Rhumba Rhythm at the Hollywood La Conga (1939) User Reviews

Crashing The Conga

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 21 April 2010]

Mary Treen and Sally Payne play a couple of rube tourists in Hollywood who would like to crash a swank Hollywood nightclub and get their chance when they see an opportunity to get into Hollywood La Conga where the famous Conga dance was invented. The problem is that you need membership or a reservation that someone probably had to leave you in a will. Still our girls are resourceful.

Once in there they have a few adventures with the staff because of their lack of reservations and meet a few Hollywood stars as well who make some guest appearances.

Still it's the Rhumba beat of Eduardo Chavez and his Orchestra that provides most of the entertainment. Rhumba Rhythm At The Hollywood La Conga has plenty of that if that is your taste in music.

And it's served up well with more than a dash of comedy courtesy of our two tourists.

Hollywood made quite a few shorts like this one.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 9 April 2018]

In the 1930s, MGM made quite a few shorts like "Rhumba Rhythm at the Hollywood Conga". The formula was very similar--a couple rubes show up at some Hollywood night club and there they enjoy some acts AND spot lots of celebrities. In this case, the stars are mostly 2nd and 3rd tier stars...and a few, such as Lana Turner, is featured before she became famous. About the biggest stars of the time were George Murphy and Chester Morris...so MGM did not bring out the big stars for this short.

So is this any good? Well, most of the candid shots of the stars seemed to be stock shots with only Murphy interacting with the two ladies who came to see movie stars. As for the music and the rest, it's mildly interesting and not much more.

Old school fun !

[gkarf23 · 6/10 · 22 February 2022]

Maybe not big stars , but fun nonetheless. Pick them out. Especially the woman at back of Conga line. She was definitely noticeable. George Murphy actually looked like he was enjoying himself. Good fun all around.

Decent Short with MGM Stars

[Michael_Elliott · 21 April 2010]

Rhumba Rhythm at the Hollywood La Conga (1938)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Decent MGM short is yet another one where they try to show off their stars. This time out a couple annoying women (Sally Payne, Mary Treen) visit Hollywood in hopes of seeing their favorite stars and they get a shot when they sneak into the La Conga club where a conga contest is about to begin. Eduardo Chavez is the musical guest and George Murphy hosts things but the real highlight are the stars who make brief-second cameos. We have James Dunn, Alexander D'Arcy, June Lang, Frank Albertson and a brief clip of Chester Morris and Lana Turner sitting together. Seeing the stars is without question the main reason to watch this short even though the music isn't too bad either. Both Payne and Treen come off very annoying but that's part of their characters.

The wenches who win the Loving Cup here . . .

[tadpole-596-918256 · 5/10 · 26 June 2020]

. . . are pestilent autograph hounds in the most canine sense of that description. Viewers will take one glance at their mugs, and observe that such visages surely inspired the invention of pepper spray. The words HOLLYWOOD and RHYTHM appear in the title of this live-action musical short, inevitably reminding those suckered into watching and wincing that it's a crying shame that these dames' parental units back East were not more successful at mastering the "rhythm method!"