveling around the country...sticking close to race tracks because Jim is a veterinarian. But they also are traveling because they are trying to avoid Danny's grandparents and their army of hired private eyes. This is because they want custody of Danny. The story consists, essentially, of the duo trying to make a horse a champion...and then have enough money to fight for custody of Danny in court.

The acting, direction and script are all so-so at best. For me, the best reason to watch the film is to have something on TV when I cook or clean and simply want undemanding and predictable entertainment. Another reason is to see the ex-boxing champ, James Jefferies and a couple old silent film stars in cameos.