Screen Snapshots Series 12 No. 11 Review: Like 1930s Instagram

Skip this unless you are a hard-core classic Hollywood nerd who wants to watch famous dead people play polo for nine minutes. Everyone else will probably get bored and turn it off after 30 seconds.

But if you do like old movies, it is a pretty neat little time machine. It is basically an ancient gossip column come to life. 🎥

What is this even about?

There is no plot here. It is just a camera crew wandering around Hollywood in 1933, catching stars doing "normal" things.

You get to see people just hanging out. Most of them look like they were forced to smile at the camera by their studios.

I swear I saw a couple of faces from Sporting Blood hanging out in the background of one shot. The camera pans away so fast though, so I might be wrong.

The Weird Little Details

The narrator is the funniest part of the whole thing. He has that incredibly fast, high-pitched voice from old newsreels.

He talks like he is trying to sell you a used car while running a marathon. He keeps calling the actresses "lovely screen sirens" which is so dated it made me laugh out loud.

If you have seen old showbiz films like Stage Struck, you already know the vibe of old-school glamour. But this short feels different because it is supposed to be real life.

• Some actors look totally miserable to be filmed on their day off.
• One guy looks like he just wants to eat his hot dog in peace.
• A random dog wanders into the frame and just sits there for a solid minute.

Nobody shooed the dog away, which is great. I like that they kept that in.

The audio is pretty bad too. It sounds like everyone is talking inside a giant soup can, but that is part of the charm, I guess.

Should you watch it? Only if you have ten minutes to spare and want a quick hit of nostalgia. It is messy, it is fast, and then it just ends.