Round About Hollywood (1931) review - Neat old houses and giant searchlights

If you have ten minutes to spare and love looking at old houses that probably got bulldozed in the seventies, this is totally worth a watch. Anyone looking for an actual plot or characters will absolutely hate it though.

It is basically a high-quality home video of 1931 Los Angeles. 🎥

The camera just wanders around, showing off lawns and big fancy driveways.

We spend a weirdly long time looking at Spanish-style roofs. I guess back then, having a tiled roof was the ultimate flex.

It reminded me of watching Constantinople, the Gateway of the Orient, but instead of ancient ruins, we get some rich guy's hedge.

The best part is definitely the end, though.

They show the big premiere of the movie Dirigible at the Chinese Theatre.

The crowd is absolutely packed, and there are these giant searchlights cutting through the night sky.

You can almost smell the cheap perfume and cigarette smoke through the screen.

There is this one guy in the crowd who just stares right at the camera for like ten seconds. He looks incredibly suspicious, or maybe just confused by the technology.

Also, the framing is pretty clumsy in a few shots. The camera sometimes tilts down too fast, like the cameraman tripped over a curb.

But that's why I like it. It feels real.

It's a neat little time machine that doesn't try to teach you a lesson. Just watch it if you want to see what LA looked like before the smog took over.