so I wrote SPOILERS.. but this tape was spoiled when it was made.
This short opens with the crowd watching "someone" arrive by car at the Drake Hotel in 1934 for an MGM studio presentation in Chicago; it's so slow that for the first minute or two we actually hear the snippets of what the crowd is saying, as if a live microphone were left on by accident. Flash to another crowd, and a cheering track has been added over a silent scene. Then the title card shows Col Ferguson's Crusaders. (?) Then another title card shows us "Mary the Rhino" from the Tarzan movies feature. I guess they couldn't get Tarzan, Jane, or even Cheetah. We don't even see the actual rhino, unless I blinked and missed it. The editing is horrible, the narration doesn't match up with what is shown most of the time. I found this interesting almost exclusively for the historical value. Only ONE of the many people they introduce actually smiles, and he was joking with the person standing next to him... we don't get to hear what they are saying in what could have been the most entertaining part of the film. The camera jumps up and down, and with the use of title cards for some of the introductions, it looks to me like silent scenes are included with the talking scenes. Droll. Dry. Seems to be an archive of the MGM executives at the time, but even that is not explained. Shown on Turner Classic Movie channel as a filler between features. Skip it... you won't miss much, unless you are related to the MGM bigshots being highlighted.
This short opens with the crowd watching "someone" arrive by car at the Drake Hotel in 1934 for an MGM studio presentation in Chicago; it's so slow that for the first minute or two we actually hear the snippets of what the crowd is saying, as if a live microphone were left on by accident. Flash to another crowd, and a cheering track has been added over a silent scene. Then the title card shows Col Ferguson's Crusaders. (?) Then another title card shows us "Mary the Rhino" from the Tarzan movies feature. I guess they couldn't get Tarzan, Jane, or even Cheetah. We don't even see the actual rhino, unless I blinked and missed it. The editing is horrible, the narration doesn't match up with what is shown most of the time. I found this interesting almost exclusively for the historical value. Only ONE of the many people they introduce actually smiles, and he was joking with the person standing next to him... we don't get to hear what they are saying in what could have been the most entertaining part of the film. The camera jumps up and down, and with the use of title cards for some of the introductions, it looks to me like silent scenes are included with the talking scenes. Droll. Dry. Seems to be an archive of the MGM executives at the time, but even that is not explained. Shown on Turner Classic Movie channel as a filler between features. Skip it... you won't miss much, unless you are related to the MGM bigshots being highlighted.