Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults (1999 TV Movie) User Reviews

Volume 2 of deleted and newly found scenes

[blanche-2 · 8/10 · 3 August 2015]

Hidden Hollywood II takes up where Hidden Hollywood left off, deleted musical numbers and some newly found scenes, including parts of W.C. Fields in "Tales of Manhattan" made into a small vignette.

What I missed in the first HH was what went on before the camera light went on, and when it went off. There was just a little of it.

We were able to see more of that here - Ginger Rogers doing jelly legs after a number from Roxie Hart that was cut, Alice Faye in a custard pie sketch, Margaret Dumont losing it while W.C. Fields adlibbed, Buster Keaton directing, and many others.

The documentary included film preservationists showing how nitrate film can turn into dust, and also showing some fading color in film followed by the same scene restored. With computer techniques, they are now able to fix tears in film that hasn't completely disintegrated when they cannot work from the original negative. All fascinating and well worth seeing.

There was a "Sheik of Araby" number cut because of scantily dressed females. There were also some cut routines from a Sonja Henie film, and cut singing from an Alice Faye film, deleted because producers decided it didn't belong in a serious film; also cut sequences from "Four Jills and a Jeep."

The best for me was seeing the attempt by Fox to turn Victor Mature into a song and dance man, shown with Betty Grable.

One sad moment - seeing how stunning Carole Landis was in "Four Jills in a Jeep" and realizing that she committed suicide a few years later, before she was 30. Too sad.

I like this sequel better than the first, even though the first one had Tyrone Power in it.

That is still entertainment!

[mark.waltz · 8/10 · 8 October 2018]

Around the time that "That's Entertainment" came to movie theaters in 1974, there was a TV special narrated by Fred Astaire on the history of the 20th Century Fox musical, beginning with the early talkies (when it was just plain "Fox Studios") and going up to "Hello, Dolly!" In 1993, "That's Entertainment III" included some outtakes found at MGM which showed various stars including Judy Garland, Cyd Charisse and Astaire himself in segments that had been cut. Other studios interested in nostalgia started digging into their archives, and this lead to many of the Fox outtakes being brought together for two different segments of "Hidden Hollywood", both glorious and necessary viewing for fans of old films and the many stars that still shine today.

Back for more is Joan Collins, as glamorous as ever, and giving insight into the culture of the day, showing clips cut from movies both musical and comical, and even a few dramatic moments. There's rare footage of dramatic star Kay Francis attempting to talk/sing (taken over by her three co-stars in "Four Jills in a Jeep"), and shows wisecracking Phil Silvers assailing funny lady Martha Raye with her reacting in an equally hysterical way. The Ritz Brothers get a few moments to show their somewhat dated style, perfectly acceptable to those who understand the humor of the 1930's, and even glimpses of various co-stars of the comics breaking up and trying hard not to show that they are stifling a laugh.

The great Alice Faye proves herself to be a great sport with the constant pie in the face re-takes needed for "Hollywood Cavalcade", having been one of those stifling a laugh during the antics of the Ritz Brothers in "On the Avenue". Collins gives us some behind the scenes looks at what happened during the pie throwing sequence, adding an understanding to the audience of what it was like to make movies during the golden age. Today, some audiences can't understand the appeal of someone like Sonja Henie, but to see her skating in these exotic skatings reminds us of Adolph Menjou's line in her first film, "One in a Million" where he exclaims, "Why it's like dancing on ice!" A lengthy bit of outtakes from "Tin Pan Alley" shows the great deal of edited footage cut out of the musical number "The Shiek of Araby" and features several different takes of the great Nicholas Brothers as well as Billy Gilbert singing and dancing as the title character in that number.

The highlight of the film is the much talked about excised scene from "Tales of Manhattan" where W.C. Fields inherits the cursed suit and gives a speech at the temperance party of society matron Margaret Dumont which includes spiked coconut milk. The legend of Dumont not understanding the humor being tossed about around her (created from her days working with the Marx Brothers) is proved false as you see her in these outtakes stifling a laugh, adding much humanity to the actress known for playing uppity society matrons. There's also an amusing segment cut from the all-star "We're Not Married" where Walter Brennan visits with hard working and obviously unhappily married Hope Emerson (the evil matron in "Caged") with lascivious intentions that are changed when he gets to read the letter from justice of the peace Victor Moore. These segments gave me a chance to smile just like the great stone face Buster Keaton does here in one bit of newsreel footage, and after so many of these segments, I too wanted to dance "The Charleston" like Ginger Rogers does in "Roxie Hart", a segment unfortunately cut out of the story that came from the same source as the musical "Chicago".